Am I being deceived?

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Monica4316

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I keep on wondering about this… and I really can’t figure out what the truth is. :confused:

I know that my sins are really horrible and have offended God. But sometimes when I really try to trust in His mercy, He gives me a lot of consolation and I feel that He is very loving, kind, etc… and I do believe that is true about Him… but how do I reconcile that with Him being just? I just don’t understand… I feel that I’m missing something. What should we focus on, God’s mercy or justice? how do we balance the two?

thanks 🙂
 
Monica4316 said:
I keep on wondering about this… and I really can’t figure out what the truth is. :confused:

I know that my sins are really horrible and have offended God. But sometimes when I really try to trust in His mercy, He gives me a lot of consolation and I feel that He is very loving, kind, etc… and I do believe that is true about Him… but how do I reconcile that with Him being just? I just don’t understand… I feel that I’m missing something. What should we focus on, God’s mercy or justice? how do we balance the two?

thanks 🙂
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what I’ve been heard that:
Mercy is related to forgiveness, justice is related to punishment.
For my self I will choose Mercy because it gets me to be closer to HIM and want others to feel the same so they can return back to HIM. When I feel His greatest love, I want people to feel the same as I feel so they will know how great God’s love is and they don’t try to run away from it.
 
I think of the thief on the cross. How justice was revealed to him, and by accepting true justice he could ask for Mercy.
 
"Beware also, daughters, of certain kinds of humility which the devil inculcates in us and which makes us very uneasy about the gravity of our past sins. There are many ways in which he is accustomed to depress us so that in time we withdraw from Communion and give up our private prayer, because the devil suggests to us that we are not worthy to engage in it. When we come to the Most Holy Sacrament, we spend the time during which we ought to be receiving grace in wondering whether we are properly prepared or no. The thing gets to such a pass that the soul can be made to believe that, through being what it is, it has been forsaken by God, and thus it almost doubts His mercy. …]

Pay great attention, daughters, to this point which I shall now make, because sometimes thinking yourselves so wicked may be humility and virtue and at other times a very great temptation. Humility, however deep it be, neither disquiets nor troubles nor disturbs the soul; it is accompanied by peace, joy, and tranquility. Although, on realizing how wicked we are, we can see that we deserve to be in hell, and are distressed by our sinfulness, and rightly think that everyone should hate us, yet, if our humility is true, this distress is accompanied by an interior peace and joy of which we should not like to be deprived. Far from disturbing or depressing the soul, it enlarges it and makes it fit to serve God better. The other kind of distress only disturbs and upsets the mind and troubles the soul, so grievous it is. I think the devil is anxious for us to believe that we are humble, and, if he can, to lead us to distrust God.

When you find yourselves in this state, cease thinking, as far as you can, of your own wretchedness, and think of the mercy of God, and of His love and His sufferings for you. If your state of mind is the result of temptation, you will be unable to do even this, for it will not allow you to quiet your thoughts …] it will be a great thing if you can recognize it as a temptation."

-St Teresa of Avila, “The Way of Perfection”
 
Benadam said:
I think of the thief on the cross. How justice was revealed to him, and by accepting true justice he could ask for Mercy.
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Yes. Trust in God’s mercy can also make us more ready to accept His justice. When we see how loving and merciful He is, we want to change and be purified in order to come nearer to Him. St. Therese said that she saw that God’s justice was resplendent with His mercy. He is one God. 🙂
 
Student09 said:
"Beware also, daughters, of certain kinds of humility which the devil inculcates in us and which makes us very uneasy about the gravity of our past sins. There are many ways in which he is accustomed to depress us so that in time we withdraw from Communion and give up our private prayer, because the devil suggests to us that we are not worthy to engage in it. When we come to the Most Holy Sacrament, we spend the time during which we ought to be receiving grace in wondering whether we are properly prepared or no. The thing gets to such a pass that the soul can be made to believe that, through being what it is, it has been forsaken by God, and thus it almost doubts His mercy. …]

Pay great attention, daughters, to this point which I shall now make, because sometimes thinking yourselves so wicked may be humility and virtue and at other times a very great temptation. Humility, however deep it be, neither disquiets nor troubles nor disturbs the soul; it is accompanied by peace, joy, and tranquility. Although, on realizing how wicked we are, we can see that we deserve to be in hell, and are distressed by our sinfulness, and rightly think that everyone should hate us, yet, if our humility is true, this distress is accompanied by an interior peace and joy of which we should not like to be deprived. Far from disturbing or depressing the soul, it enlarges it and makes it fit to serve God better. The other kind of distress only disturbs and upsets the mind and troubles the soul, so grievous it is. I think the devil is anxious for us to believe that we are humble, and, if he can, to lead us to distrust God.

