Our Lord wants you to turn to him for grace and strength even more during such times. But if you turn away from His church and His sacraments, along with all the opportunities to grow in Holiness our Church gives you, you may find yourself ill equipped emotionally and spiritually to handle the troubles and travails affecting you. We have some other great means of increasing sanctity, spiritual resilience, and trust in the Lord with prayers and devotions such as the Rosary , Stations of the Cross , Novenas , and Eucharistic Adoration as well.
And as far as traveling to another church is concerned, hey at least you might find one where you can still go to Mass. Even if the Mass is hokey, or boring, or even, Heaven forbid, worldly irreverent, at least it still is.
Think of the Christians in the Middle East and Africa for whom attending Mass is either impossible try to find a diocese in Saudi Arabia! People are risking their lives to worship Jesus much as they have in various parts of the world ever since His church began twenty centuries ago. Many saints have experienced what St. John of the Cross famously described as a Long Dark Night of the Soul, grappling with feelings of futility and dryness. The church has been described as a hospital for sinners, after all, and like it or not, while we are all called to be saints, our concupiscent nature often gets in the way of our higher calling.
Speaking of Saints in our prayers to Saints and to the Blessed Mother Mary we have great allies in our spiritual endeavors. She in particular is a great source of grace for us. And, just as a reminder, we no more worship her than the statues we unfairly are accused of worshiping. We honor not worship her. What are her last words in scripture? There are numerous Saints we can ask for help and guidance as well! Remember that our Lord said the Gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church, although Satan and his fallen angels do certainly try!
Traditional Catholic teaching up until about with the end of Vatican II held that salvation could only be possible through the Catholic Church. The Vatican has softened that stance since then in favor of a more ecumenical approach.
Indeed, your salvation could well depend on it! While our Lord desires our happiness, it is meant to be all-encompassing only in Heaven, not here on earth. Here we can indeed experience His comfort and peace, and are indeed meant to, but he does not promise any of us lives free from any suffering or pain.
Also, keep in mind this important component of our Faith: it is very easy and popular nowadays to belittle Catholicism as being just a bunch of outdated rules and regulations "dogmas" that get in the way of true "Spirituality". Our Catechism, our Playbook, as it were, gives us not only the framework for a more fulfilling relationship with God but also the theological and scriptural underpinnings behind it.
In this context, these rules are not chains keeping you from freedom but more like guard rails on roads that might otherwise be quite treacherous! When we sin we go against God's will for us. For that matter, look around you. So many people have the "freedom" to hold grudges and malign others, often about very trivial things. They partake of the "freedom" to look down their noses them, much like those parishioners that are driving you crazy.
Or worse, they feel they need the "freedom" to cheat others out of greed; or to cheat on others as in spousal relationships and families torn apart by adultery. Hey, its only sex, right? Sin separates and divides each of us from each other in so many ways! Our sins can bring only temporary happiness at best, but no lasting joy. We are creatures of habit. Catholicism can help steer those habits towards virtue rather than vice.
If you give God permission to work within you He can do wonders not only for you but for others around you as well! There must be something truly special He saw in Mankind when he created us in the first place, something that would so transcend our weakness and fallen nature that He would want all of us to spend Eternity with Him! At that point Heaven or Hell await you for Eternity, right? But if your soul is not ready yet for Heaven but not destined for Hell, what then?
God in His Mercy and in His fervent desire to see us all saved and safe with Him in heaven for Eternity, has another option: Purgatory , where whatever attachments to sin we might still have, whatever stains may remain on our souls, are cleansed and our souls are purified to get ready for Heaven. At the same time, I wrestled with my own sin.
The more I went to confession, the more I saw how very broken I was and am and that led to a personal conflict in me: How could I be a priest? A beautiful priest to whom I will be eternally indebted provided me with the answer: Yes. God calls those wounded by their own sin and the sin of the world to compassionately preach the truth of his abiding love. I have come to see that my internal struggle about whether or not God really wanted me to be a priest was and is a microcosm of my wrestling with the Church.
I am sinful, I am loved, I am called. The Church comprises human beings who are susceptible to weakness and sin, but the Church is loved and the Church is called. I am honored and humbled to be a member of this body of Christ in all its glory and all its faults. I embrace the reality of my sin, the sins of those in the Church and the mercy of God that covers it all.
Like any person who struggles with sin, the Church needs our love and prayers, not our condemnations and judgments. Saginaw St. This must be fostered through prayer and the sacraments. Go regularly to Mass and Confession.
Throw yourself on the mercy of God. When you make a mistake not IF you make a mistake , turn back to God again and again if you have to. In the end and the beginning , Catholicism is not about a set of beliefs or practices, but about a Person, Jesus Christ. This encounter is the purpose of everything else you ever do. He lives on a hobby farm in New Jersey with his wife and eight children.
He returned to the Catholic Church in Augustine of Hippo. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. The Daughters of Saint Teresa, who had petitioned that his cause be opened, report that the archbishop lived a simple and austere life, showing great concern for the poor. Louis University said. Ahead of the Nov.
Durbin complains that his pro-abortion voting record has kept him from receiving Communion in his home diocese, and a Catholic priest and journalist offers a sympathetic ear. Subscriber Service Center Already a subscriber?
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