RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

Australian Catholic Youth Festival, L1 – Pavilion 3 Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre

1. Mental health as the No. 1 issue for young people

In the past few weeks mental health has emerged as a key challenge for modern-day cricketers, with their gruelling schedules, intense public scrutiny, performance anxiety, burnout or loss of love for the game, effects on family life, and the baseline stress of contemporary life all weighing heavily.[1] Glenn Maxwell, one of the world’s best short-format players, announced he was taking time away, and Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson followed suit, just before the first Test against Pakistan.

Many people commented on the courage of these young men in breaking silence about mental health issues, admitting their weakness, and being willing to deal with their issues rather imagining they are invincible. It’s hoped this will allow many other young men and women to come forward about their needs. In response to this Cricket Australia has announced more careful choice of teams in future, detailed surveys of players, a wellbeing education program with wellness App, and a psychologist on hand at under-17 and under-19 tournaments to support players.[2]

If Cricket has been surveying its players, so has the Church. In preparation for the 2018 Synod on Youth in Rome and the Year of Youth in Australia, young Catholics were asked what the big issues were on their minds. As well as online surveys, we conducted listening sessions at the last ACYF. Psychological issues emerged as the single most commonly named concern.[3]

So are young cricketers and young Catholics particularly susceptible to mental health issues? Hardly. One in five Australians suffers some form of psychological illness in any particular year, and 45% do so at some stage in their life.[4] It’s common across all age groups, sexes, ethnicities, beliefs, professions. Yet older children and young adults feature disproportionately amongst those who suffer low self-esteem or negative body-image,[5] stress or anxiety,[6] clinical depression,[7] self-harm[8] and suicide.[9] Beyond Blue report that 1 in 7 young Australians experiences a significant mental health issue[10]

The figures are staggering, and mean a lot of people are hurting out there, many of them silently and unbeknown even to family and friends, many of them without the help of mental health professionals or even their friends, and as a result many are unable to live their lives to the full. And if 1 in 7 suffers a significant psychological issue, then 7 out of 7 young people are affected. We are social beings, and those of us are battling internal demons of one kind or another will be less able to relate well to others or contribute to society. The whole community loses every time a young person suffers. Even if you’ve never suffered panic attacks, depressive episodes, eating disorders and the like yourself, I bet you know and love someone who has.

2. Why the rise of mental illness and what to do about it?

Like the rise of allergies, asthma, attention deficit disorders and Asperger’s, some of this huge rise in mental illness numbers is a consequence of greater awareness, better identification, declining stigma and increased reporting. But like allergies something about modernity seems to be contributing to a real rise in the occurrence of psychological issues. Amongst the factors identified in the literature are:

• Financial, work, study, social or personal pressures[11]
• Family and relationship breakdown and social isolation[12]
• Bullying, including cyber-bullying[13]
• Negative media and desensitised culture[14]
• Over-medicalisation with legal substances and abuse of illegal ones.[15]

I’d be interested to hear in our discussion time what you think are the big contributors to the rise of mental health problems amongst young people.

One big factor is whether people seek and receive help with their problems. Young people are more likely to seek such help if they have some knowledge about mental health and sources of help, feel emotionally competent to express their feelings, and have trusted relationships with potential help providers.[16] They are less likely to seek help if they are in denial about their problem, are depressed or suicidal, have had negative experiences of or attitudes toward seeking help, or imagine they can sort out their problems on their own.[17]

Where do young people go for help? They often go first to friends, parents or the internet about these things, and to school counsellors, GPs and youth workers as gateways to more professional help.[18] In the Church context, our families, schools, universities and youth groups could probably do more to educate and intervene appropriately in this area. We also need to identify the settings, peer support networks and technologies that might help. We must identify those most at-risk and contributing factors such as stigma and discrimination. We can learn a lot from contemporary society in this area.

But I wonder if there is a religious element to some of today’s mental health challenges, about which the Church might also have some useful things to say. To what extent might people be less stressed, anxious or depressed if they prayed and meditated more? Or if their faith were deepened, including Catholic understandings of the human person (as body, mind and soul), their dignity, freedom, opportunities and graces, their being loved from all eternity and destined for greatness, and so on? To what extent might young people be more resilient to internal and external pressures if they had such experiences and support?

