An issue not often discussed

[misericordie]

Ana:

I wear a blessed Brown Scapular, but what does it mean to be officialy vested in it by a priest?

The Carmelite order has an official prayer which to be said by a priest, and he is to bless the scapular, say the prayer(using Holy Water) and HE places the scapular OVER the person to be vested. Otherwise, just wearing the scapular, does little good, according to the Church. ANY priest can do it, but when you purchase the scapular it comes with a prayer, have the priest say the prayer. It is usually in english and latin. The priest who vested me did the prayers in Latin. He had his stole on, and was a well respected Monsignor here in this Archdiocese.

 

[karisue]

My thoughts:

1. Wear a miraculous medal for this express purpose
2. Wear a green scapular for spiritual healing.

Will pray for you!

 

[misericordie]

That’s it? Why not more advice here??

      I will continue praying for you, and remember, pray the daily Rosary, use HOLY WATER daily, and pray the St> Micheal's prayer.
   God bless,
         misericordie:)

 

[Mistermerlin]

I think one of the things you can do to help combat this problem besides all that has been mentioned above is to go (if it is available) to Eucharistic Adoration.
An hour before the Blessed Sacrament is an incredible tonic. Talk to HIM. Let HIM talk to you. Pour out all your feelings and then just listen. It’s helped me.
I often write HIM letters and let HIM know exactly what’s on my mind. He is your Father isn’t He?
God Bless.

 

[Ana]

Mistermerlin:

I think one of the things you can do to help combat this problem besides all that has been mentioned above is to go (if it is available) to Eucharistic Adoration.
An hour before the Blessed Sacrament is an incredible tonic. Talk to HIM. Let HIM talk to you. Pour out all your feelings and then just listen. It’s helped me.
I often write HIM letters and let HIM know exactly what’s on my mind. He is your Father isn’t He?
God Bless.

AiYiYi! I can’t believe I forgot to say that. If at all possible do got to Adoration! I keep a prayer journal. It has been a tremendous blessing.

 

[Anonymous]

karisue:

My thoughts:

1. Wear a miraculous medal for this express purpose
2. Wear a green scapular for spiritual healing.

Will pray for you!

What is a scapular?

 

[ms_cilantro]

In my experience Satan loves watching us struggle and fall back into sin. He Hates It when we say “I know what this is and I am going to offer this up to be joined with Christ’s sacrifice .” What you are doing is changing the discussion. You aren’t discussing whether you are going to sin. You are discussing who can benefit from your sacrifice and then you will sacrifice the choice to sin on their behalf.
For example you feel driven to porn or whatever. You say, I offer up the temptation to look/ listen to etc. for_________(fill in the blank). I join this sacrifice with Christ’s perfect redemptive sacrifice. {I would recommend then doing something else like being around people if your sin of choice involves solitude. Also plan and do something loving for the people you love. }
Satan hates this big time. Satan hates us using his temptations for the good of others. Soon the intense desire to sin diminishes. Soon your response will be more automatic. Soon Satan will be sorry he messed with you.
This works, I’ll be praying for you:thumbsup:
(I posted this on another thread but I know it can apply here as well. I can affirm that this approach worked for me today-with my sin (former sin?) of choice.

 

[dream_wanderer]

Thanks for that advice. I’ve read posts about ‘offering’ things up but wasn’t really sure how to do it. That’s very practical.

dream wanderer

 

[guse]

I’ve thought about not receiving communion in the hope that the longing for it would cause me to remain pure. However, I’m not sure this is a good idea. One thing the Eucharist is, is the source of our Christian life. We are to conform our lives to Christ. We can only do that by His grace. The Eucharist is our greatest source of grace. Not receiving may make you weaker. In my opinion, by denying yourself God’s grace you are relying on yourself, not God. God wants to be with us always. When we are weak we need to run to Him, not hide from Him. There is a song that goes “God will provide for all that we need here at the table of plenty”. Spend time with Jesus. He is always waiting for us at any Catholic parish.

