God Wants Your Peace: How Psychology Can Be Part of His Plan

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By Pedro Pablo

St. Raphael Counseling, a ministry of Catholic Charities

Many of us live day by day, only focused on the next thing: the next bill, the next paycheck, the next event. We often live merely to survive, with no time to think about other aspects of life. Sometimes, our only focus is on the physical needs.

It’s a way of life that is understandable, but it overlooks the spiritual, interpersonal, community and psychological needs that we all have.

I say “needs” because it is our duty before God, our family and ourselves to care for our physical, spiritual and mental health. St. Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). This is all the more reason to take care of ourselves in every aspect of life. That is why this article seeks to explain mental health from the perspective of the Catholic faith and to demonstrate how tools such as psychology can aid us on the path to healing.

When the Storm Comes

The Book of Genesis reminds us that we live in a fallen world (Genesis 3:1-24). There is injustice, death and illness. We go through the world like a shipwrecked vessel, searching for breath and relief. The question is not if the storm will come, but when it will appear. And when it arrives — disguised as anguish, anxiety, fear, illness, the loss of a loved one or of a dream — we may find ourselves saying, with the psalmist: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord” (Psalm 130:1).

As Catholics, we are not immune to these realities of life. Having faith does not mean that nothing will disturb us. Having faith means accepting our limits with humility and allowing ourselves to be healed by what God has placed within our reach.

In the Book of Numbers, the Israelites, while wandering in the desert, complained against God and Moses, which led God to send poisonous snakes to bite them (Numbers 21:4-9). Many Israelites were bitten and died. The people repented and asked Moses to intercede on their behalf. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. When those who had been bitten looked at the bronze serpent, they were healed.

This biblical passage is often interpreted as a foreshadowing of Jesus' crucifixion and the salvation offered through faith in him. However, it can also be interpreted from a psychological perspective. Giving it a psychological interpretation does not mean rejecting the truths of faith but rather understanding how this passage comes alive in our daily lives, especially when we are shipwrecked in the ocean of life and feel far from God.

The Courage to Face the Difficult

From a psychological point of view, what does the story of the bronze serpent tell us? In short, this biblical story serves as a powerful metaphor for facing and overcoming our greatest fears. The serpent on the pole can be seen as a symbol of what we fear most — in this case, poisonous snakes — and the act of looking at it, instead of avoiding it, brings healing. In other words, God did not make the poisonous snakes disappear but rather commanded the Israelites to look at what had bitten them in order to heal.

Similarly, this dynamic mirrors the healing process experienced in therapy. One of the fundamental principles of psychology is facing fears in order to overcome them, and that courage is a more effective remedy than avoidance.

St. John of the Cross used to say: “To reach what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.”

In other words, sometimes we must do what is hardest for us. If we take this teaching together with the story of the bronze serpent, what do we conclude?

God provides us with many tools to seek healing. Of course, the most essential is God’s grace through the sacraments, as the Church teaches us. But psychology can also be another means by which God works.

Jesus himself said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). At times, we want God to act according to our wishes, but many times he, as with the Israelites, invites us to face what is most difficult. What often holds us back is not a lack of faith, but a lack of knowledge, of resources or the pride that keeps us from asking for help.

Psychology, Faith and Concrete Help

One of my clients, with a very painful childhood and life story, told me in our first therapy session: “I thought I could do it alone. That if I prayed, everything would be resolved. But I realized I had to seek psychological help.” 

As we said before, to be healed, we must face what we do not want. The most important thing is to know that help exists, and the only thing we need to do is ask for it.

We understand why many people are hesitant to seek psychological help. Maybe they have heard negative things — some have even said that psychology is of the devil. However, it is essential to recall that psychology is the scientific study of the mind and human behavior. It seeks to understand, explain, predict and improve the ways we think, feel and act.

Moreover, the Catholic Church acknowledges the significance of this science in understanding the human person. God has given us a mind to think. Yet, many times our minds fill with anxieties and worries. We feel pain, anxiety, joy and sadness. And when the pain is great, we may act in unhealthy ways or seek relief in things that are not good for us or our families. It is precisely here that psychology can help us understand the “why” of our actions — especially when pain or anxiety keeps us from seeing clearly.

We all experience a range of emotions: joy, sadness, fear and anxiety. That variety is completely normal. God gave us emotions for a reason. Without them, this world would be in darkness. What matters is learning to manage them with wisdom, without shame. Even Jesus wept, loved and became angry. We are not alone. God created us to live in communion with him and with others. That is why we need others, and others need us.

God Also Heals Through Others

The good news is that Catholic psychologists exist — mental health professionals who integrate faith and reason. They see the person as a whole: body, mind and soul. They recognize that we were created by God with profound dignity, and therefore, they offer comprehensive care.

It is important to know that God has already loosed the chains that enslave us, but sometimes we are the ones who do not want to let them go. We cling to what does not do us good, or we believe that what is harmful is normal. But God calls us to trust in him, even if help comes in ways we do not expect. Jesus invites us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Of course, it is not easy to open our hearts to others, much less to strangers. We may think we will be judged, that no one will understand us. Worse still, many of us grew up with the idea that “what happens in the family stays in the family,” when in reality, the whole neighborhood already knows. Therefore, let us have the courage and humility to ask for help. Because only in vulnerability and in confronting our wounds can we be healed, just as the Israelites were in the desert.

Only by going where we do not want to go will we become what we are not, as St. John of the Cross said.

Let us also remember the words Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke to St. Juan Diego: “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” Let us not be afraid. God is always ready to help us — even through others.