Depression and Gaudete Sunday

THE STATISTICS

In 2019, there are 2,810 reported cases of suicide in the Philippines. It dramatically doubled in 2020 at 4,420 cases. At the start of this year, Suicide is the 4th cause of death in the Philippines next to ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms or cancer, and cerebrovascular diseases.

(My sources are from statista.com a leading data platform around the world.)

THE LEADING CAUSE

Depression or mental health imbalance is the main cause of most the suicides. Depression has a broad coverage of immediate causes which resulted in the self-harm of the persons concerned. There are many possible causes; bullying, financial struggle, relationships' crises, the pandemic, anxiety disorder, and many more.

What could be more depressing than being put in the situation of loosing everything and everyone because of the pandemic? We have heard many heartbreaking stories through last year until today.

• Stories of senior citizens who lost their livelihoods.

• Stories of transport drivers who were prevented to go out.

• Stories of small businesses that had to close down.

• Stories of employees who lost their employment de to bankruptcy or retrenchment.

• Stories of abuses due to lockdowns.

We have not witnessed a time where stories are at an all time heartbreaking as it is now.

Yet this Sunday encourages us to rejoice.

Is rejoicing even possible today?

-In Christ, it is possible.

Perhaps, we need to examine what, who, and where have we invested our joys in life. May be we have hinged our happiness to passing, temporary, mortal, and unstable pillars, (Money, Fame, Power, People). And when these disappear due to the fact that their lifespan does not cover eternity, we experiences the severest heartbreaks and ended up wasted.

However,

Depression could also happen without any reason. It can strike to even to the most jolly person you know of. It can strike to anyone without any precedent or warning.

THE MEDICAL REMEDIES

There are however Secular Remedies to depression. When someone feels it, it is vital that a professional help be envisioned the soonest.

The problem is we really cannot know it on face level whether the person beside us is just fine or is already being consumed by depression and the attempt for self harm is lurking in his or her mind.

There is no clear manifestation of depression apart from unsuspectable symptoms. All we need to do is to be steward of one another. This is one of the ways to address and help the person in this mental sinkhole, to animate and listen.

Professional care is vital because it will bring about remedies such as Medication and/or Community or peer support which is vital at this stage.

THE SPIRITUAL REMEDIES

If you are lonely or depressed, I invite you to come to the Church especially around these days of Advent and Christmas. Come and receive not a professional help but a spiritual one. The professional help will certainly be of great relief but I believe it is not enough. The problem of depression is not just a clinical or medical issue, I believe that it is also a spiritual one.

For those who are suffering depression, I invite you to go to your Church or Chapel and behold, the relief you will find is not a material relief but a person.

A person.

The first spiritual remedy is Jesus Christ, the Baby on a manger.

Take time to behold and contemplate on that wooden [or whatever it is made of] image or statue depiction of Baby Jesus and see that the happiness and redemption we are looking for is a baby…a person.

When you look at the Belen altogether [with Mary and Joseph, and the rest of the characters], try to think about the many restrictions God had to endure, to pass through, and to win over in order for him to approach humanity and give it hope for happiness and salvation.

The happiness we are ever longing for is a person.

The first reading exhorts Israel to rejoice because "The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst." The source of happiness and sense of security lie not on battle strategies or ideologies but a person....The King. Similarly, the second reading exhorts the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord. The whole enterprise of Salvation is about a person -Jesus the Christ.

If we put in God our happiness and life, we will never be disappointed for he is eternal and he is a treasure which can never be taken away from us. In fact, God made the first move to come to us.

If only we appreciate the fact that he came to us and that he had to pass through human restrictions and limits of history, we will be able to grasp the to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God.

Perhaps, St. Paul’s words in Galatians 4:4-5 could assist us to understand this. Paul says that in the fullness of time, God incarnated the joy of the world:

“born of a woman, born under the law.”

This captures God’s story of passing through human-cultural barriers. God had to materialize his plan despite of and on top of the low regard for women in Mary’s time, the threat of murder of infants as ordered by Herod Antipas, the narrow-mindedness of the scholars of the Law, the tragedies of the first Christmas mourn, the almost-ruined betrothal of Mary and Joseph, the virginal pregnancy of Mary and many more.

Yet, God triumphed in the end and this is the source of our joy.

Jesus Christ is our source of happiness and salvation.

The second antithesis to depression is the Church, the community founded by Christ. As members of the Church, as Christians who follow the Master, it is our mission to pick up our depressed brethren and reduce sadness in the world and all that cause it. We should be able to give the warmest community support for we are not just an organization. We are a family first of all.

The community of the redeemed is called to be a redeeming community in its own capacities. A community which becomes the source of support for people who are suffering depression and sadness.

As Christians we bear the name of Jesus Christ, and to be 'Christ' means to become love and salvation for others. The word Christ is is Greek Khristós. In Hebrew, Christ means Mashiach or Messiah. To be a follower of the Khristós or the Mashiach is to assist in the work of salvation and quest for happiness of his/her brothers and sisters.

In the community founded by Jesus, sadness has no place.

It is the community that bears trials in hope and gladness.

The Church is not a place for sad people because Christ is the head, the one born on the manger.