3. Mental health and the loss of faith

Earlier I noted that, like asthma and allergies, something(s) about modernity seems to be contributing to psychological issues. Today I’d like to identify a few spiritual-moral factors. Back in the 1960s the great sociologist Peter Berger coined the term ‘plausibility structures’ – structures of family, friends, institutions and cultural practices that contribute to the plausibility of beliefs. These provide a framework in which to hold onto and live out our beliefs.

In the past, religion had very strong plausibility structures: it was supported by the extended family, ethnic group, neighbourhood, school, civil law and social customs. When I was a child, for example, Sunday churchgoing was supported by:

• Almost no-one working on Sundays (except priests and emergency workers!)
• Almost all shops being closed on Sundays (apart from corner shops for essentials)
• Few or no newspapers
• No Sunday sports
• Limited public transport and
• Limited public entertainments on Sunday.

That might sound rather confining, but it reflected a world that prioritized churchgoing on Sunday, where you met your family, friends and neighbours there, and commonly celebrated the family roast together thereafter. Normalising churchgoing provided a source of identity and a social glue.

That plausibility structure has gone. Many people work on Sundays, shops and entertainments are open for business, sports teams expect you to play, and if you go to church you might not meet many of your friends or neighbours there. Some young people have told me that to reveal in their social group that they go to Mass would be ‘social death’.

This is just one example of the trend in recent decades that has left religious belief and practice less supported than it used to be. Cultural norms, the old and new media, law, politics and education can all inoculate people to religion. I’m not saying this to scare you as young people of faith – indeed, in some ways this can be a good thing: if your generation can no longer rely on the culture to support maintain your faith and morals, you’ll have to be more intentional about it. If you want these to inform your identity and destiny, you’ll have to find your own plausibility structures to back that up. Yet this collapse of plausibility structures is worrying because it has contributed not only to a steady decline in religious faith and practice but very possibly to a parallel rise of mental illness.

Of course, the relationship is a complex one. Throughout history, Christians sometimes recognised mental illness for what it is; they loved and prayed for the sick, and cared them at home, in the parish and in the first mental health institutions established by religious orders. But at other times they misunderstood psychological disorder as diabolical possession or moral failure, and applied remedies that were far from helpful.[19] In some cases religious devotion degenerated into obsession or mania.

Despite this mixed history, a large body of research has shown that, on the whole, religious beliefs and practice are associated with ‘greater well-being, less depression and anxiety, greater social support, and less substance abuse’.[20] Though the evidence is controverted, and believers more inclined to accept it than non-believers, there are many credible studies suggesting that prayer, meditation, ritual, religious-moral teaching and practice contribute to the prevention or healing of mental illness. Most great faiths contribute to individual and social wellbeing by offering meaning, purpose and hope, by engaging in practices that express and underpin these beliefs, by providing a range of educational, health and welfare services to members, and by giving people other human and (they believe) divine support. These religions also cultivate a kind of character and integrity that may contribute to psychological resilience, and relationships that turn out to be preventative of mental illness (by preempting social isolation, for instance) or supportive when people are suffering (e.g. when grieving a loved one). Above all, perhaps, the great faiths offer keys to human self-understanding that may help people maintain balance, perspective, self-criticism and virtue. It is far from clear that secular modernity has found equally effective structures of ideals and support.

4. The Bible and mental health

In the Old Testament God the Father and Creator saw the world and judged it very good (Gen 1:31). That ‘God don’t make junk’. Though human beings – and the rest of creation – are damaged by the Fall,^[21] and that brokenness plays out in various ways, including physical and psychological illness, still human beings are all loved by God and destined to greatness. God’s people cry out to Him in their loneliness and affliction: “Why are you cast down, my soul, why all the turmoil within me? Hope in God, I shall praise Him still.”^[22]This God cares for them in their brokenness: “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,” says the Psalmist, “and saves the crushed in spirit”.^[23] So God the Father and Creator draws His people out of the deepest psychological pits.^[24]

In the Gospels God the Son and Redeemer took our nature and experienced our challenges. He was tempted,^[25]felt gut-wrenching compassion,^[26]wept with grief at the loss of a friend (Jn 11:35). He was disappointed (Mk 6:6), deeply troubled (Mt 26:37-9; Jn 13:21), frightened (Lk 22:44) and even angry.^[27]At one stage relatives thought He was “beside himself” (Mk 3:21) and the Jews declared Him mad or possessed (Mk 3:22; Jn 10:19-20). He felt despondency as He cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mt 27:46). Jesus is God, then, sympathizing with the human condition from the inside.

