What an amazing story as I looked at Young Fogey’s blog! I have nothing to add, but draw your attention to the very antithesis of the “prosperity gospel” and “you are worth your success / money / whatever”.
Catholic but mentally ill. A man bears his cross. The thing about mental illness is that it is illness. Like all illness, it does not constitute a judgment from God or a declaration of moral turpitude. To be mentally ill is to struggle with a cross, not to invite advice and catcalls and improving advice from tongue cluckers and Job’s Comforters. St. Benedict Joseph Labré was mentally ill and would have been indistinguishable from many of the people in our homeless population today. He was also a saint. You get to be a saint, not by being a Shiny Happy Person, but by offering whatever you’ve got – including a malfunctioning brain if that’s your lot – to God.
The Blue Flower 
Wonderful! Labre is probably the most visible example in the RCC, though there are others, such as Catherine of Sienna who may have been anorexic. The Eastern Church has a whole category of Saints called “Holy Fools”, such as Basil the Blessed of Moscow. The wounded saint and the wounded healer are very familiar in Christian history, and constitute a marvelous t5estimony both to God’s love for all His people, and to our need to look at others through God’s eyes. (see Matthew 25 and other places)
ed
This was very uplifting. I experienced Bi Polar between April 1976 and January 1983. The condition varies greatly and what I was treated for intermittently was mostly the depression side of the equation. Thankfully I have not needed to seek treatment since although being aware of a few minor episodes. A brilliant post from a brother in Christ. Truly and I can say this from personal experience the mentally ill are no way abandoned by Our God.
Neil.