When you find yourselves in this state, cease thinking, as far as you can, of your own wretchedness, and think of the mercy of God, and of His love and His sufferings for you. If your state of mind is the result of temptation, you will be unable to do even this, for it will not allow you to quiet your thoughts …] it will be a great thing if you can recognize it as a temptation."

-St Teresa of Avila, “The Way of Perfection”
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thank you for this! 🙂 this sounds so similar to what I’ve been fighting today that I think maybe this is it. I don’t know why in the past I’ve been able to think of my sins and not lose trust in God’s mercy, but now (for the past couple of weeks) it’s such a battle to not despair and give in to distrust. I will certainly pray about this… thanks for the quote 🙂

God bless
 
I really appreciate that quotation from St. Theresa, Student09. Thanks so much:):)!
 
I’m glad the quote helped you both. It helped me too, and when I saw this thread, I thought of it. I guess it was a nudge from the Holy Spirit.
 
I’ve been thinking more about this…

I read in Divine Mercy in My Soul,
Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy. … He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.
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I thought, maybe this is the reality… that Jesus wants to show us mercy, but if we don’t accept His mercy, we would be judged without it… yet then we most likely won’t be saved cause we’ll have sin to account for. However if we accept His mercy in this life, and repent, and go to Confession, and afterwards try to live for Him, - then we have the hope of salvation. The only question is, - if we reach out to God and ask for His mercy, will He definitely show us mercy? I think I really need to trust that He will… I don’t know what’s been happening to me for the past few months. Before, I had a much closer relationship with Jesus, and receiving Communion was so beautiful, etc. Now, it’s a constant struggle… it’s either temptation, or despair, or distrust, or things improve for a time but don’t last. God is helping me in many ways, and maybe He is trying to teach me trust, but I pray that His will would be done in this situation. I’m trying to surrender all this to Him, because I want His will to be done, and if He is happy with how things are going, then I’ll be happy too. But I really want to just grow in my relationship with Him and to know that I can be with Him forever.
 
How about lets focus on both because god is every thing lets not worry about what god is lets worry about letting god in out life and pleasing him forever and the holy Sprite will do the rest. Read this Eph 2:3-5
 
RobBahoura said:
How about lets focus on both because god is every thing lets not worry about what god is lets worry about letting god in out life and pleasing him forever and the holy Sprite will do the rest. Read this Eph 2:3-5
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Punctuation will make your posts much easier to read. God bless you.
 
Monica4316 said:
But I really want to just grow in my relationship with Him and to know that I can be with Him forever.
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Have you considered the possibility that what is happening is directed towards realizing that desire in it’s fullest ? I know sometimes God withdraws consolations to prepare the soul.
 
Benadam said:
Have you considered the possibility that what is happening is directed towards realizing that desire in it’s fullest ? I know sometimes God withdraws consolations to prepare the soul.
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I’m hoping that this is the reason… but I keep on wondering if this is the result of my sinfulness. In any case, I’m surrendering myself to Him; even if all I have to offer is my misery. I believe He can use anything…
 
Do you realize you start a new thread about every second or third day? I think you really need to seek some real world professional help. Find a priest or a therapist or something and stop using CAF as a crutch to feed this attention seeking impulse! This is serious stuff!

With all of your posts and these topics which … seem to be some sort of obsession for you… make me hope that, if you are seeking professional help, you’ve let him/her know about CAF and the sheer amount of time you spend here so it can be addressed.
 
