They Said He Was Crazy, Mad, A Fool - They Said It About Jesus Too!

Gospel	Mark 3:20-21

Jesus' relatives were convinced he was out of his mind

Jesus went home, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind.

The charming cottage you see in the picture above is the New Bethlem Hospital.  At the time it was built, the Victorian world considered it the last word, the state of the art, and was quite proud of this place.  What? You've never heard of it?  Maybe you would recognize it by its more familiar name which is Bedlam. 

Yes, this was the first hospital specifically designed to treat mental illness.   Now, the building above was the second building built to accommodate the mentally ill.  For the most part, the cutting edge treatment was simply to lock the inmates away from the rest of humanity.  Then, in about 1815 a new enlighted policy began to form.  Those in charge of the asylum tried their hand at improving conditions.  They did not improve conditions for the inmates so much but rather for themselves.  Treatments were designed to make the place safer and calmer by putting the residents into restraints so as to limit their ability to engage in mischief, their symptoms were often thought of as being willful acts.  Men of means were welcomed to tour the place and to give money to the Board of Governors which was to be used to maintain not the hospital but rather the way of life of the men in charge of the hospital.  Families were encouraged to visit their relatives that were locked away and were expected to bring them food and other extravagances.  There were public tours, people came to gawk at the insane as they did insane things as if they were animals in the zoo. A good time was had by all to be sure!  But, let's be real here, this account is taken from the Victorian age, surely things are better now, aren't they?  Yes, of course, things are better today, sort of.  Gone are the days when the mentally ill served as entertainment for the gentry and Bedlam still exists and is a good example of the modern treatment of our mentally ill friends and relatives, again, sort of.  Not everything is perfect.  In 2001 a patient by the name of Olaseni Lewis, 23 years of age died when he was subjected to a police restraint hold that left him unresponsive and thus sedated was ignored by staff and police until they figured out that he was a bit too calm and sedated and to their dismay they discovered that he had passed from their care into the care of God.  In 2014 Chris Brennan aged 15 died of self-asphyxiation as his mental illness claimed him.  The hospital pleaded lack of staff which meant that they could not provide the care Chris needed, he needed to be watched as he had a history of harming himself. 

What does all of this have to do with our Gospel reading today?  I thought about being mentally ill.  I suffer from depression and I take medicine that keeps the disease at bay.  I am one of the lucky ones.  My depression was diagnosed early and the medicine that the doctor prescribed worked and for better or worse I am symptom-free at this time.  I remember the days before my treatment began.  My dear wife had to put up with my raving, everything, absolutely everything that she or anyone else did could provoke in me feelings of rage.  Outside of the home, my manners and politeness threw a blanket on the fire and Mary had to bear the brunt of it when I got home.  She was a living saint.  We all have our demons, we all have our moments when life seems to be a series of defeats and the darkness never seems to end, and when the light at the end of the tunnel is actually a train.  We should remember how we feel when these times come and we should not look down upon members of the community that exhibit symptoms.  We should do what we can for them but we should also let them stand on their own two feet for to do too much is as bad as doing too little. 

As a Christian man or woman, we are called to minister to all, to be Christ to those around us.  It is easy to do that in church for we are all of a like mind when we are together there.  It is another thing to minister to someone who outwardly is like us but inside is going through a personal hell that we can't even imagine.  Love, as always is the answer.  Love them and see Christ in them and be patient and kind and watch for their pleas for help.  Some of us do not know how to ask outright for help.  Mental illness can make a person turn inward to themselves and lose the ability to communicate their pain and this is why mental illness can become a fatal disease.  

Please let the love of Christ shine through to all of the people in your life.  Make the light especially bright to those who suffer wounds that cannot be seen but hurt just as much as those that can. 

From the website "Our Catholic Prayers"  Please review their website, they are very worthy of your support. 

This prayer to Saint Dymphna, printed below, succinctly identifies her as the well-known patron saint of those with mental or nervous disorders or mental illness. 

Good Saint Dymphna, great wonder-worker in every affliction of mind and body, I humbly implore your powerful intercession with Jesus through Mary, the Health of the Sick, in my present need. (Mention it.) Saint Dymphna, martyr of purity, patroness of those who suffer with nervous and mental afflictions, beloved child of Jesus and Mary, pray to Them for me and obtain my request.

(Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.)

Saint Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us.

According to tradition, as with another great saint, St. Philomena, St. Dymphna was martyred as a teenager for her purity when she resisted the advances of a powerful figure.

In St. Philomena’s case, it was the Roman emperor Diocletian in the Fourth century. In St. Dymphna’s case it an Irish pagan King named Damon, her own father, in the Seventh.

Apparently, St. Dymphna’s mother, who was quite beautiful, died when the child was only about 14. This so distressed King Damon that he sought to have his own daughter, who was Christian, take her place. (Talk about someone with a mental disorder!) Before this occurred, St. Dymphna had taken a vow of chastity, consecrating her virginity to Christ.

St. Dymphna then fled Ireland with Saint Gerebernus, her confessor, along with two others to escape the king. They landed in Belgium where they settled in the town of Gheel, but he caught up with them. Damon then killed Saint Gerebernus and St. Dymphna as well, when she refused to return to Ireland with him.

As with St. Philomena’s story, this account is given to us from tradition and its authenticity has been disputed, but the relics of both Saints have been very powerful indeed!

St. Dymphna’s relics were placed in a church built in her honor in Gheel, where she was martyred, as miraculous cures of mental disorders took place there in the centuries after her death. The town itself became a model of humane treatment for the mentally ill.

In the 13th century, the bishop of Cambray commissioned an account of St. Dymphna’s life’s story based on the oral tradition and the miracles attributed to her afterward.

An infirmary to treat the mentally ill was built in Gheel, also in the 13th century, and the town still cares for them to this day. Miraculous cures of mental illness, and epilepsy as well, still occur at her shrine.

Prayers to St. Dymphna like the one above show her to be a great help not just to the mentally ill but, indeed, to anyone experiencing anxieties in these troubled times! Her feast day is May 15th.