"Sólo Dios Basta ..Tu Gracia Me Basta": Freedom from Anxiety in Christ - Salutogenic Pastoral Psychology from St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola

Anxiety has been plaguing us globally (i.e. Remes et al., 2016).  Because anxiety is closely associated with depression as a stress-related disorder (i.e. Kumar & Akoijam, 2017), the world-wide epidemic of anxiety may mean that so many people in the world have been under distress and gasping for a relief in depression.

  

The global epidemic of anxiety can trace its possible origin to Genesis 3, when Eve and Adam disobeyed their Creator, God, and allowed Satan’s destructive influence affect the original harmony between God the Creator and the human.  The disharmony in our relationship with God means our anxiety, as it is a reflection of our insecure attachment with God. This based on research studies on anxiety, juxtapositionally applying the mother-child attachment theory of Bowlby and Ainsworth (i.e. Ainsworth, 1989) to a possible correlation between out attachment to God and our well-being (i.e. Bradshaw et al., 2010, & Ellison et al., 2012).

  

Upon the fall by biting the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve began experiencing anxiety, as they hid themselves from God – feeling shame but not really sorry for God by not being obedient to Him. Their self -awareness of being naked signals that they gained ego, as a result of the fall. Thus, Genesis 3 reminds that the today’s epidemic of anxiety has its origin to Adam and Eve becoming self-awareness with ego upon their fall, as ego-consciousness, shame, and anxiety are significantly associated (i.e. Muris et al., 2018).

  

To juxtapose the current state of anxiety epidemic with Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”, it is like “Inferno”. Fortunately, since the Father in heaven, the Creator, who remains to be rachum v’chanun (compassionate, merciful, and gracious), sent His only begotten Son, the Christ, to us out of His chesed – unbreakable everlasting love of God for us – so that he can shepherd us out of “Inferno” of anxiety epidemic state. That is why the Son is the Christ, whose mission is to deliver us from the “Inferno” of anxiety, which is associated with our sins since Adam and Eve, to the “Paradiso”, where we are totally free from anxiety, as well as any other effects of the Original Sin. As Moses and Joshua led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan in Exodus, Christ the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18) and the Holy Spirit, another Parakletos, (John 14:16, 26),  lead our exodus journey from the “Inferno” of anxiety to “Paradiso” of freedom. The journey is our “Purgatorio”.  Upon becoming followers of Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit, we leave the “Inferno” and enter into the “Purgatorio” with the hope of successfully entering the “Paradiso”.

So, what are we to do to embark on this exodus journey of the “Purgatorio” from the anxiety “Inferno” to the “Paradiso” of freedom?  

More psychiatrists and psychologists to combat this mental health epidemic?  Perhaps so, but this is a typical answer by those who do not know God.  These mental health clinicians may provide helpful therapeutic service to some extent. As a pastoral psychologist, however, I meet many clients who express their frustration and dissatisfaction with conventional mental health treatments (psychotherapy and medication) , seeking a pastoral approach to overcome anxieties and anxiety-related psychosomatic problems. In response, my role for them is to facilitate the growth of faith for them so that they can benefit from salutogenic effects of grace that God has given us through Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, another Parakletos, nahum, who can naham (experience sorrow for us) out of rechem (compassion).

Is the pastoral psychological service evidence-based? Yes, according to Hook et al. (2010) and a comprehensive review of relevant research studies in the Handbook of Religion and Health (2^nd ed) by Koenig, King, and Carson (2012) . More empirical research studies to further verify clinical efficacy of pastoral (religious and spiritual) therapeutic approach to treat anxiety and other psychosomatic distresses are forthcoming. Now science is finally catching up with clinical efficacy as what Antonovsky (1979) has called “salutogenesis”  within our inner core, facilitated through God’s grace, which comes through Christ and the Holy Spirit, who is another Parakletos. However, salutogenesis in the pastoral context is based on faith (pistis, which literally means trust and confidence) in the source of salutogenic grace: God, as indicated by Jesus in Mark 5:34 ; 6:1-5.

