Tis_Bearself
Patron
Don’t commit them?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist
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(Sorry, couldn’t resist
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Xanthippe_Voorhees
Guest
This is WAY more than what should be handled in confession. Spiritual guidance and formation are also needed…which falls into the realm of a profession rather than just a sacrament. Many times people go to confession thinking they will get appropriate help for their spiritual issues–and they don’t–beucase many times confession is not the time or the place to get the kind of deep, spiritual help they need.Sorry. When people say “get professional help,” they don’t usually mean “go to confession.” My mistake.
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PetraG
Guest
The temptation to despair isn’t a mental illness or a psychological weakness. The saints acknowledge that despair is a real temptation. Later writers have acknowledged that the 20th century brought this temptation to despair in a great tide. Some of us may find it does us psychological harm and that we do need psychological help to combat it, but I don’t believe that is the first conclusion one ought to come to.
… look at the deserts today. What are they? The birthplace of a new and terrible creation, the testing ground of the power by which man seeks to un-create what God has blessed. Today, in the century of man’s greatest technological achievement, the wilderness at last comes into its own. Man no longer needs God, and he can live in the desert on his own resources. He can build there his fantastic, protected cities of withdrawal and expermination and vice. The glitterinig towns that spring up overnight in the desert are no longer images of the City of God, coming down from heaven to enlighten the world with the vision of peace. They are not even replicas of the great tower of Babel that once rose up in the desert of Senaar, that man “might make his name famous and reach even unto heaven” (Genesis 11:4). They are brilliant and sordid smiles of the devil upon the face of the wilderness, cities of secrecy where each man spies on his brother, cities through whose veins money runs like artificial blood, and from whose womb will come the last and greatest instrument of destruction.
Can we watch the growth of these cities and not do something to purify our own hearts? When man and his money and machines move out into the desert, and dwell there, not fighting the devil as Christ did, but believing in his promises of power and wealth, and adoring his angelic wisdom, then the desert itself moves everywhere. Everywhere is desert. Everywhere is solitude in which man must do penance and fight the adversary and purify his own heart in the grace of God.
The desert is the home of depair. And despair, now, is everywhere. Let us not think that our interior solitude consists in the acceptance of defeat. We cannot escape anything by consenting tacitly to be defeated. Despair is an abyss without bottom. Do not think to close it by consenting to it and tryinig to forget you have consented.
This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent. To trample it down under hope in the Cross. To wage war against despair unceasingly. That war is our wilderness. If we wage it courageously, we will find Christ at our side…
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
… look at the deserts today. What are they? The birthplace of a new and terrible creation, the testing ground of the power by which man seeks to un-create what God has blessed. Today, in the century of man’s greatest technological achievement, the wilderness at last comes into its own. Man no longer needs God, and he can live in the desert on his own resources. He can build there his fantastic, protected cities of withdrawal and expermination and vice. The glitterinig towns that spring up overnight in the desert are no longer images of the City of God, coming down from heaven to enlighten the world with the vision of peace. They are not even replicas of the great tower of Babel that once rose up in the desert of Senaar, that man “might make his name famous and reach even unto heaven” (Genesis 11:4). They are brilliant and sordid smiles of the devil upon the face of the wilderness, cities of secrecy where each man spies on his brother, cities through whose veins money runs like artificial blood, and from whose womb will come the last and greatest instrument of destruction.
Can we watch the growth of these cities and not do something to purify our own hearts? When man and his money and machines move out into the desert, and dwell there, not fighting the devil as Christ did, but believing in his promises of power and wealth, and adoring his angelic wisdom, then the desert itself moves everywhere. Everywhere is desert. Everywhere is solitude in which man must do penance and fight the adversary and purify his own heart in the grace of God.
The desert is the home of depair. And despair, now, is everywhere. Let us not think that our interior solitude consists in the acceptance of defeat. We cannot escape anything by consenting tacitly to be defeated. Despair is an abyss without bottom. Do not think to close it by consenting to it and tryinig to forget you have consented.
This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent. To trample it down under hope in the Cross. To wage war against despair unceasingly. That war is our wilderness. If we wage it courageously, we will find Christ at our side…
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
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Tis_Bearself
Patron
Okay, serious answer.
