"How few mad people there are now": Thoughts of Teresa and Catherine

Spiritual Life, Spring 2002 by Giallanza, Joel

IN THE THIRD CHAPTER of Saint Mark's Gospel, Jesus is particularly busy. He performs many healings, and the crowds gather around him to the point that precautions are taken so he is not crushed. In response to his many works, demons shriek in recognition of him and proclaim, "You are the Son of God" (3:11). Jesus selects twelve associates to be his apostles, "to be with him, to be sent out to preach" (3:14), and to share in the work yet before him. Then Jesus returns to his home and "once again such a large crowd gathered that there was no chance even to eat" (3:20).

If Jesus intended this trip home to provide a break from the demands of his ministry by sharing some quiet time with his family and friends, then his intention could not have been further from becoming a reality. Beside the constant press of the crowd to deal with, Jesus faces the curious response from his loved ones: "When Jesus' family heard what he was doing, they thought he was mad and went out to get him under control" (3:21). They thought he was "mad," that he needed to be gotten "under control"-not exactly the kind of press an itinerant preacher wants to accompany his movements among the public, especially when it originates with his own family.

The tenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel presents Jesus in a situation where he is characterized in much the same way. Jesus speaks of himself and his ministry using the pastoral image of the Good Shepherd and in doing so sharply contrasts his approach and method to that of the religious leaders of the day. In fact, he does not shy away from saying, "Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber" (10:8). Then he speaks of giving his life and receiving it back again. Not surprisingly, "Many people said, `He has a demon in him! He is mad! Why listen to him?'" (10:20). Indeed, why listen to a madman?

Of all the qualities we might hope to emulate from the life and example of Jesus of Nazareth, madness is probably not very high among them, if it appears on our list at all. We would not relish the experiences of misunderstanding and isolation that would inevitably accompany such an label, especially in its related meanings of anger or insanity. Even the contemporary meaning--of feeling or showing a strong liking for something ("madly in love")-is less than satisfying since the strength of that attachment is often interpreted as transitory, even quite fleeting.

The mystical tradition of the Church, however, presents a different perspective. Mystics of no less caliber than Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Siena view this madness as a quality that speaks more of God's transforming love than of any condition to be feared. Indeed, it should be nurtured. What, then, is this madness that can be desirable for our growth and development in the spiritual life?

Etymological Roots

The evolution of the term madness is intriguing. Its primary sense can be traced to the Goths of the early Middle Ages among whom its meaning was "to cripple." Given that physical disabilities were often seen to be the result of a divine curse, which compounded them with psychological or mental impairment, its development toward a contemporary meaning of "insanity" is easy to understand. By the fourteenth century, the term expanded to mean "extreme folly, infatuation, wild excitement," none of which necessarily signaled any mental weakness as much as intense emotional attachment to something. This dual etymology, with slight nuances, endures even today. However, this direct etymology does not easily lend itself to explore the mystical significance of the madness that bespeaks God's love.

Even more intriguing is the indirect etymology, that is, words with which madness shares its most primitive root but which developed along a different linguistic line. Three sets of words are within this indirect line. The first set includes those words whose meaning is "to change," such as transmute, mutate, commute; and even more specifically, "to change one's dwelling place," such as migrate, emigrate. A second set of words includes those whose meaning is "to hold in common," such as communion, communication. The third set includes words that mean "to serve for the people," such as municipal, remunerate. This other etymology, though indirect, can serve as a framework for understanding the mystical meaning of madness.

"Enkindled With a Love"

The first shared meaning that distinguishes madness is the changing of one's dwelling place. This communicates a sense of journey, of movement into new surroundings and unfamiliar territory. What are those surroundings and what is that territory? What stimulates and sustains the journey?

In her Meditations on the Song of Songs, Saint Teresa of Avila writes of the verse "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth" as an expression of the profound desire to be united with God. She says, "The soul that is enkindled with a love that makes it mad desires nothing else than to say these words" (1:10).1 An enkindling love, a burning love intense enough to make the soul so single-minded that it "desires nothing else"-this is madness. Such a love has the power to stimulate and sustain the journey. The destination? A new identity with which we see ourselves and the world around us, a new set of values by which we establish the standards for our life. This identity and those values ground us in the example and teaching of Jesus. They stand in sharp contrast to the siren voices of society that beckon us to build our life on commodities claiming to give humanity meaning and worth, rather than the other way around. Choosing to live in a way that contradicts and ignores those voices will make us appear mad in the eyes of many, for they will not see the seriousness or the strength of the foundation on which we stand. As followers of Jesus, we must welcome and embrace such madness. We do this with confidence and conviction because we know the extent of God's love for us.