Deacon Ed Shoener
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C

 

Have you been touched by the suicide death of someone you know or love?

Do you, or someone you love, live with a serious mental illness, such as bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia?

Or do you sometimes struggle with more common mental health challenges, such as depression and anxiety? 

My guess is that just about everyone here can answer yes to one or more of those questions.

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. 

Some of us 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.

About 20% of us live with a mental health disorder at any one time, and over the course of our lives, about 50% of us will experience a mental health disorder. So, if you do not experience a mental health condition, you surely know and love someone who does.

It is interesting how in addition to the event at this parish today,  several other events associated with mental health occur this weekend. Tomorrow May 15 is the feast day of St. Dymphna, a patron saint for those living with a mental illness and May is mental health awareness month.

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 He understands all of it. 

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.”

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.

Now 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. 

About 48,000 people die by suicide each year in this country.  If today is an average day in the US about 125 people will die by suicide today.  We pray for them and their families.

That is too many deaths. 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 the impact of mental illness and psychological stress,  It states 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.”

Today’s Gospel opens by mentioning Judas. 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 and to offer a new ministry called “mental health ministry”.

Here in the Archdiocese of Washington you can go to their web page to get information on how to develop ministries that Empower Parish Mental Health Wellness. 

You may also want to check out the web page of a new lay association of the Catholic Faithful, of which I am the President, called the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers to get more information about mental health ministries in the Church.

Mental health ministry is not about curing mental illness – that is the task of medical science.  Instead, we are called to be a healing presence to help people find wholeness and peace in the midst of their illness.  We make present the persistent and patient love of Christ.

In today’s gospel Christ tells us what mental health ministry, and all ministry, is about: “Love one another”. We are called to accompany those with mental illness, to learn to love them with the love and the passion of Jesus and to offer them and their families a place of belonging and hope.

You know, people who live with a mental illness are some of the most courageous and brave people I know.  They deserve respect. 

They do not want pity – they simply want to be welcomed and loved.  They carry a cross that is so heavy and hard to fully understand – but Christ understands.

We pray to God, the Lord of Mercies, to comfort and relieve anyone troubled in spirit because of a mental illness.

Bring them peace. Bring them hope. 

And bring them the consolation of a loving Church community. Amen