Deacon Ed Shoener,
Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B
Do you sometimes struggle with mental health challenges?
Do you, or someone you love, live with a mental illness, such as bi-polar disorder, depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia? Have you been touched by the suicide death of someone you know or love?
My guess is that just about everyone here can answer yes to one or more of those questions.
It is interesting how several events associated with mental health overlap this weekend. May is mental health awareness month. Also, May 15 is the feast day of St. Dymphna, the patron saint for those living with a mental illness.
And this weekend the Alliance for Suicide Prevention invites faith communities across the nation to come together to pray for those whose lives have been touched by suicide, calling this a Weekend of Prayer for Faith, Hope, & Life.
So, it is a good time to think about where Christ and His Church is in the midst of our mental health challenges. Because Christ surely is with us in these struggles – and understands all of it.
We are often uncomfortable talking about mental health, mental illness and suicide. Yet these are issues we all live with to one extent or another.
We are all fragile. We might like to think that we are tough or not affected by mental health challenges, but when we think that way, we are just fooling ourselves.
In today’s gospel Christ prays for his disciples, who he knows are fragile, by asking the Father to guard them and surround them with care.
Anyone who lives with a mental illness, or loves someone who lives with a mental illness, has been given the gift of humbly understanding how fragile life can be and the need for God’s loving care.
Saint Pope John Paul II, a wise man who had deep insights into what it is to be human, said “Christ took all human suffering on himself, even mental illness. Yes, even this affliction, configures the sick person to Christ and gives him a share in His redeeming passion. Whoever suffers from mental illness "always" bears God's image and likeness.”
Christ took all suffering, including mental illness, to the cross with Him. Christ’s crown of thorns is sometimes viewed as the symbol of our mental health challenges and illnesses. Our faith assures us that in the resurrection all suffering, including mental illness, is overcome.
We never need to be ashamed to bring our mental health concerns to Christ. Just as we pray for Christ to be with us and our loved ones when there is a physical illness, always pray to Christ to be with us and our loved ones when we are experiencing a mental illness.
Sadly, at times mental illness and psychological stress can end in suicide. Although the vast majority of people who live with these conditions do not die by suicide, their risk is higher.
To prevent suicide, we need to be able to talk about it openly—without fear or shame – and advocate for research and better medical care so that suicide rates are brought down. We need to declare war on suicide, just like we have for many other illnesses such as AIDS and cancer.
If you have lost someone you love to suicide, like I have – my beautiful daughter Katie died by suicide after an 11-year struggle with bi-polar disorder – it is consoling to know what the Church teaches about suicide. The Catechism directly addresses this topic.
First, the catechism clearly states that suicide is contrary to love for the living God. I do not know anyone who survived a suicide attempt who, once they were stable, was not thankful that they lived. Our life is a gift from God, from conception to natural death.
However, the Catechism recognizes that “Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.”
And my family and everyone who grieves the loss of someone to suicide can find great consolation in these words: “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.”
I was surprised to find out that Pope Francis keeps a picture at his desk of a carving from a medieval church in France that shows on one side the death of Judas by suicide, and on the other side an image of Christ carrying Judas on his shoulders.
Our Pope talks often about how this image of Christ carrying Judas after his death by suicide, reminds him of the unbounded depth of Christ’s love and mercy.
There is always hope. In the Church, there is a growing recognition of the need to be much more open and supportive. Here at St Peters, we offer a spiritual support group for anyone living with a mental illness and for the parents and family members who support people with a mental illness. You can read about our mental health ministry on our web page or please contact me directly.
You may also want to check out the web page of a new international organization called the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers to get more information about mental health ministries in the Catholic Church.
The Church is not called to cure mental illness – that is the task of medical science. But we are called to be a healing presence to help people find wholeness and the consolation of a loving Church community in the midst of mental health challenges.
May Our Lady guide us so that those who live with a mental health challenge will know that they are surrounded by her and her Son’s healing presence and remember that they are never alone.
Amen
Cathedral of St. Peter, Scranton, PA
May 16, 2021