Did you know sadness can be positive or negative?
St. Paul wrote: “for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Cor 7:10).
Pope Francis put it this way: “there is, in fact, a sadness that befits Christian life, and that by God’s grace, can be changed into joy. Obviously, this should not be rejected and is part of the journey of conversion. But there is a second kind of sadness that creeps into the soul and prostrates it into a state of despondency: it is this second kind of sadness that must be resolutely and assiduously fought, because it comes from the evil one.”
The Pope gave some advice when a person is feeling sad. “Stop and look: is this a good sadness? Is it a sadness that is not so good? And react according to the nature of the sadness. Do not forget that sadness can be a very bad thing that leads us to pessimism, that leads us to a selfishness that is difficult to cure.”
For some of the saints, the fight against sadness was more challenging due to depression. St. Jane Frances de Chantal responded to depression and suffering by choosing to be cheerful and active. Father Joseph Esper wrote, “keeping busy also proved to be a lifeline amid the seas of depression for St. Augustine... his powerful personality—sanctified but not erased by divine grace—often manifested itself in a tendency toward both intense anger and severe depression. St. Augustine rose above these shackles through prayer, sacrifice, and work. Indeed, his responsibilities as bishop and his writings in defence of the Church kept him very busy.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola experienced scrupulosity and depression after his conversion. Drawing from personal experience, St. Ignatius was able to offer some practical advice to those undergoing desolation. Father Esper highlighted the following three tips:
• Don’t change an earlier good resolution, for after you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the devil may try to make you have second thoughts.
• Intensify your religious activities. Spend more time in prayer, meditation, and good deeds. For if Satan’s temptations merely cause you to increase your efforts to grow in holiness, he will have an incentive to leave you alone.
• Persevere in patience, for the devil’s authority and ability to assault you is strictly limited by God, meaning that you will be relieved of your spiritual sufferings if only you hold out long enough.
Father Esper suggested the following method to help overcoming sadness: “merely identifying your problems can help you feel better about them. Make a list of all the things that depress you. Divide the items into two categories: those you can’t do anything about and those you can. Take the former and place them in God’s hands; then take the latter and, starting with the easiest one, do something!”
St. Francis de Sales said, “refresh yourself with spiritual songs, which have often caused the tempter to cease his wiles; as in the case of Saul, whose evil spirit departed from him when David played upon his harp before the king. It is also useful to be actively employed, and that with as much variety as may be, so as to divert the mind from the cause of its sadness.”
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity put it this way: “during painful times, when you feel a terrible void, think how God is enlarging the capacity of your soul so that it can receive him — making it, as it were, infinite as he is infinite. Look upon each pain as a love-token coming directly from God in order to unite you to him.”
If a person is suffering from severe or ongoing depression, it is very important not to cope with it alone, but to seek professional assistance.
St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote the following prayer: “O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your love, and your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand, your purpose, your will through all things. Amen.”
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保持忙碌可分散悲傷的思緒
聖保祿寫道：「因為按照天主聖意而來的憂苦，能產生再不反悔的悔改，以致於得救；世間的憂苦卻產生死亡。」（格後 7:10）教宗方濟各說：「其實，有一種悲傷適合基督徒的生活，並且藉著天主的恩寵，可以轉化為喜樂。顯然，不應拒絕這悲傷，這是皈依旅程的一部分。但有另一種悲傷會潛入靈魂，讓人陷入沮喪的狀態：這第二種悲傷必須堅決艱苦地抗拒，因為是來自魔鬼的。」教宗還說：「那麼，當我感到悲傷時，應該怎麼做呢？停下來看看：這是一種好的悲傷嗎？或是一種不太好的悲傷？根據悲傷的性質做出反應。不要忘記，悲傷可能是一件非常糟糕的事情，會引向悲觀，並導致難以治癒的自私自我。」
對於一些聖人來說，因為自身的抑鬱症，對抗悲傷就更加困難。聖婦方濟加．尚達爾在面對抑鬱和痛苦時，選擇了保持愉快和積極的態度。Joseph Esper神父寫道：「對聖奧斯定來說，在抑鬱的海洋中保持忙碌證明是一根救生索…他的強大個性—被神恩聖化但沒有抹去—經常表現為強烈的憤怒和嚴重的抑鬱。聖奧斯定通過祈禱、犧牲和工作克服了這些枷鎖。實際上，作為主教的職責和為捍衛教會所寫的文章使他非常忙碌。」
聖依納爵．羅耀拉在皈依後經歷了對道德問題的病態罪惡感及焦慮和抑鬱。依納爵從個人的經歷中，為那些經歷空虛和絕望的人提供了一些實用的建議。Esper神父強調了以下三點建議：
不要改變之前的好決定，因為在你做出天主喜悅的決定後，魔鬼可能會讓你產生反悔的念頭。
加強你的宗教活動—也就是花更多的時間在祈禱、默想和善行上。因為如果撒旦的誘惑只是讓你更加努力地追求聖潔，他就會讓你安寧。
保持耐心，因為魔鬼對你的攻擊能力和權限是由天主嚴格限制的，這意味著只要你堅持足夠長的時間，你的靈性痛苦就會得到解脫。
Esper神父建議了以下方法來幫助克服悲傷：「僅僅識別你的問題就可以幫助你感覺好一些。列出所有讓你感到沮喪的事情，並將它們分為兩類：無法改變的和可以改變的。把前者交到天主的手中；然後對後者，從最容易的開始，做點工作！」
聖方濟．沙雷說：「以聖歌來使自己振作起來，這常能使試探者停止詭計；如同撒烏耳的情況，當達味在君王面前彈琴時，那惡神離開了他。另外，積極地投入工作也很有用，要盡可能地多樣化，這樣可以轉移心思，遠離悲傷的原因。」
聖三的聖依撒伯爾說：「在痛苦的時候，當你感到一種可怕的空虛時，想想上主是如何擴展你靈魂的容量，使得可以接納上主— 像祂一樣浩瀚無邊。把每一次的痛苦視作來自上主直接送來的愛的象徵，目的是把你與祂同在一起。」
抑鬱症嚴重或持續的患者，很重要的是不要獨自應對，而是尋求專業的協助。
聖依納爵．羅耀拉寫下這樣的禱文：「吁！耶穌基督，當一切存於黑暗，我們感到軟弱和無助時，賜給我們感受到祢的臨在、祢的愛和祢的力量。幫助我們完全信賴祢愛的保護和堅強的力量，使我們無所畏懼、無所憂慮，因為與祢同在，我們透過一切看到祢大能的手、祢的目的和祢的旨意。亞孟。」
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