A scripture that has been helping be a lot lately is Matt 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

 

[Fergal]

I have just come accross a lovely thought on the above post.
Chastity

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Giving into one’s lustful drives is irrational. Chastity is more than prudent self-control. To practice chastity there must be chastity of the eyes, chastity of the ears, chastity of thought and chastity of desire.

The Holy Eucharist is the principal source we have for obtaining the distinctive grace we need to practice Christian chastity.

Grace permits us to surrender our wills to the will of God. Grace directs our will to command our reproductive powers to conform to the will of Jesus Christ.

About 150 AD, Diognetus, a learned Greek expressed a desire to know what Christianity really means and asked. “What is this new race of men who are neither pagans nor Jews?” In the *Letter to Diognetus *the answer is given.

Like others, Christians also marry and have children, but they do not expose these children. They do not kill their children. Christians share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven.Frequent, even daily assistance at Mass is a powerful source of chaste living. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a reservoir of divine strength against the demon of lust for all mankind.

Fergal
Naas
Ireland

 

[itsjustdave1988]

I do recieve the Eucharist in between confessions, not having confessed this sin, am I wrong in doing this? I go to mass daily, and do not have the opportunity for confession during the week. Should I not recieve Our Lord?

According to the Church, if you have knowingly committed a mortal sin, you must go to confession prior to receiving Holy Communion. If you knowingly and deliberately refrained from confessing any sin that you were aware of when giving your confession, you have not given a good confession and you may have increased the guilt of your offense. Go to confession today.

 

[Shoshana]

Anonomom,

Thank you for sharing your struggle with us. God bless you. The only thing I can say that no one else have is that maybe you could turn this intense sexuality toward your husband. This would be channelling your energy toward the man you love. Is imagination a problem, well, that too could be directed toward his own needs as well as yours. There are so many ways that this could be resolved.

I do not have the book with me that my spiritual director gave me to read during times like that. I hope I paraphrase this right…the greatest saints are the greatest lovers. So think of so many saints that have had trouble with sex…St Augustine, Mary Magdalene, St Ignatius, St Francis of Assissi and the list goes on. Sometimes transferring this energy into your spirituality helps a lot. Without sounding irreverent, Jesus is the greatest Lover to be found. You could grow in leaps and bounds if you are guided by a good priest and confessor.

Please be aware of my prayers…
Blessings,
Shoshana

 

[misericordie]

Shoshana:

Anonomom,

Thank you for sharing your struggle with us. God bless you. The only thing I can say that no one else have is that maybe you could turn this intense sexuality toward your husband. This would be channelling your energy toward the man you love. Is imagination a problem, well, that too could be directed toward his own needs as well as yours. There are so many ways that this could be resolved.

I do not have the book with me that my spiritual director gave me to read during times like that. I hope I paraphrase this right…the greatest saints are the greatest lovers. So think of so many saints that have had trouble with sex…St Augustine, Mary Magdalene, St Ignatius, St Francis of Assissi and the list goes on. Sometimes transferring this energy into your spirituality helps a lot. Without sounding irreverent, Jesus is the greatest Lover to be found. You could grow in leaps and bounds if you are guided by a good priest and confessor.

Please be aware of my prayers…
Blessings,
Shoshana

I agree Soshana, but lets not forget that the Church also teaches that WITHIN marriage too, the couple is called to a certain level of self-control, and not lust. Sex even between a married couple (married in the Catholic Church) is for a purpose: to communicate their mutual love and to procreate. Not, to just empty out all their lust and fantasy.

 

[Anonymous]

Anonymous:

What is a scapular?

I did some searching and found my answer. Isn’t it odd that I never heard of one? I don’t recall ever seeing one. Maybe I am not very observant.

Anonymom gets a thumbs up for being able to confront her problem.The hardest part of dealing with a problem is at first admitting that you have one. Way to go! And what an outpouring of great advice!

Peace

 

[stubiegirl]

carrieloon:

Mom,

I have directly asked my husband to . . . tell me that I still attract him, even though my body looks bizarre right now!
.

I just want to encourage you both (Anon and carrieloon) in your self worth during your pregnancy. I honestly think women are RADIANT when they are pregnant. God Bless!

