Deacon Tom Lambert
We are spiritual people who have God at the center. When we look at the whole person – mind, body, and soul – the person becomes whole. When we consider the whole person, the person goes from being known as an illness to becoming a person who, by the way, has an illness. After all…..No one wants to be known as an illness and no one should be defined solely by the illness they have ---- rather we all should be known for the person we are - People with dignity, people with gifts to offer others, and people who can contribute to make the world a better place.
We also know that when we put God at the center of our lives, our lives become joyful and able to meet any challenge we face. I see this over and over again in people who face mental illness, in families who deal with mental illnesses, in friends, and in professionals who help us.
In our Gospel, Jesus teaches the two great commands: First - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. Which is to say we put God at the center of our lives - And the second command - You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That is treating others as we want to be treated – a person with dignity and value. Jesus tells us - everything depends on these two commands.
Jesus Christ’s way of life, the example He gave us, taught us that these two commands – loving God and loving neighbor – are actually responses to God’s love for us. God loves us unconditionally and when someone loves you unconditionally our natural response is to love them back in the same way - as best we can. You may have experienced that through a family member or a good friend. When we feel that love for us, we want to share that love with others, to treat others as we want to be treated.
When faced with a mental illness or any illness it can be overwhelming dealing with both the illness and –sadly- the stigma that some people have about the illness. It can isolate us and even imprison us in our own grief and sorrow.
In her book “Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness” Estelle Frankel says "Spiritual healing is essentially about breaking out of the narrow prison of our own personal heartbreak to enter the heavenly palace of compassion and connection. It is about how the human heart can be broken open, so that the veils that keep us separate from one another and from our connection to the divine can be removed."
In other words, when we love each other as God loves us, unconditionally, we connect with God and each other. We move beyond the illness we have…… I call that the joy of living the gospel, the joy of being and having a true friend. There is no greater joy than being part of a community that loves you and supports you.