A Reflection from the Roadside
“Where there is darkness, light;
where there is unhappiness, delight.”
— From “The Prayer of St. Francis”
Globe Mental Health And Wellness Day welcomes us to stop briefly– not merely to discuss “mental disorder” or “well-being,” but to look with concern upon the entire landscape of the human mind. For some, that landscape is serene; for others, it is an area of continuous weather condition– shifting skies, unexpected tornados, shocking light.
For over a years, I have actually worked as an ambulance medical professional. That function brings me daily into the lives of others in dilemma– individuals depending on the side of misery, or confusion, or deep grief. It’s spiritual ground, though it seldom feels so at the time. There is commonly sound, discomfort, blood, concern, the unpleasant poetry of blue lights versus rainfall. And under it all, the delicate, divine dignity of human beings trying to hang on.
I acknowledge something of myself in most of those minutes. I cope with Bipolar Type 2 and ADHD, and I am presently awaiting an autism evaluation. These things form the way I see, really feel, and react. They make me both deeply in harmony with others and, sometimes, entirely exhausted. There are days when I can connect with glowing clarity– and others when I am just trying to keep pace with my very own mind.
“The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.”
— Psalm 34: 18
Working in emergency situation treatment with such a temperament is a mystery. The adrenaline matches the fast mind and quick heart; the compassion draws from deep wells. However it likewise leaves one diminished. Stabilizing job, home, and spiritual life can seem like trying to hold 3 fragile flower holders while strolling on a relocating lorry. Ministry researches, praise, and family life all call for attention– yet so as well does the mind and body that carry them.
“However we have this prize in clay containers, to make sure that it might be made clear that this phenomenal power comes from God and does not originate from us. We are afflicted in every means, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not driven to misery; maltreated, yet not forsaken; overruled, but not destroyed …”
— 2 Corinthians 4: 7– 9
It’s easy to think about confidence as something calm– candlelight and calm prayers. Yet St. Francis of Assisi understood one more type of sanctity: one that lived among the dust and the pains. His spirituality was not concerning detachment yet concerning encounter. He looked upon the leper, the wolf, the broken globe– and instead of recoiling, he murmured “Brother. Sister.” He blessed what others left from. He recognised God in what was broken.
“If I claim, ‘Definitely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me end up being night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the evening is as intense as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.”
— Psalm 139: 11– 12
That, I believe, is the invitation of this day: to bless the whole of ourselves. To look with inflammation upon the components of our minds that do not adapt, that battle to stay well balanced, that grieve or rage or scatter. To state Pax et bonum– peace and all excellent– even to our own uneasyness.
There are times on change when I glimpse something of that peace: the peaceful after the call, the shared breath between colleagues, the unspoken prayer in the back of the rescue. God is there– not waiting in some far-off sanctuary, however taking a trip with us through the evening. And similarly, I think Christ is present in every moment of psychological unravelling and recovery, every diagnosis and delay, every act of nerve that keeps someone turning up forever.
“Similarly the Spirit aids us in our weakness … with sighs also deep for words.”
— Romans 8: 26
For those of us that deal with minds that move rapidly, or moods that fluctuate, the Franciscan spirit supplies a gentler sort of recovery– not the elimination of battle, yet its permission. To walk barefoot with our delicacy, to let the injuries of others and our very own ended up being areas of experience. Virtuousness, Francis advises us, is not concerning excellence yet participation– joining the tune of development with whatever voice we have that day. Some days it’s harmony, some days it’s lament. But it’s all component of the very same liturgy of life.
So today, on World Mental Health And Wellness Day, I hold in prayer all that are looking after others while silently carrying their own worries: paramedics and nurses, clergy and carers, moms and dads, educators, and all that maintain providing from tired hearts. May we discover to relax in addition to to respond. May we understand that we are loved not for our stamina, but also for our being.
‘Involve me, all you that are weary … and you will certainly discover remainder for your souls.'”
— Matthew 11: 28– 29
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Heddwch, a phob bendith.
Pax et bonum.
