Depression and Christian Living

Congratulations, if you are reading this you have experienced the trauma of sin leaving you with at least the possibility of more suffering than you feel you are capable of handling and possibly even more than you can imagine. You have experienced at least in some fashion the difficulties and sadness that accompany others hurting others, others hurting you and you hurting yourself. You repeat in your mind these traumas as you contemplate just how deeply they have hurt you and find trusting others difficult. You find yourself believing certain people, in certain conversations, and/or in certain circumstances will always hurt you. These we shall call wounds. Wounds are real, they hurt, and we have limited power over the (pursuit of healing and asking God for the grace of that). All the enemy wants is to tell you this is it! However, this is what Christianity is all about.

To summarize, the greatest love story of all is that each of us is the recipient of infinite and unbounded love. God gave us all and even a door out and instead of receiving what God lovingly bestowed, we sought after what He did not give i.e. evil. Making a mortal choice to turn from light, love, and life; we left the house of Him Who Infinitely loves. In doing so, we exposed ourselves to sin’s disease, burden, and other effects. We thence experienced death in many more ways than one and insofar as ourselves and others choose this we continue to. However, the fruits of sin are not only a spiritual reality, nor does it only make physical death possible but also, we experience sin’s effects in our allergies, headaches, and even mental illnesses. Mental illness is more often than not the result of another’s extensive sin but also consists of physical imperfections in our physiological economy. For emphasis, our physiological economy is not and sometimes hardly correlated to how much we choose God, but every bit of healing we receive from God helps. Mother Teresa is a shining example of the reality that true Gospel joy is deeper than emotions. She was entrusted with the crosses she carried and relying on divine power, providence, and love, she was made capable of carrying this cross.

In conclusion, we must care for our humanity and finitude every bit as much as our soul. As our humanity is grown, our spirit also grows. If our soul is well nurtured in the depths of our being, our more surface/mental or physical crosses are transfigured and instead of drawing us away from Christ as they once did draw us so close to Christ, we participate in His passion. We feel the pangs, the stretch of our being, the crown of thorns, the mockery of the enemy, the scourge of our persecution, the betrayal of those who love us, and the loneliness that comes from witnessing the truth, a perceived (though not actual) separation from God’s love, Providence, and/or mercy, etc. It is the part of the sinner to ask for divine power to face and rebuke the demons and lies we are fed not only concerning our identity but also what is good for us. Our traumas are only confrontable with the love of God and the truth of our heavenly citizenship. In all things, we struggle but is not this opportunity to receive from God and prove our love for Him so beautiful. Do not forget to praise God for it. For the Christian, it is the sadness and difficulties which bring about the greatest of blessings. Once we have accepted the reality of our sufferings, let us move toward God in the firmest of hopes, those which are not fragile as we find God working in the darkest parts of our being. Never cease to invite Christ to these places and ask for his healing.

Written by Carter Carruthers

The Beginning of the Stabat Mater:

At the Cross her station keeping,

 stood the mournful Mother weeping, 

close to her Son to the last. 

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

 all His bitter anguish bearing, 

now at length the sword has passed. 

O how sad and sore distressed 

was that Mother, highly blest, 

of the sole-begotten One. 

Christ above in torment hangs, 

she beneath beholds the pangs 

of her dying glorious Son.