CHRISTMAS DAY C

MENTAL HEALTH FOR CHRISTMAS

This year surprisingly, I came across three people I know who said they struggle with mental health issues.

In other words, they are battling with extreme sadness or maybe have even fallen into depression.

That they can admit it and share their situation is indeed inspiring and encouraging. At least, they are not secretive about their need for help.

These past years, but even more this year, I have been hearing, reading, encountering so-called mental health issues of people.

It is not new of course, but there is a new interest about it that makes it a new presence in our lives.

This Christmas, I believe that people who are living in constant anxiety, fear, shame, sadness, and hopelessness are very close to the heart of God.

For their situation is almost spiritual, that means, it is unseen from the outside. It does not manifest in the skin, in the body, in the system.

But it gnaws at the inside – the mind, the psyche, the heart, the soul of a person.

People with mental health issues

… feel alone

… live in fear

… find it difficult to trust

… feel betrayed and abandoned

…cannot feel the love and support they need

They are the “people who walk in darkness”; who “dwell in the land of gloom” that Isaiah in our midnight Mass talks about.

If you are a person encountering personal difficulties like this, remember that the Lord does not forget you.

God has heart that beats for the suffering - from all sorts of pain, sin, sickness, shame and struggles. That is why he chose to come to us through his Only Begotten Son, Jesus, the Savior of the world!

This Christmas, the angel is saying to you: Do not be afraid for behold I proclaim to you good news of great joy!

Your Savior has come! Christ the Lord is here for you!

Faith is important for those who struggle with mental health issues. The tendency is always to look into oneself and refuse to come out; to dwell in the darkness of self-doubt.

Faith invites us to move slowly out of our shell and reach out to another… to the waiting hand of Jesus the Lord.

Do not be afraid; take his hand; speak to him; believe in him; trust him.

He has come to save you!

And if you are one who is one blessed to be free of any sadness or depression, be Jesus’ instrument of love to another person who is suffering.

Can you spend your Christmas remembering a person in need of a greeting, a smile, a handshake, a call, a visit, a kind word? Just as Mary and Joseph offered to the world the Baby Jesus, can you offer to someone a share of the blessing you receive on this day?

Glory to God in the highest!  Happy Christmas to everyone!


2 Christmas requests from this blogger: 
1) pls share this reflection with a friend you love; 2) pls click the follow button on this blog to help me boost the readership of the blog and to show your appreciation. Salamat po! God bless you always!

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