Student09 said:
"Beware also, daughters, of certain kinds of humility which the devil inculcates in us and which makes us very uneasy about the gravity of our past sins. There are many ways in which he is accustomed to depress us so that in time we withdraw from Communion and give up our private prayer, because the devil suggests to us that we are not worthy to engage in it. When we come to the Most Holy Sacrament, we spend the time during which we ought to be receiving grace in wondering whether we are properly prepared or no. The thing gets to such a pass that the soul can be made to believe that, through being what it is, it has been forsaken by God, and thus it almost doubts His mercy. …]

Pay great attention, daughters, to this point which I shall now make, because sometimes thinking yourselves so wicked may be humility and virtue and at other times a very great temptation. Humility, however deep it be, neither disquiets nor troubles nor disturbs the soul; it is accompanied by peace, joy, and tranquility. Although, on realizing how wicked we are, we can see that we deserve to be in hell, and are distressed by our sinfulness, and rightly think that everyone should hate us, yet, if our humility is true, this distress is accompanied by an interior peace and joy of which we should not like to be deprived. Far from disturbing or depressing the soul, it enlarges it and makes it fit to serve God better. The other kind of distress only disturbs and upsets the mind and troubles the soul, so grievous it is. I think the devil is anxious for us to believe that we are humble, and, if he can, to lead us to distrust God.

When you find yourselves in this state, cease thinking, as far as you can, of your own wretchedness, and think of the mercy of God, and of His love and His sufferings for you. If your state of mind is the result of temptation, you will be unable to do even this, for it will not allow you to quiet your thoughts …] it will be a great thing if you can recognize it as a temptation."

-St Teresa of Avila, “The Way of Perfection”
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WOW… thank you so much for this!!!. Gave me goosebumps.
 
Imryl said:
Do you realize you start a new thread about every second or third day? I think you really need to seek some real world professional help. Find a priest or a therapist or something and stop using CAF as a crutch to feed this attention seeking impulse! This is serious stuff!

With all of your posts and these topics which … seem to be some sort of obsession for you… make me hope that, if you are seeking professional help, you’ve let him/her know about CAF and the sheer amount of time you spend here so it can be addressed.
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My friend, I have to say, your post came off sounding a bit uncharitable. You do not know whether or not Monica is or is not seeking help from a therapist, and I am inclined to assume that her intentions in posting are good and honest. Sometimes this is a good form of therapy: Support from those who care about you.

Additionally, she simply asked a question, and when one is troubled, are we not called to help guide our brothers and sisters in Christ? I am happy that Monica is asking for help here instead of, say, Atheist Answers Forums.

Also, while Monica does make many threads and posts, her questions are good to get discussions going, and discussion can lead to finding truth. If it wasn’t for Monica, I would have never really looked into the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I was suffering from major bouts of anxiety, and this chaplet helped me so very much.

Monica, I am sure lmryl did not mean anything mean. Indeed, if you are suffering from regular anxiety to the point that it is causing you much distress and are not seeing a therapist (preferably a Catholic one), it would be greatly beneficial to you to start seeing a therapist.
 
I would be careful not to confuse being uncharitable with being honest. I was not accusing her of posting nonsense but simply pointing out the sheer number of posts could indicate a problem. And it does seem, at times, that when her posts aren’t receiving enough attention a new one is bound to show up very soon.

These things can indicate serious problems, and I think it’s important that we charitably bring this up and help her through.

Problems can only be talked about online and it is important to find someone to speak to person to person to work through and over come them.
 
Dear Monica

That is a big question. I’ve thought about that a lot. I am currently at the conclusion that justice is not always bad. Justice can mean a reward too. So if iwe trust in Gods mercy and do the best we can then we will receive a just reward of mercy. We don’t deserve it for sure. But we trust. God knows we are evil sinners Monica. He is our Dad and we His little children. When we mess up or fall down Dad is always there to help us and pick us up. Humility demands we acknowledge we are sinners. If we humble ourselves God will exalt us. If we don’t judge others God won’t judge us. If we are merciful we will receive mercy. If we forgive others God will forgive us. It’s not so hard either if you think it over. God gies us a lifetime to get it right and He only takes us when we’ve got it as right as we can. You seem to see God as a big judge up there waiting for you to slip up so He can get you. It’s not so. He’s your Dad Monica. He’s insanely in love with you as His little child. Perhaps you can try and understand your divine filiation better. It may help a lot. Just do the best you can and don’t worry. That’s all Dad asks. See yourself as a flower yet to blossom, when you blossom God will pick you and take you to Himself. No matter what the trials, setbacks or ups and downs Monica- just love God and all will be well. I hope this helps.

God bless you dear friend:thumbsup:🙂

John
 
Imryl said:
Do you realize you start a new thread about every second or third day? I think you really need to seek some real world professional help. Find a priest or a therapist or something and stop using CAF as a crutch to feed this attention seeking impulse! This is serious stuff!

