"Have no anxiety at all," Saint Paul writes. It's a tall order. But faith, especially the faith expressed in prayer, really can move us beyond all anxiety to the supreme peace God offers.

At a parish raffle, a woman at my table won the prize: a hamper-sized wicker basket full of wonderful blooming plants. The beauty of this mini-garden was delightful to the eye. But the winner put her basket down with a heavy lack of investment and barely looked at it.

“Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.

A couple years ago, I decided to take up gardening. Tricky since I live in an apartment on the 11th floor of a high-rise in Uptown Chicago. There’s no green space in sight, but I have very sunny windowsills, so I began growing herbs and then moved on to tomatoes and lemons.

With faith in God's guidance, by prayer and petition, we make our request for mercy known to God.

To be spiritually weeded means to have renounced the love of material things and attachment to possessions . . . . Freed from the profitless burden of earthly aspirations, that person can breathe again.