What’s more, Jesus acknowledges that our sicknesses – like that of the man born blind – are not our fault, not punishment for our sins or the sins of those around us (Jn 9:3; CCC 2448). Though Christians recognize that trials can produce fruits like maturity, compassion and endurance,^[28] their God is a God of love, who never treats human beings as playthings or actively wills their torment (1Jn chs 3 & 4).

Jesus sympathizes, explains and then responds. He calms storms not only outside but within. He returns dignity to women racked by shame or guilt,^[29] loved ones to parents and sisters grieving their loss to death,^[30] a dying servant to an anxious centurion (Lk 7:2-10), a son to an equally anxious father (Jn 4:46-54), a place in society to outcast lepers (e.g. Lk 5:12-16). He encounters a demoniac who was self-harming by cutting himself with stones: He brings him peace so that people “saw the man dressed and in his right mind” (Mk 5:1-20; Lk 8:26-39). Luke’s Jesus came “to set free the oppressed” (Lk 4:18-19) and to heal “every kind of sickness”.^[31] He sought to include an ever-widening group amongst those we count neighbour, friend and family,[32] to demonstrate the hospitality of God to all,[33] and to mandate His disciples to do likewise.[34] For them the encounter was like having a light shone into dark corners of heart and mind[35] and like liberation from bondage.[36] God the Son and Redeemer came, He said, so that we “might have life, life to the full” (Jn 10:10) and He was willing to give His life to that end (Jn 3:16; 15:13).

In the Acts of the Apostles the Holy Spirit prays in us and for us when we can only moan in despair (Rom 8:26-7). He brings comfort, healing and guidance.[37] When Jesus mandated His disciples to go and proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal, it probably seemed an impossible task; but under the Spirit’s influence they did just that.[38] Our festival theme – Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches – is an invitation to hear that Spirit whom the first Christians experienced as bringing “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”[39] – love in place of isolation, joy instead of depression, peace in lieu of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive tendencies, patience instead of stress and panic, kindness and gentleness rather than self-harm or other violence, generosity and fidelity in place of either narcissism or low self-esteem, and self-control in lieu of various behavioural disorders. The God of Inspiration is, as it were, a vaccination or therapy for many maladies of heart and mind.

5. The Church and mental health

The Church has had a long-standing interest in the interior life. It’s ministry has often been called ‘the cure of souls’. This reflects the ancient image of Christ the Physician of souls and bodies (CCC 1509). Confessors, penitents and others have long recognised that there are links between the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the person (CCC 1500-5); that identity, direction and community are important for both; that knowing one is infinitely loved by God and receiving moral and spiritual formation can ground a certain resilience to psychological stress; that the Church can provide healthcare and psychological services that bring healing; and that the Christian community can instantiate and model communion with the mentally ill. We even have a sacrament for the sick which unites the cure of bodies, minds and souls (Jas 5:14-15; CCC 1499-1523).

Christians led the way in providing mental health institutions and services. But sometimes they shared in the widespread ignorance and prejudice towards the mentally ill and suicides. Nowadays the Church understands that “Grave psychological disturbances, anguish or fear… can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide” (CCC 2282) and formally teaches that “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of those who’ve taken their own lives. By ways known to Him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for those who’ve taken their own lives.” (CCC 2283) And the Church, at its best, champions the rights of the weak, including the psychologically frail or ill, and offers them friendship and a spiritual home.

Being a Christian doesn’t immunize you to life’s challenges. The three St Teresas – of Avila, Lisieux and Calcutta – probably all suffered from depression; they certainly knew about ‘the dark night of the soul’. As St Augustine put it: “Those who live according to God in the pilgrimage of this life both fear and desire, grieve and rejoice.” They are no superhumans but “because their love is rightly placed, all these emotions are made right”.[40] Instead of becoming insular and self-absorbed in our mental suffering, or going into denial about it, or dealing with it in unhealthy ways (such as anger and aggression, self-loathing and despair, substance abuse or self-harm), Christianity teaches us about human dignity, how much we are loved, why we can hope. And it offers helpful practices such as prayer and meditation. When we are depressed a single Our Father, Hail Mary and/or Glory Be might be all we can muster, or an even shorter prayer like Jesus’ “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46) When we are numb with grief, whole Rosaries may tumble out as we go onto automatic pilot.