First, I think StephieNorth is right. This is what confession is for. Yeah, I know it’s depressing confessing the same old sins over and over, especially when one has been designated possibly grave matter. I pretty much confess impatience every time I go, but nobody calls that grave. (I sometimes wonder why because I think other humans suffer a lot more from me getting impatient with them than from when I used to go behind locked doors and commit “the M word”, but whatever.) It’s depressing just the same. But the priest said these are God’s ways of reminding us that we are human, and we can’t do things just on our own. We need God to come in and help us, because without His help we can’t do anything. So instead of despairing, just remind yourself that you’re human. It doesn’t mean you stop trying but sometimes you have to just do the best you can and then put it in God’s hands.
Interestingly, my first serious boyfriend, who was not the religious or churchgoing type except when I needed him to drive me to a Mass, used to say the same thing when I got despairing. “You’re just a person.” He said the same about others as well. It was really helpful to me to meet someone with this mindset.
If you feel yourself falling into serious despair or depression, like it goes on for days or interferes with your life, then seek some professional counseling.
First, I think StephieNorth is right. This is what confession is for. Yeah, I know it’s depressing confessing the same old sins over and over, especially when one has been designated possibly grave matter. I pretty much confess impatience every time I go, but nobody calls that grave. (I sometimes wonder why because I think other humans suffer a lot more from me getting impatient with them than from when I used to go behind locked doors and commit “the M word”, but whatever.) It’s depressing just the same. But the priest said these are God’s ways of reminding us that we are human, and we can’t do things just on our own. We need God to come in and help us, because without His help we can’t do anything. So instead of despairing, just remind yourself that you’re human. It doesn’t mean you stop trying but sometimes you have to just do the best you can and then put it in God’s hands.
Interestingly, my first serious boyfriend, who was not the religious or churchgoing type except when I needed him to drive me to a Mass, used to say the same thing when I got despairing. “You’re just a person.” He said the same about others as well. It was really helpful to me to meet someone with this mindset.
If you feel yourself falling into serious despair or depression, like it goes on for days or interferes with your life, then seek some professional counseling.
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PetraG
Guest
Exactly. It is a temptation to give up and give in. God only asks that we keep returning to Him for Mercy. God takes care of the sinner who repents. Always. Every time. Get up and go home, your Father has been scanning the by-roads, looking for you, waiting for you. That is the truth.
D
dallas_r
Guest
Prayer, when we fall, it is easy to say “Well, I have already sinned, so why not just keep it going?”, resulting in you to continue sin and not pray. This is the worst thing we can ever do. Know that it is through your faults that you sin and continue to keep praying.
Make a spiritual warfare plan where you target what tempts you, or what sets you into temptation, and do your best to eliminate it.
We all have times in prayer where we do not feel connected to God, but truth is when we pray, we are as close to God as we can get because we are literally having a conversation with Him. Know that demons can affect feelings of yours as well, and make you feel discouraged. We gain spiritual strength when we feel far from God and keep praying because it shows that we love God for what we is, God-loving and merciful, not just for what He gives us, we love Him for Him. His true self.
As @StephieNorthCo said, confession is a great way to reduce/eliminate guilt because you are forgiven. Not only are you forgiven, but the practice of regular confession increases our humility, because it takes a lot of guts to confess your most terrible sins to a priest, we humiliate ourselves to confess our great weakness. If I could, I would love to go to confession once a week. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is truly a great gift God has given us, the ability to have our sins forgiven and know they are out of the way.
Prayer is the best thing we can do in mortal sin. I believe the guilt from mortal sin is a way of “picking up our cross” to follow Christ, because the guilt and the urge to just quit praying all together is rough, but we must persevere.
In fact, God is the one who always initiates prayer. It is never us who initiate it, God prompts us to pray. The very fact that you want to pray after sinning is God saying “Please, Dallas, give me another chance to love you, give me another chance to forgive you” because He is so gracious and loving towards His creation. He wants us to be saved so we may enter heaven, and He knows that without prayer we cannot enter Heaven and be with Him forever.
Just take a moment to meditate on that. It is God who invites us to come back to Him, it is our choice to say yes or no. He takes time from His busy schedule to invite you, to pray to him when you are down.
What a loving, merciful, and patient God we have!
Make a spiritual warfare plan where you target what tempts you, or what sets you into temptation, and do your best to eliminate it.
We all have times in prayer where we do not feel connected to God, but truth is when we pray, we are as close to God as we can get because we are literally having a conversation with Him. Know that demons can affect feelings of yours as well, and make you feel discouraged. We gain spiritual strength when we feel far from God and keep praying because it shows that we love God for what we is, God-loving and merciful, not just for what He gives us, we love Him for Him. His true self.