 

[BLB_Oregon]

Anonomom:

Am I alone in this??I am so embarassed to talk about this. It is something I never hear/read about. I am a woman, a married women and a mother, struggling with sins of impurity. I am unsure how to handle this, and what to do. I go to confession often, (weekly) and confess my sin of self-abuse, and listening to pornography (via telephone). I pray for grace and strength daily. I understand the beautiful teachings of the church on marriage and sexuality. I want dearly to live it. I go right to the Lord afterwards, in contrition. I love my husband, and he loves me, we have a wonderful relationship and sex life. He somewhat knows of my problem, we talk about it in a round about way, and we both pray about it often. I have read through the 12 steps, everything is so geared toward men. I forgot to mention, that I only seem to struggle with this during pregnancy. When I am not pregnant, I don’t even think about it. I am at a loss. And I feel alone, struggling with a mans problem. Also, I do recieve the Eucharist in between confessions, not having confessed this sin, am I wrong in doing this? I go to mass daily, and do not have the opportunity for confession during the week. Should I not recieve Our Lord? I know I am sinning, I do fight it, I really do, and I fall.

Try taking it to God when it happens, not after. Bring Him your fantasy, your distress, all that you are experiencing. Then quiet yourself and listen. Hear His Voice, “Be not afraid.” Ask what He would like you to do with what you are experiencing and trust that He will always be there, no matter how often you fall. Find yourself a good and holy confessor, and share all this with him. Don’t be afraid there, either. There is absolutely nothing he hasn’t heard before. Don’t think that he will be disappointed to hear about this more than once. He will be delighted to have you back as often as it takes.

The devil does not just use impurity to attack us. The devil uses fear and guilt and shame, as well. You do not have to deal with this yourself. You can trust in God to deliver you. And when He does, it will be on the right day.

You will be in my prayers.

 

[James0235]

stubiegirl:

I just want to encourage you both (Anon and carrieloon) in your self worth during your pregnancy. I honestly think women are RADIANT when they are pregnant. God Bless!

I agree!
While I’m not married I do hope to be someday. And I already know that I will find my wife even more beautiful when pregnant.
There are plenty of men out there that think pregnancy enhances a woman’s natural beauty. And I would hope that most husbands do when they consider what their wife has to go through during that time.

James

 

[carrieloon]

Thank you for the nice words!

I do believe that my husband thinks that pregnancy in GENERAL is beautiful, but it is not necessarily the way that he finds me attractive.

I feel very alive and pretty, though I know that the reality is a woman waddling around with swollen ankles and fingers, LOL.

Oh well, only a couple more months to go.

Thank you again! What a nice way to wake up on this Monday morn.

Carrie

 

[asquared]

I can’t improve on what has been offered here, except to assure you again you are not alone. For instance, are there any women out there who struggled because of unexplainable feelings and urgings during breastfeeding. There is a difference in something occuring within in us caused be physical, emotional or psychological imbalance, which diminishes or removes our responsbility, and something we go looking for and welcome. Some things to ask yourself, are you misusing time in other ways: neglecting prayer duties (it sure doesn’t sound like it), do you use the phone improperly in other ways–taking time away from daily duties, to gossip, to shop for unneeded things etc. These are things you need to be honest with yourself about and deal with.

When someone has a problem with self-abuse or any other bad habit it usually signals some conflict going on at a deeper level, about something else all together. Ask in confession for spiritual direction to find that trouble and ask for healing, especially during the Eucharist.

The devil is attacking you precisely because you, your husband and your family are so determined to stay with God’s plan for you. He is no dummy, he knows where to find real holiness and how to dig in. You are on the same ground with the saints, who were also allowed to struggle in this way. Good company, they will help you. The Eucharist is your salvation and the rosary is your weapon.

 

[Anonomom]

Thank you ALL so much for the great advice and prayers, and for sharing your own struggles. I came compleatly clean with my husband, and he says he wants to help me. I will show him this thread. I know the two of us and GOD can overcome anything!!

THANK YOU, I cannot thank you enough.