Another practice is meditation. I don’t mean new age spiritualism or sitting cross-legged chanting OM! Christian meditation is an ancient practice, a way of putting ourselves in God’s presence and letting go of everything else. You might begin by reflecting on a passage from Scripture or from the Saints. Here’s one that Teresa of Avila wrote in the margins of her breviary:

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Those who have God find they lack nothing. God alone suffices.

Conclusion

If 1 in 7 young people suffers from mental health issues of one kind or another, the problem is immense and might seem insoluble. But when someone once asked Mother Teresa how she could possibly help the millions of poor and needy in Calcutta, she replied ‘One at a time’. Often that’s all we can do. Let’s promise to do what we can.

Afterword (possibly to be read by Chair)

The subject of our workshop today is one many young people asked for us to talk about, but it may also be confronting for some. If today’s discussion raises any issue for you, you may like to talk to your group leader or chaplain, or call Lifeline or Beyond Blue.

[1] Martin Parry, “Cricketers’ mental health thrown into the spotlight,” Agence-France Presse 15 November 2019; Malcolm Knox, “Mental health battles facing our cricketers offer a broader lesson to us all,” SMH 15 November 2019.

[2] Jon Pierik, “How Cricket Australia is dealing with mental health,” SMH 15 November 2019.

[3] Stephen Reid, Trudy Dantis & Annemarie Atapattu, Australian Catholic Bishops Youth Survey 2017 (Canberra: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Pastoral Research Office, 2017). See also Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute, Can We Talk? Seven year youth mental health report 2012-2018 (2019) and the annual reports upon which this one is based. Likewise the 2019 Mission Australia Youth Survey found, for the third year running, that mental health was the most important issue for young people in Australia. The top four personal concerns also related closely to mental health, which were: coping with stress, school or study problems, mental health and body image. https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-impact-policy-advocacy/youth-survey

[4] Lauren Cook, “Mental Health in Australia: A Quick Guide”, Research Paper Series 2018-19, 14 February 2019 .

[5] Mission Australia & Black Dog, Can We Talk?

[6] 6.9% of Australians aged 4 to 17 experienced an anxiety disorder (panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder) in the past year: D. Lawrence et al,  The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: Report on the Second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (Canberra: Department of Health, 2015). Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute, Can We Talk? Seven year youth mental health report 2012-2018; Olivia Willis, “Mental health concerns increasingly common among young Australians,” ABC Health & Wellbeing 23 October 2019; Michaela Pascoe, “Nearly half of Australian school kids are stressed,” SMH 28 January 2018.

[7] 5% of young people aged 12 to 17 years suffer from an affective disorder (depressive episode, dysthymia or bipolar affective disorder) and 19.9% have reported high or very high levels of psychological distress in the previous 12 months: Lawrence et al,  The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents.

[8] Approximately one in ten Australian adolescents had self-harmed at some point in their lives; among young women aged 16-17 years, 22.8% had self-harmed in their lifetime: Lawrence,  Mental Health of Children and Adolescents; The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, “Self-harm and young people,” Orygen Research Bulletin No.5

[9] In 2018, suicide was the biggest killer of young Australians, accounting for over one-third of deaths (38.4%) among people 15-24 years of age and 29.4% of deaths among people 25-34 years of age. See Australian Bureau of statistics, Causes of Death, Australia 2018 (Canberra: ABS, 2019); Mindframe / Life in Mind, “Suicide facts and stats” https://www.lifeinmindaustralia.com.au/about-suicide/suicide-data/suicide-facts-and-stats

[10] Beyond Blue, “Stats and facts” https://www.youthbeyondblue.com/footer/stats-and-facts

[11] Australian Psychological Society, Stress and Wellbeing: How Australians Are Coping with Life, https://www.headsup.org.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/stress-and-wellbeing-in-australia-report.pdf?sfvrsn=7f08274d_4#:~:targetText=Financial%20issues%20are%20rated%20as,19%20per%20cent%20in%202015; Centre for Social Impact, Why is Financial Stress on the Rise? Financial Resilience in Australia 2016 (Sep 2017) https://www.csi.edu.au/media/Financial_Resilience_Part_One.pdf

