Depression: The Devil's Trap

we're here living in this world in this earthly world and we know that this world is not our final resting place we know that this world is a temporary and will all eventually the physical bodies will all die and will be our souls that live forever so we are trying to get to heaven in the midst of this this earthly world and we sometimes only think about that fact when we are at church or when we hear about it at church but it's hard to think about that fact that we are eternal that we last forever and that we're not meant just for this world it's hard when we're living in this world and when we when we only can see the physical realities of this world and we can't see the spiritual realities of this world with our eyes it's hard for us to actually think about that especially in the moment when we're tempted to sin it's it's hard for us to realize that we are living for that world that lasts forever not for this world when that's not on our mind always when our minds are not conformed to Christ when we don't live in unity with him we get to things that Jesus talks about specifically in this gospel passage thirst and darkness thirst because we're not satisfied with the things of this world if we just drink from the water that this world has to offer we will never be satisfied because we are not temporary creatures and this world can only offer us temporary things we last forever and so if we take only from what this world has to offer and especially the sins that this world have has to offer we will always be empty thirst darkness also that's what Jesus mentions darkness because when we have something bad happening to us in our lives when there's no heaven when there's when there's no life after this world that's the end the suffering that we have is the end without Christ there's no light there's no hope so then everybody will go through suffering and so then the sufferings that we face will be the end of us if there's no Christ if our minds are not pointed toward that eternity that Jesus wants us to look toward always so this thirst and this darkness that Jesus talks about these human realities happen to a lot of people in this world and all of us probably have experienced that at some point in our lives because we're all human sinners but I want to talk about specifically one way that this thirst and this darkness manifests itself in this world that we are living in today and that is something that a lot of people suffer from and that a lot of people maybe don't realize it or they deny it they don't get treated for it they don't work to heal themselves from it but but a lot of people do suffer from it and it is a reality that is going on in this world and even in our community and it is the reality of depression and I think based on the words of Christ a depression as a manifestation of this thirst and this darkness that Jesus talks about and it's a very serious thing actually over 350 million people in the world admit to suffering from depression and that's a lot and that's only the people that are being treated for it imagine how many other people are dealing with it what is it a depression is a medical mental illness that makes us feel negative makes us think negatively and it makes us act negatively based on either dark things that have happened to us or things that we've done or bad choices that we've made in our lives it comes from a lack of hope ultimately and it's something very serious that we need to pay attention to especially in this world many people are losing this fight unfortunately we hear every day of people committing suicide we are losing people that we love all over the world because of this disease because of this evil that the devil puts in our minds that the devil puts in our minds to make us feel that we are hopeless to make us feel that even though we are thirsty and we have not had that full satisfaction the devil makes us feel that we're never going to have it and that we can never have it because we've made all of these mistakes it's like imagine if you are in debt and you can't pay the debt imagine how you would feel imagine if you have a credit card that has no money on it and yet you keep spending it and then one day you just realized there's no way that I can pay back this debt just like with our sins we may realize that we may feel that we may feel hopeless we may feel like there's no way out of this we may feel trapped by the devil maybe you have felt that maybe you do feel that maybe one of your loved ones feels that but not only with that thirst but also with the darkness maybe we feel that because something bad has happened to us that there's never gonna be something good that's gonna happen to us again maybe our loved ones feel that maybe we feel that we're never going to see the light again that's a trap that the devil brings us into and so just because these things happen to us maybe it's not in our control maybe only the sins were in our control but the way that depressed people feel at the moment maybe it's not in their control it's definitely not in our control the dark things that happen to us because suffering happens in this world and we can't control everything that happens to us we can only control the choices that we made so however somebody gets into depression whether it's through genetics whether it's through a constant series of sins that they've done whether it's through many dark dark things happening to them no matter how somebody gets into there it's not the end because everybody has a choice to make and God gives us a choice so there is Jesus doesn't just present us with problems he presents us with the solutions to those problems and the first solution to the problem of depression that if you are struggling with it or if a loved one is struggling with it you can encourage them to talk to someone about it you don't have to talk to everybody about it but pick one or two people one or two close friends that love you and that care about you your loved ones want to hear from you don't keep everything inside that's what the devil wants you wants us to keep everything inside because it will just be us and the devil when we picked God out and then he will keep us in that track but if we tell someone about one of our loved ones one of our friends then we'll be breaking free from that trap by the grace of God talked to a priest about it get that that spiritual insight so that our souls can be guided on the on the right track and also if somebody really is struggling with that medical illness they should go see a mental expert when we're when we're sick when our hearts have a problems when our when our muscles have problems we go to doctors that can that can treat that you should go talk to a psychologist and get treated for that and ultimately the treatment comes from Christ who will be the only one that can truly set us free from the traps of the devil and Jesus not only tells us how to deal with this how to deal with the devil but he does it himself he says the way that you do defeat the devil is by prayer and fasting fasting can be seen as any physical or practical activity that can get us to build a good habit to fight the bad habits to fight the vices that we struggle with if we have that habit that's not the end of us we can get there but it's not gonna be overnight we can't just say I'm gonna stop the bad habits that I struggle with we have to say I'm going to also start good habits and the good habits can start with practical things like you know exercise getting a good night's sleep reading being with your family but ultimately those good habits need to be pointed towards Jesus toward the habits the virtues and the graces that he allows us to have by its grace which are prayer and the sacraments through prayer and the sacraments we can overcome anything with God all things are possible st. Paul and the Epistle reading that we read right before the gospel he says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds God can help us to transform our minds to think not just in this world but to think of heaven to think of that world that will never end if we think of that world that will never end then we will get true peace and joy and that happens by the grace of God God offers it to us we have it available and especially if somebody is suffering from a multitude of sins and if they haven't gone the to confession and a long time that's a big reason why they might be struggling why we might struggle is when we hold on to our sins we hold on to the chains that are trapping us that are enslaving us but when we confess our sins and when we accept the grace from God he will free us of that and he will allow us to live in that true peace that only he can offer Christ did it for us Christ suffered on the cross and Christ overcame it we will suffer but it's not the end of our lives it's not the end of the story Christ's story did not end with his suffering but it ended in his resurrection and we could also share in that by His grace

Channel: Fr. Simon Esshaki

Views: 4,095

Rating: 4.9555554 out of 5

Keywords: depression, mentalhealth, Jesus, devil, evil, sin

Id: 0Xm4aQnhAPg

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 13 2018