Important notice for those who have mental problems, by the R.-P. Jean-Joseph Surin
Extract from the SPIRITUAL CATECHISM OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, VOLUME I, Composed by RPJJ SURIN, of the Society of Jesus:
Important notice for those who have mental problems
What are these notices?
The first is to prevent a half-consent that the demon tries to extract from the person who suffers these interior pains. To understand this well, it is necessary to know that the evil spirit on these occasions leads men to impurity or despair, or to aversion towards their neighbor. But besides these gross temptations, he does all he can to persuade them to indulge their mood, and to withdraw into themselves, to occupy themselves with their troubles. We stiffen ourselves against the first temptations, which visibly solicit evil, and we easily succumb to the last, where we see no sin: this is what I call half-consent, which is 'a very great importance of refusing to the enemy. For this, it is not enough to not give in to the sad and impatient mood to which we feel inclined; we must place ourselves in a disposition of spiritual joy and gentleness towards our neighbor, so that nothing appears outside of the pain we suffer within. Besides the fact that by this conduct we gain an entire victory over the demon, we also derive two great advantages, which are, to advance a lot in the path of perfection, and to soon acquire a great superiority over the enemy.
What is the second opinion?
It is to pay no attention to the pain that one suffers, imitating those who walk on the tops of the mountains, who fix their view on the path they must take, without ever turning it away to look at the precipices which lie above them. surround on all sides. We notice that Saint Peter walked on the water without sinking, while he only considered Our Lord who was waiting for him on the edge; and that as soon as he thought of the danger, he began to sink; which brought him this reproach from Jesus Christ: You of little faith, why did you doubt?
Of what use is it to the soul not to contemplate its sorrows?
She thereby avoids several dangers and several inconveniences which she would face by maintaining another course of action. These punishments, whether they come from the side of God, or from the side of the devil, or from the side of men (as we said in Chapter Six of the Fourth Part), what can we gain by considering them? As soon as you reflect on the contempt and mistreatment you receive from men, you will make your Cross heavier by representing it vividly and magnifying things in your imagination. If you reason about the attacks that the demon delivers to you in matters of impurity or despair, all your reasoning will only result in making the temptation more pressing, and in bringing it deeper into your soul: and if you advise you to carefully consider the abysses of the greatness and justice of God, it is to be feared that you will be swallowed up by them. This is why souls subject to interior sorrows, and especially to those extraordinary sorrows of which we have spoken elsewhere; these souls, I say, have nothing better to do than to forbid themselves any reflection on the sorrows they suffer, to give all their attention to the life of Jesus Christ, and to the other holy objects which are able to console them. They should only open their eyes to see the path they are walking on, without diverting their sight elsewhere. This person mistreated me; this cross is overwhelming; this precipice is frightful: what purpose can these reflections serve, other than to embitter the heart and cause confusion in the mind? Is it not safer and sweeter to suffer one's pain without taking any other care than to consider the goodness of God, and to study resignation and patience?
Where does it come from that people who suffer are inclined to consider their pain?
This attention comes from an eager care they have for themselves; and because lacking confidence in God, they await deliverance from their own industry. This is the ordinary temptation of souls who carry interior crosses: they want to rest; they constantly seek the remedy for the evil that afflicts them, and they do not see that this eagerness only increases their pain, and throws them into new embarrassment. The course they must take is to take care of themselves, to abandon themselves entirely to the mercy of God, saying like the Prophet David: I will always have my eyes fixed on the Lord, convinced that 'he will deliver me from the snares of my enemies .
What is the third opinion on the subject of mental troubles?
This is because we encourage ourselves to support them, with a view to the advantages that will accrue from them. Because these sorrows, and especially those that we call extraordinary, are followed by several supernatural gifts, by great peace, by perfect freedom of heart, by ineffable consolations, by constant firmness in maintaining oneself in good, and to follow the movement of grace in all. We can add to what we said about it in the fourth part, that it is of the people who passed through these trials that it is said in the Apocalypse: That they washed and whitened their robes in the blood of the Lamb; that they will neither hunger nor thirst; that the Sun, nor any other thing, will no longer bother them; because the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne will be their Shepherd, and will lead them to fountains of living waters . It can be said of these souls that they have seen the end of their evils, and that they will henceforth receive all goods in abundance. The greatest of these goods is that God will establish his dwelling in them, according to the promise of the Gospel: We will come to him, etc. Jesus Christ, having become their guide, will lead them to the fountains of his wisdom and his love, from which they will draw ceaselessly: so that their life will be nothing more than a continual feast, and a foretaste of Paradise. We have elsewhere exhorted persons, who are in these trials, to be faithful to God in spite of their extreme sufferings, and the frequent temptations of the enemy: and as this advice is most necessary, we will here remind them that their faithfulness consists , 1°. To courageously resist the devil without ever consenting to evil. 2°. To constantly persevere in their spiritual exercises, and not to dispense with them under the pretext that they are suffering great pain. 3°. Not to omit any of the good works which they were wont to do, either of their own choice, or to satisfy the duties of their state, or to obey the movements of grace.
Are these opinions only for people who suffer extraordinary pain?
All kinds of people can benefit from it, and those who experience only ordinary sufferings and temptations can be told that they will increase in grace and virtue, as they increase in resignation and patience, and that They will comply with these opinions.
