Mens Sana In Corpore Sano
One of the advantages we have in this parish is that we have two priests! And this advantage is increased, I believe, because Fr Josiah and I come literally from different places, with different life experiences, different cultural backgrounds, different perspectives. And all these differences inevitably result in differing theological and spiritual emphases. Not better or worse, just different. Next week’s pew sheet notes will be written by Fr Josiah, and I don’t know – and probably he doesn’t yet know! – what he might want to write about. So, I’ve rather jumped the gun by writing this week about St Lukestide even though St Luke’s day is not until the week after next, on 18th October.
My title for these notes is a famous Latin phrase which is usually translated as ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. You might wonder what this has got to do with St Luke, but Luke has traditionally been thought of as a doctor, and so he has become associated with health and healing. As an example, our bishop is having a special service in St Andrew’s Holborn on Wednesday 16th October which will incorporate the ministry of healing. I hope that some of you might want to come with us to this service.
The idea of a healthy mind in a healthy body comes, not from a Christian source, but from a Roman poet named Juvenal, who wrote a poem, 200 years after Jesus’s ministry, which includes the phrase ‘mens sana in corpore sano’.
The danger of this way of thinking about our health is that it might seem to suggest that our minds and our bodies are two separate things, and that one of them is inside the other one! In turn, this might lead us to think that we can either work on our mental health, or we can work on our bodily health, or both, but that these two aspects of our overall health are independent of one another. I’m not at all sure that is a good way of thinking about it.
The reality, I think, is that mental health and bodily health are just two ways of thinking about the same thing. We cannot have a healthy mind if we neglect our physical health, and we can’t have a healthy body if we neglect our mental health.
This, I think, is how we should understand the message of St Lukestide. Our health is one, God-given thing, and we have a duty to look after it. Looking after our health is an aspect of the gratitude that we owe to our creator, that attitude of thankfulness which is part and parcel of the Christian way of life.
Notices
Our next PCC Meeting is on 13th October, immediately after Mass.
Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.
We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.
Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.
Please support the church generously through your giving at www.stanselm.co.uk/giving