Salutogenesis through faith-based pastoral psychological care focuses on faith’s combatant and protective effects against anxiety and its related problems, such as stress-induced depression, as it was made known by Jesus, about 2,000 years ago, as various Gospel narratives describe.  In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus “prescribed” the best inoculation to anxieties and distresses.  In Matthew 5:25-34, Jesus reminds us that the best way to fight anxiety is to find the locus of life in God, rather than ego - nothing else, by encouraging us to seek God’s Kingdom and justice first (Matthew 5:33). The Kingdom is the “Paradiso”, the state of freedom from anxiety, and this true freedom only comes through Christ (John 8:34-36). Thus, to be in the Kingdom, which Jesus calls us to seek first to be free from anxiety, we must find our life in Christ, as it is the freedom as Paul describes in Romans 8. In fact, Jesus’ call on us to be delivered from the “Inferno” of anxiety into his Kingdom, the “Paradiso”, the freedom in Christ,  is echoed by St. Augustine of Hippo.  In  “Confession”,  St. Augustine said, “Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te”( You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you).

Now, how can we seek the Kingdom of God, the freedom,  in order to overcome and prevent anxiety?

According to two 16^th century Spanish Catholic mystics – St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola, it is all about completely entrusting God by surrendering and dissolving ego to God, as Teresa’s “Nada te turbe” (nothing disturbs you) prayer and Ignatius’ “Suscipe”(receive) prayer reflect.  These poetic prayers invite us, as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola did, to surrender our ego to the will of God – offering it up, asking God to receive it. To let go of our ego, which tends to focus on the worldly things rather than God, Teresa prayed:

Vénganle desamparos,

cruces, desgracias;

siendo Dios tu tesoro

nada te falta.

Id, pues, bienes del mundo;

id dichas vanas;

aunque todo lo pierda,

sólo Dios basta.

And, Ignatius prayed more radically:

Toma, Señor, y recibe mi libertad,

mi memoria, mi entendimiento y toda mi voluntad,

todo mi haber y mi poseer.

The above words in the two 16th-century Spanish mystics’ prayers are about denouncing our worldly attachment by resolving ego into God, and reflecting what Paul said in Galatians 2:20. Perhaps, this is like what nekkhamma is for nirvana in Buddhism’s Dharma teaching.

To put this important denunciation of worldly attachment and resolution of ego in Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino indigenous psychology), we find our true kapwa (authentic self identity) in oneness with Christ (i.e. John 14:20; 15:1-9), as kapwa requires another being to understand who we are.  When we surrender and resolve our ego completely to Christ , we find our kapwa in Christ, namely becoming  one with him,  as Paul said in Galatians 2:20. When we attain this state, we can begin to experience the Kingdom – the “Paradiso” freedom from anxieties. Until then,  on our  exodus journey through the “Purgatorio”, we say to ourselves, making salvific and salutogenic self-fulfilling prophecy, “Nada me turbe….nada me espante…porque quien a Dios tiene nada le falta…por eso sólo Dios basta…Si, porque sólo Dios basta, no me preocupo….tu gracia me basta…”, as St. Teresa and St. Ignatius have prayed on their exodus.

In my pastoral psychology practice, I invite my clients, especially those who speak and understand Spanish, to reflect their journeys in “Pugatorio” upon below prayers of St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Nada te turbe,

nada te espante,

todo se pasa,

Dios no se muda;

la paciencia

todo lo alcanza;

quien a Dios tiene

nada le falta:

Sólo Dios basta.

Eleva tu pensamiento,

al cielo sube,

por nada te acongojes,

nada te turbe.

A Jesucristo sigue

con pecho grande,

y, venga lo que venga,

nada te espante.

¿Ves la gloria del mundo?

Es gloria vana;

nada tiene de estable,

todo se pasa.

Aspira a lo celeste,

que siempre dura;

fiel y rico en promesas,

Dios no se muda.

Ámala cual merece

bondad inmensa;

pero no hay amor fino

sin la paciencia.