As @StephieNorthCo said, confession is a great way to reduce/eliminate guilt because you are forgiven. Not only are you forgiven, but the practice of regular confession increases our humility, because it takes a lot of guts to confess your most terrible sins to a priest, we humiliate ourselves to confess our great weakness. If I could, I would love to go to confession once a week. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is truly a great gift God has given us, the ability to have our sins forgiven and know they are out of the way.
Prayer is the best thing we can do in mortal sin. I believe the guilt from mortal sin is a way of “picking up our cross” to follow Christ, because the guilt and the urge to just quit praying all together is rough, but we must persevere.
In fact, God is the one who always initiates prayer. It is never us who initiate it, God prompts us to pray. The very fact that you want to pray after sinning is God saying “Please, Dallas, give me another chance to love you, give me another chance to forgive you” because He is so gracious and loving towards His creation. He wants us to be saved so we may enter heaven, and He knows that without prayer we cannot enter Heaven and be with Him forever.
Just take a moment to meditate on that. It is God who invites us to come back to Him, it is our choice to say yes or no. He takes time from His busy schedule to invite you, to pray to him when you are down.
What a loving, merciful, and patient God we have!
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pianistclare
Guest
When I feel like I’m so much worse than everyone else, so much less patient, so much this or that…
I ask myself:
What’s so special about ME that God would single me out?
He doesn’t, I’m human.
I have the same failings as other people to a greater or lesser degree.
All God expects me to do is repent.
That’s it. And if I need help, He certainly has provided me avenues.
In your case: a priest and a pediatrician.
Get assistance. That’s their job,
I ask myself:
What’s so special about ME that God would single me out?
He doesn’t, I’m human.
I have the same failings as other people to a greater or lesser degree.
All God expects me to do is repent.
That’s it. And if I need help, He certainly has provided me avenues.
In your case: a priest and a pediatrician.
Get assistance. That’s their job,
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Roseeurekacross
Guest
Despair can lead to acts that have consequences. That is why this person should to seek help.
We and he don’t know the basis for this despair and should not be assuming. Our advice could make this much worse
May I remind everyone of the teen suicide rates.
We and he don’t know the basis for this despair and should not be assuming. Our advice could make this much worse
May I remind everyone of the teen suicide rates.
S
Shakuhachi
Guest
It is so sad that so many fall into despair and depression because of this natural biological urge. I wish the Church would speak more about all the factors that diminish culpability, especially for teenagers. So much unnecessary guilt and self loathing.
Do the best you can, confess and forget about it.
It is humbling though, isn’t it? How powerless we can sometimes be on our own, how we are totally dependent on God.
Do the best you can, confess and forget about it.
It is humbling though, isn’t it? How powerless we can sometimes be on our own, how we are totally dependent on God.
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pianistclare
Guest
One need only look to the Gospels.
Jesus was harsh with only ONE kind of person: the hypocrite.
With the rest of the people he encountered (hint: SINNERS) he was compassionate, merciful loving.
When and why do suddenly decide that the Gospels are somehow not true? That Jesus will damn all of us? Did He not say repent, and sin no more?
He did.
Go to confession Get up, pick yourself up and NEVER DESPAIR.
Despair is the weapon of the devil. He wants you to be separated from the love of God.
Jesus was harsh with only ONE kind of person: the hypocrite.
With the rest of the people he encountered (hint: SINNERS) he was compassionate, merciful loving.
When and why do suddenly decide that the Gospels are somehow not true? That Jesus will damn all of us? Did He not say repent, and sin no more?
He did.
Go to confession Get up, pick yourself up and NEVER DESPAIR.
Despair is the weapon of the devil. He wants you to be separated from the love of God.
G
guanophore
Guest
This is one of Satan’s favorite tools. he wants to turn you away from the mercy of God, and put out of your mind that you have been created in the image and likeness of God. He is the accuser of the brethren. He wants you so pre-occupied by guilt and recrimination that you cannot bear good fruit for God.I don’t know why I feel like despairing. Could it be because I feel God doesn’t want me because I keep sinning against his will
Because He created you for Himself.I guess I should, I just keep feeling that everytime I choose to sin, I leave God who I should always follow, yet I sin in his face. Would God still want me?
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He did not wait for us to become Holy to redeem us.
This is an important root. Feelings can inform us, but we cannot act solely on the basis of them.A priest may remind them that while emotions are not moral choices that a person does have the duty to avoid choosing despair as a mental action.
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