Looking Back on Depression
In the midst of severe clinical depression I have never felt anything redeeming about it, spiritually or otherwise. But when I emerge back into life, several things become clear.

One is that the darkness did not kill me, which makes all darknesses more bearable--and since darkness is an inevitable part of the cycle of spiritual life (as it is in the cycle of natural life) this is valuable knowledge.

Two, depression has taught me that there is something in me far deeper and stronger and truer than my ego, my emotions, my intellect, or my will.

All of these faculties have failed me in depression, and if they were all I had, I do not believe I would still be here to talk about the experience.

Deeper down there is a soul, or true self, or "that of God in every person" that helps explain (for me, at least) where the real power of life resides.

Three, the experience of emerging from a living hell makes the rest of one's life more precious, no matter how "ordinary" it may be.

To know that life is a gift, and to be grateful for that gift, are keys to a spiritual life, keys that one is handed as depression yields to new life.

--Parker Palmer, Ph.D.
from the question "How could depression
lead to a richer spiritual life?"

I cannot really explain why or how he became the saint that speaks most directly to me, but I feel a close relationship with Francis of Assisi and have so since high school.

It is his spirit that I still cling to, and I am not alone. Millions of people pray to Francis for peace.

--by Jon M. Sweeney

I am a new freshman in college, and, perhaps more importantly, I am a person who was transplanted from one place to another. I am going to a Catholic college, a Jesuit school. ... a school where faith is expected to be part of everyone's life, and it generally is. ...

How can a generation avoid feeding off the culture that envelops it? How can those coming-of-age create a new milieu? What have we to work with?

--An excerpt from A TINY STEP AWAY FROM DEEPEST FAITH
by Marjorie Corbman