On Depression

Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness
for there is no gloom where there had been distress.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.
Isaiah 8:23 – 9:1

Happy Third Week in Ordinary Time!

I want to say a little more about Deacon Greg’s homily for Allison Chappell’s funeral from last month. The pandemic hit Allison hard, and she took her own life in November, to the shock of all who knew her. For the effect of the pandemic on suicide, read here.

Greg reflected on his own experience with depression. Here are my highlights:

[In the Beatitudes] Jesus was offering people a word of encouragement, a word of hope because when you’re in a place of being down, there needs to be a glimpse of hope, a glimpse of life that is refreshed in us by those around us, those who care for us. . . . .You can’t always tell from the outside what people are dealing with on the inside. Our inner journey is a lot more private, a lot more personal. . . . Whenever you’re down, for whatever reason it is, there needs to be a glimpse of hope, a glimpse of life, that is refreshed in us by those around us, who care for us. . . . There were times when I felt really bad, but to the Parish, that’s just Greg, he’s always in an up mode, but that was because I was able to turn on my switch and perform. . . . It took a certain amount of empathy, of non-judgment of myself to get that far. . . . And despite how many times people around us tell us we’re lovable, there’s always that voice inside us that says, no, I’m not lovable, they’re just pretending that they love me. I’m not really lovable. That’s a voice that still echoes in me. Thanks to the meds, I’m now able to say, ‘uh, uh, don’t listen to that voice.’ . . . God doesn’t judge us by whatever sin we have made but by the tapestry of our lives. So I have every confidence in my being that God judges that way. There’s hope and there’s peace and there’s a place for me.

Let us give joy and hope to those around us, and to the seriously depressed, get them help.