I didn’t mean for it to be uncharitable.
It is a kind gesture and I appreciate the willingness to help, but I’d rather this person not pray for me.
Thanks, but please don’t. Pray for somebody else instead.
Sinner,
You must be young, because any adult that has lived life knows/ no realizes that we all need prayers. We are community, a community of sinners in need of redemtion. We are supposed to pray for each other. Not to would be sinful. So your request for us not to pray for you is an act of rejecting Christ, because we baptized Christians share in Christ’s inheritance as prophet, priest and king. It is our duty to pray for those in need and those who don’t seem to be in need as well. In fact, we are supposed to pray for our enemies, those who hate us.
This reaction is exactly why I realize that you can’t really understand the Church teachings. Hopefully in time, with a few hard knocks of life you’ll begin to realize like thousands of us who left the church, not realizing the wisdom of her teachings, to our own detriment or just simply realizing later on that nothing else makes real since. This was a very difficult thing for those of us who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. Many of us were not catechized properly and there was soooooo much heresy going around that it is amazing that those who stayed stayed. We are moving in an age of very devout and orthodox priests I hear. This is very encouraging to me. My oldest son who is considering the priesthood has good things to look forward to. So do the laity.
Your acting like you need a bible scripture to change your thinking. That is just not correct thinking as a Catholic, which means you have issues with thinking orthodox Catholic probably. Maybe not your fault, but most likely the product of our society. As a former bible only Christian, I can tell you with great certainty that the bible only is not the answer to your problem. It is important to understand where the bible came from and actually exhaust the thinking behind the logic. You really need to take a couple of years to try to wrap your mind around the wisdom of Christ providing us the Church with her 3 legs, Magisterium, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture. Pull one leg and the table topples over.
Do you know anything about Orhtodox Judaism? Chemical contraception is accepted only. However, pulling out and using physical contraceptive devices like condoms are considered gravely sinful. I find this thinking illogical and the conclusion to allow chemical contraception makes no sense in light of why they have always taught that man has no right to prevent God from completing His work by creating life whether we want a child or are even prepared for it. If you study the history of contraception, particularly the pill, and compare it to the increase of abortions, you will see a correlation in my opinion. However, in the end we will all have to give a confession of our lifes work before a clous of witnesses. By the logic you’re using to justify no accepting the Church’s teaching there is nothing wrong with abortion or tubiligations, etc. Even Orthodox Jews reject such things with a resounding NO! Our heritage comes from Judaism, not fundamentalist evangelicals that have made up their own ecclesial community that they try to pawn off as a “church”. Sure, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. But they are separated bretheren. Over 90% of both our family is non-Catholic Christians. About half are was we refer to as fundamentalist. But most of them are very anti-Catholic. That is the world you sound like you’re about to enter.
LIFE is God’s choice. If we close Him off we are rejecting Him and the life our spouse offers in participating in the sacrifices of marriage. A marriage like this could not be “open to life” if you enter it in such a way, though the Church would assume it is valid, even if it really were not - peopple have free will to lie. Sex is not for recreation. That is what sex has been reduced to in this very sick society. It’s not about convenience of avoiding children, it’s about love… If you go to a priest and reject the teachings of the Church he most likely will not allow or honor your wishes to be married. I wish I knew then, what I know now. A spouse is supposed to show you Christ in his or her life, which I knew. But not having gone through pre-cana I didn’t realize what I was really doing. We look for Christ in those around us, but particularly in our spouse. A spouse is supposed to help us get to heaven and visa versa - not be a sex partner for entertainment. Sacrifice is at the core of every good and lasting marriage. The same is true for the priesthood. When you step outside the teachings of Church and lose it’s authority you find yourself in a sea of mass confusion that you must try to create order out of. Imagine how many churches are out there right now and growing daily. I’ve been there and lived that life coming to understand in all humility that the only way this could work is for someone to be in control and have final say so…like the Majisterium. They didn’t make this stuff up you know. This is a point I try to make with folks who think that marriage is a free ticket to having sex. Sex is a wonderful gift from God, but it is not always possible to have sex even when married. There are many times when you must abstain just out of charity, physiology, etc.
Discern this feeling or thinking of yours before the blessed sacrament. Do a novena to the Holy Spirit. Pray the rosary and ask for the Blessed Mother’s intercession on your behalf. Go to daily mass as often as you can. This is what you should do before making any decisions. Be open to learn truth. Don’t assume you already have it and have arived as Scott Hahn says.