[12] Relationships Australia, Issues and Concerns for Australian Relationships Today (2011)  https://www.relationships.org.au/what-we-do/research/australian-relationships-indicators/relationships-indicator-2011; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, “Social Isolation and Loneliness” (11 Sep 2019), https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-isolation-and-loneliness

[13] ReachOut Australia and Mission Australia, Lifting the Weight (2018) https://about.au.reachout.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ReachOut-Australia-Mission-Australia_Lifting-the-Weight-2018.pdf

[14] Centre for Media Transition, The Impact of Digital Platforms on News and Journalistic Content (University of Technology Sydney, 2018) https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/ACCC%20commissioned%20report%20-%20The%20impact%20of%20digital%20platforms%20on%20news%20and%20journalistic%20content%2C%20Centre%20for%20Media%20Transition%20%282%29.pdf

[15] Christopher Dowrick & Allen Frances, ‘Medicalising and medicating unhappiness’, British Medical Journal, 347(7937) (2013), 20-23; Gordon Parker, “Is Depression over-diagnosed? Yes”, British Medical Journal 335(7615) (2007), 328; Allan Horwitz & Jerome Wakefield, The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder (OUP: 2007); Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program  https://www.acic.gov.au/sites/default/files/nwdmp4.pdf?acsf_files_redirect; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Illicit Drug Use https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/36cb0f35-1d96-47bf-84f9-1eb8583ad7de/aihw-aus-221-chapter-4-7.pdf.aspx

[16] D. Rickwood, F. Deane & C. Wilson, “When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health problems?” Medical Journal of Australia 187(7) (1 Oct 2007), S35-39.

[17] Rickwood, Deane & Wilson, “When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health problems?”

[18] Mission Australia & the Black Dog Institute, Can We Talk?; Rickwood, Deane & Wilson, “When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health problems?”

[19] Cf. H. Koenig & D. Larson, “Religion and mental health: Evidence for an association,”  International Review of Psychiatry 13(2) (2009), 67-78.

