According to my own clinical observation as a psychologist, one of the most common causes of depression is a guilt complex. On the other hand, depression can cause or contribute to, intense feelings of subjective guilt. So what you have is interdependent relationship between the more specific and the more general phenomenon. In short, they feed off of one another.

We are all born with a conscience, and the conscience is like a battery. If parents are too permissive and provide no guidance, no structure, no expectations and consequences for undesirable behavior, the battery can die, and a child can be morally fixated. On the other hand, if punishment is overly severe, and/or if it centers upon  behaviors that, in the long run, don’t really matter all that much, a child can develop a guilt complex.

A complex, in my profession, as depicted by renowned psychological theorist, Carl Jung, is simply something that was once a neutral phenomenon that becomes emotionally – charged through one’s personal experience, and takes on a new level of significance, accordingly. As a young child, you may think it’s quite entertaining to pour milk all over the sofa. Then a parent might come along and punish you, quite severely or scold you, very harshly, creating a lingering emotionally-laden memory based on the association between pouring milk all over the sofa, and feeling guilty and ashamed. You are not likely to be very entertained by spilling milk on the sofa in the future. Instead, you are likely to feel guilty and ashamed.

God has placed within us, an internal sense of right and wrong, and the scriptures further lay the groundwork for the development of a healthy sense of right and wrong – of conscience, if you will. Parents are supposed to parent according to scriptural principles. This means speaking the truth in love. This means disciplining a child, but with love and sensitivity to the needs of the child. Some says, follow your conscience has become desensitized, if it has been exposed to overly permissive, or overly severe parenting, or if it has been exposed to overly permissive, or overly severe parenting, or if it has been seared by repeated instances in which it is ignored, then it probably doesn’t serve as a very reliable guide. Even an over-active or under-active conscience can be brought back into a homeostatic state through a study and application of scripture. I’m taking about the power of “God’s grace to realign that which has been misaligned. I’m taking about restoring a conscience that has been damaged. That’s where the grace of God comes in.

Judge Law once presided over your “case,” and it didn’t look good. Judge Law seemed a bit cold, a bit cruel, a bit of a perfectionist, extremely demanding, and horribly heavy-handed. But I’ve got some good news for you. If you’ve invited Jesus Christ to “cross” examine your heart, then by order of your new judge - Judge Grace, you’ve been declared “Not guilty.”

St.  Paul, had to spend a lot of time with his flock of new believers, trying to teach them the difference between being under the yoke of the law, and being under grace. Some were living by the letter of the law, and were condemning themselves, and others when, they, and others failed to yield to those letter of that law.

Grace does not signal eh irrelevance of the law, or irreverence for it, but, rather, the fulfillment of the law. The law is powerless, in and of itself, to produce genuine righteousness. Following it, without God’s grace to guide us, will inevitably lead us to a self-imposed, force conformity to the demands of the law, and to a place of self-righteousness. The grace that was purchased by the blood of Christ represents the fuel or the power to fulfill the law, as servants of God. Some would mistake this for a blank check in which to rack up more dept. But Paul admonishes those who would take the grace of God for granted in this way, and would squander the inheritance that each child of God has a rightful claim to. The next time you’re tempted to bury yourself in tormenting feelings of guilt and shame, remember who your new judge is: It’s Judge Grace is: It’s Judge Grace, and not Judge Law.

Then boldly step before the thrown of grace, and be “cross” examined – that is, examined by the cross of Jesus Christ. You can’t measure up on your own, but when you measure yourself with the cross of Jesus, you’ll always measure up, even though you fall short, Christ will fill in the gap.

Are you struggling with and burdened down by painful feelings of guilt and shame? If you’re a child of the King, you don’t need to be. Notwithstanding underlying psychological issues that may be contributing to this experience (requiring a good psychologist and/or psychiatrist), I’d recommend reflecting upon this song and upon these words.

Vocations and Prayer

The Catholic Magazine on Vocation Ministry