With all of your posts and these topics which … seem to be some sort of obsession for you… make me hope that, if you are seeking professional help, you’ve let him/her know about CAF and the sheer amount of time you spend here so it can be addressed.
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I’m not here to seek attention.
presidentjlh said:
My friend, I have to say, your post came off sounding a bit uncharitable. You do not know whether or not Monica is or is not seeking help from a therapist, and I am inclined to assume that her intentions in posting are good and honest. Sometimes this is a good form of therapy: Support from those who care about you.

Additionally, she simply asked a question, and when one is troubled, are we not called to help guide our brothers and sisters in Christ? I am happy that Monica is asking for help here instead of, say, Atheist Answers Forums.

Also, while Monica does make many threads and posts, her questions are good to get discussions going, and discussion can lead to finding truth. If it wasn’t for Monica, I would have never really looked into the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I was suffering from major bouts of anxiety, and this chaplet helped me so very much.

Monica, I am sure lmryl did not mean anything mean. Indeed, if you are suffering from regular anxiety to the point that it is causing you much distress and are not seeing a therapist (preferably a Catholic one), it would be greatly beneficial to you to start seeing a therapist.
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Thank you for being understanding 🙂
John_Russell_Jr said:
Dear Monica

That is a big question. I’ve thought about that a lot. I am currently at the conclusion that justice is not always bad. Justice can mean a reward too. So if iwe trust in Gods mercy and do the best we can then we will receive a just reward of mercy. We don’t deserve it for sure. But we trust. God knows we are evil sinners Monica. He is our Dad and we His little children. When we mess up or fall down Dad is always there to help us and pick us up. Humility demands we acknowledge we are sinners. If we humble ourselves God will exalt us. If we don’t judge others God won’t judge us. If we are merciful we will receive mercy. If we forgive others God will forgive us. It’s not so hard either if you think it over. God gies us a lifetime to get it right and He only takes us when we’ve got it as right as we can. You seem to see God as a big judge up there waiting for you to slip up so He can get you. It’s not so. He’s your Dad Monica. He’s insanely in love with you as His little child. Perhaps you can try and understand your divine filiation better. It may help a lot. Just do the best you can and don’t worry. That’s all Dad asks. See yourself as a flower yet to blossom, when you blossom God will pick you and take you to Himself. No matter what the trials, setbacks or ups and downs Monica- just love God and all will be well. I hope this helps.

God bless you dear friend:thumbsup:🙂

John
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thanks for your post 🙂 I’ve always seen God as loving… I’m not sure what has been happening, but over the past couple months, I’ve been more aware of my sinfulness than before. At the same time, I really want to love God but feel separated from Him. I think this has caused a lot of confusion. I can’t seem to understand spiritual things as before. However, I know that what you are saying is right; God is very loving, good and merciful to us. Maybe sometimes He wants us to trust Him without understanding or consolations.

God bless
 
Hi,

the idea of God’s justice and mercy is something that I’ve been trying to get to grips with over the past while - now after receiving great help from St Therese’s Story of a Soul and Paul’s letter to the Romans, I think I have a good enough understanding of it.

Until Jesus came, humanity was enslaved in sin, with no way out, except by the Law. But the Law proved almost impossible to keep, because it was easy for Satan to tempt people into breaking specific rules.
God is just, and so there had to be retribution for sins. But God’s mercy meant that he decided to place all the retribution for all of humanity’s sins, past, present and future, on his Son, Jesus Christ! And not only that, but by his death, as a human, Jesus released humanity from that slavery to sin, which meant that now we could live by the Spirit, in grace. That’s the meaning of God’s saving justice.
So now, Satan can still target the Law and use it to make us sin, but his power is greatly weakened, because now our salvation is by God’s grace, which Satan has no power over, except to try and lure us into rejecting it.
I’d recommend you read Chapters 3-7 of Romans.

Also, in Rm4:4 Paul says
‘Now, when someone works, the wages for this are not considered as a favour but as due;’
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So, our justification is by faith in God, but once our salvation, which is a merciful gift of grace from God, has been obtained, then all our good works and anything we do for the glory of God’s kingdom will, by God’s justice, be due wages in heaven! So the more we devote our lives to God’s Kingdom, though we continue hoping for salvation, we can expect that once we have salvation, our reward will be great.

It’s amazing how much God loves us!
God bless:)
 
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