[20] Koenig & Larson, ‘Religion and mental health’.  Cf. also N. AbdAleati, N. Zaharim & Y. Mydin, “Religiousness and mental health: Systematic review study,” Journal of Religion & Health 55(6) (2016), 1929-37; S. Dein et al, “Religion, spirituality and mental health,” Psychiatrist 34(2) (2010), 63-4 and “Religion, spirituality, and mental health: Current controversies and future directions,” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease 200(10) (2012), 852-55; R. Dew et al, “Religion/spirituality and adolescent psychiatric symptoms: A review,” Child Psychiatry & Human Development 39(4) (2008), 381-98; C. Estrada et al, “Religious education can contribute to adolescent mental health in school settinmgs,” International Journal of Mental Health Systems 13(28) (2019); A. Fabricatore et al, “Stress, religion, and mental health: Religious coping in mediating and moderating roles,” International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 14(2) (2004), 91-108; R. Fallot, “Spirituality and religion in psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery from mental illness,” International Review of Psychiatry 13(2) (2001), 110-16 and “Spirituality and religion in recovery: Some current issues,” Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal xxx; N. Fisher, “Science says: Religion is good for your health,” Forbes 29 March 2019; J. Fruehwirth, “The science is in: Faith can be effective against adolescent depression,” America 30 September 2019; L. George, C. Ellison & D. Larson, “Explaining the Relationships between religious involvement and health,” Psychological Inquiry 13(3) (2002), 190-200; M. Harrison et al, “The epidemiology of religious coping; a review of recent literature,” International Review of Psychiatry 13(2) (2001), 86-93; J. Hovey, “Religion-based emotional social support mediates the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and mental health,” Archives of Suicide Research 18(4) (2014), 376-91; K. Jansen et al, “Anxiety, depression and students’ religiosity,” Mental Health 12(3) (2010), 267-71; M. King et al, “Religion, spirituality and mental health: Results from a national study of English households,” British Journal of Psychiatry 202(1) (2013), 68-73; H.G. Koenig, “Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: A review,” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 54(5)(2009), 283-91 and “Religion, spirituality, and health: A review and update,” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine 29(3) (2015), 19-26; D. Larrivee & L. Echarte, “Contemplative meditation and neuroscience: Prospects for mental health,” Journal of Religion & Health 57(3) (2018), 960-78; D. Oman, C.E. Thoresen, and J. Hedberg, ‘Mental health, religion, and culture’, Journal of Psychology & Theology 42(2) (2014), 229-30; K. Pargament, “The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and No,” International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 9(1) (1999), 3-16 and “The bitter and the sweet: An evaluation of the costs and benefits of religiousness,” Psychological Inquiry 13(3) (2002), 168-81; I. R. Payne et al, “Review of religion and mental health: Prevention and enhancement of psychosocial functioning,” Prevention in Human Services 9(2) (1991), 11-40; M. Petres et al, “Mechanisms behind religiosity and spirituality’s effect on mental health, quality of life and well-being,” Journal of Religion & Health 57(5) (2018), 1842-55; L. Rew & Y Wong, “A systematic review of associations among religiosity/spirituality and adolescent health attitudes and behaviors,” Journal of Adolescent Health 38 (2006), 433–42; B-Y. Rhi, “Culture, spirituality, and mental health,” Psychiatric Clinics of North America 24(3) (2001), 569-79; A. Shaw, “Religion, spirituality, and posttraumatic growth: A systematic review,” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 8(1) (2005), 1-11; K. Siegel et al, “Religion and coping with health-related stress,” Psychology & Health 16(6) (2001), 631-53; T. Sion & P. Nash, ‘Coping through prayer: An empirical study in implicit religion concerning prayers for children in hospital’, Mental Health, Religion & Culture 16, 936-52; L. Vitorino et al, “The association between spirituality and religiousness and mental health,” Scientific Reports 8 (2018); S. Weber & K. Pargament, “The role of religion and spirituality in mental health,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 27(5) (2014), 358-63; Y. Wong et al., “A systematic review of recent research on adolescent religiosity/spirituality and mental health,” Issues in Mental Health & Nursing 27(2) (2009), 161-83.

[21] Gen ch 3; Ps 73:26; Isa 40:30; 1Cor 15:42; 2Cor 4:16; CCC 1264; 2448.

[22] Ps 42:5; cf. 6:3; 5:16; 32:5; 38:5; 39:9,12; 88:3; 107:20 etc.

[23] Ps 34:18; cf. 145:18; Ex 15:26.

[24] Job 33:28; Ps 40:2; 103:4; Lam 3:55.

[25] Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:13; Lk 4:2-13.

[26] Mt 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Lk 6:36; 7:13; 15:20.

[27] Mt 21:12-7; Mk 11:15-9; Lk 19:45-8; Jn 2:13-6.

[28] Isa 53:11; Rom 5:3-5; Jas 1:2; CCC 1501 etc.

[29] Lk 7:36-50; 8:43-8; 13:10-17; Jn 8:1-11; cf. Rom 8:1; 1Jn 1:9.

[30] Lk 7:11-17; 8:40-49; Jn 11:1-44.

[31] Lk 4:38-41; 6:18-9; 7:21-2; 9:11.

[32] Mt 5:4; 11:19; Mk 3:31-5; Lk 7:34; 10:29-37; 14:12; 15:15.

[33] Lk 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 9:11-17; 10:38-42; 15:1-2; 19:1-10.

[34] Mt 10:8; Mk 6:12-3; 16:17-8; Lk 9:2; 10:37.

[35] Mt 4:16; Lk 1:79; Jn 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-6,46; Acts 26:18; Rom 13:12; 1Cor 4:4-6; 2Cor 4:6; Eph 5:8-14; Col 1:12; 1Thess 5:5; 1Jn 1:5-7; 2:9-10.

[36] Rom 8:21; 1Cor 7:21; 2Cor 3:17; Gal 5:1-2.

[37] Acts 9:31; 10:38; 11:24; Rom 8:2-16; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13 etc. Cf. Jn 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7.

[38] Acts 2:19,22,43; 3:1-16; 4:8-10; 5:12; 9:32-4; 14:8-10; Jas 5:14.

[39] Gal 5:22-3; CCC 736; 1832.

[40] St. Augustine, City of God, Book 14, 9.