Protect us from all anxiety

I guess we don't say that anymore?

In the first decade or so of the 2000s, the Roman Catholic church changed the wording of the Roman Missal, which is the book containing the prescribed prayers, chants, and instructions for the celebration of Mass.

Why do this? It’s still controversial, but the point was to make translations of the original Latin liturgical texts more verbatim.

Here’s a simple example. For my entire church-going Catholic childhood, there was always a part during Mass when the priest and congregation would say the following:

Priest: "The Lord be with you."

Congregation: "And also with you."

Fall away for a while, live a different life, do this and that, and then eventually come back, and you might find that the wording changed in the meantime. Now, it goes:

Priest: "The Lord be with you."

Congregation: "And with your spirit."

There are lots of these, but here’s one that means something to me personally. There was a prayer you used to hear in every Mass that went like this:

“Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day.

In your mercy, keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety ...

As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Now, it goes like this:

“Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days,

That, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress,

As we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

I miss "protect us from all anxiety." In fact, the phrase flooded back to me over the last few years as I really made an effort to get my personal anxiety under control: therapy, an effective prescription (finally!), etc.

I've wondered if it might someday make a good book title.

So, why bring it up? Because we live in anxious times! I mean, like, really anxious. (American Psychological Association survey here, if you need proof.)

Granted, I did start thinking about this while hanging out in the Verizon store in a mall in New Jersey making a tariff-influenced, anxiety-infused iPhone purchase. Also granted, now President Trump has backed off on Version 1.0 of the blanket tariffs that roiled markets. But, it's still an anxious time.

In fact, I can't remember the general mood of people being so anxious no matter your political persuasion or station in life since ... since ... since ...

O.K, maybe it wasn't that long ago. Probably five years ago was a pretty anxious time.

First few months of Covid? Remember? All of that feels like a fever dream sometimes:

• Did I really do a New York City business meeting on what turned out to be the day before the first big lockdown, and adjourn the meeting to a dive bar, because we agreed in all earnestness that, "bourbon might kill the virus?"

• Did I really rush to the grocery store a few days later on a whim and buy hundreds of dollars worth of ... Gatorade Zero, spaghetti, and toilet paper? (This, notwithstanding that my much-less panicky wife had stocked up much more sensibly on everything we could have needed.)

• Did I really put an oversized pool in the driveway because the community pools would be closed for the summer and we'd need to entertain my daughter—and then take a picture of myself floating in it on a giant unicorn float and send picture to the entire readership of this newsletter?

• Did I write a newsletter that included the mantra two good friends of mine taught their daughter to embrace, and that my wife and I have tried (although maybe forgotten; good reminder), to teach our daughter to embrace as well -- namely, "Rule Number 1: Don't Freak Out!"

Yes. Yes, I did.

I am not one to tell you that everything worked out O.K. during Covid, or that things always turn out all right for everyone.

It was a rough time. People died. Other people are still having a hard time.

But we're here, aren't we?

So, if you're anxious, and especially if you’re the praying type, maybe now is a good time.

Perhaps five years from now, I’ll be asking things like: Was I really anxious about the world economy or whatever, and my solution was to go out and buy a brand-new iPhone?

Protect us from all anxiety, indeed!

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7 other things worth knowing today

• President Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on most of his new tariffs, and a lowering of the "reciprocal tariff" rate to 10%, effective immediately, but increasing tariffs on China to 125%. U.S. stocks promptly kicked off a ferocious rally. Wednesday's 90-day pause, in effect, means the global trade war has shifted, for the time being, to mostly a U.S.-China trade war. (Axios)

• The Department of Homeland Security will begin screening visa applicants' social media content for "antisemitic activity," it announced on Wednesday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 28 that more than 300 visas had already been revoked under similar criteria. (ABC News)

• Avelo Airlines is facing calls for boycotts after signing a government deal for ICE deportation flights. In what the CEO acknowledged as a controversial move, the low-cost carrier will aid the Department of Homeland Security in its immigration crackdown. (Fast Company)

• A detailed analysis of a full-sized digital scan of the Titanic has revealed new insight into the doomed liner's final hours. The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship ripped in two as it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912 - 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster. (BBC)

• Have you watched The White Lotus? Real-life PR experts weigh in: Could an actual franchise like the one in the series possibly resuscitate its reputation after this many dead bodies? (Vanity Fair)

• Nearly 200 cows disappeared. The case remains cold. (The Washington Post)

• Jay North, who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on TV’s “Dennis the Menace” for four seasons starting in 1959, has died. He was 73. North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after battling colon cancer, said Laurie Jacobson, a longtime friend, and Bonnie Vent, who was his booking agent. (AP)

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