Confianza y fe viva

mantenga el alma,

que quien cree y espera

todo lo alcanza.

Del infierno acosado

aunque se viere,

burlará sus furores

quien a Dios tiene.

Vénganle desamparos,

cruces, desgracias;

siendo Dios tu tesoro

nada te falta.

Id, pues, bienes del mundo;

id dichas vanas;

aunque todo lo pierda,

sólo Dios basta.

Santa Teresa de Avila, Nada te Turbe

Toma, Señor, y recibe mi libertad,

mi memoria, mi entendimiento y toda mi voluntad,

todo mi haber y mi poseer.

Tú me lo diste, a Ti, Señor, lo torno;

todo es tuyo; dispón de ello conforme a tu voluntad.

Dame tu amor y gracia, que esto me basta.

Santo Ignacio de Loyola, Sucipe (Spiritual Exercises, 234)

In seeking the Kingdom, St. Teresa of Avila said, “sólo Dios basta” and St. Ignatius of Loyola said, “te gracia me basta”. These  reflect what Jesus spoke to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9.  As these Spanish mystics of the 16 century have done, we can also attain the state of peace – freedom – the Kingdom, the state of “nada te turbe, nada te espante” – Christian version of what is nirvana in Dharma teaching of Buddhism.  But, we must put the Kingdom as our priority, as Jesus has called us in Matthew 6:33. In seeking the Kingdom first,  St. Ignatius of Loyola cried to God, “Toma, Señor, y recibe mi libertad, mi memoria, mi entendimiento y toda mi voluntad, todo mi haber y mi poseer”.   “Mi libertad” is not “verdadera liberta”, because we cannot attain the Kingdom unless our ego is totally surrendered to God through Christ.  And, St. Teresa of Avila was not fooled by “la gloria del mundo”.

When we resolve our ego by totally surrendering it to Christ, there is no longer “mi”, “my”.   We do not have to claim what is ours, because we find our true “self” (kapwa) in Christ, upon crucifying our ego with the flesh of Christ on the Cross.  When we find our kapwa in the risen Christ – finding our true “self” in the true freedom (verdadera liberta de la ansiedad y la angustia), our heart is in peace and can joyfully sing, “sólo Dios basta”…. “te gracia me basta”.

  

Let us seek Christ and the Kingdom that he has promised, as in him, through his grace, we attain the Kingdom – our true “self” and freedom from anxiety and distress. Our “Purgatorio” is our trials to attain the freedom in the Kingdom, our “Paradiso”, filled with everlasting joy.

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References:

Ainsworth, M. S. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy. American Psychologist, 44(4):709-716.

Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress, and coping. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bradshaw,  M. , Ellison,  C. G. , Marcum,  J. P. (2010). Attachment to God, Images of God, and Psychological Distress in a Nationwide Sample of Presbyterians. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20(2): 130–147

Ellison, C.G., Bradshaw, M., Kuyel N., and Marcum, J.P.  (2012). Attachment to God, Stressful Life Events, and Changes in Psychological Distress. Review of Religious Research, 53(4):493-511

Hook, J.N., Worthington,  E.L. , Davis, D.E., Jennings, D.J., Gartner,  A.L., and Hook, J. P. (2010). Empirically supported religious and spiritual therapies. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 66(1):46-72

Koenig, H.G., King, D. E., and Carson, V.B. (2012). Handbook of Religion and Health (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press

Kumar, K.S. & Akoijam, B. S., (2017). Depression, Anxiety and Stress Among Higher Secondary School Students of Imphal, Manipur. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 42(2): 94-96

Muris, P., Meeters, C., and van Asseldonk, M. (2018). Shame on Me! Self-Conscious Emotions and Big Five Personality Traits and Their Relations to Anxiety Disorders Symptoms in Young, Non-Clinical Adolescents. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 49(2): 268–278.

Remes, O., Brayne, C., van der Linde, R., and Lafortune, L (2016). A systematic review of reviews on the prevalence of anxiety disorders in adult populations. Brain and Behavior., 6(7), e00497.