Do I have faith?

[EphelDuath]

I feel like almost my mind has faith but my heart does not. I don’t know how else to describe it.

I know that sinning is bad, but I do it anyway and feel little regret.

I know that God exists, but I feel like my prayers are empty and the answers aren’t there.

I’m offended when people make cracks about Catholics, but I don’t put up a good example of a Catholic.

I know that the Eucharist is Christ on earth, but when I take Communion, I feel nothing but what I tell myself to feel.

I tell God I’m sorry, but really, if I could relive the same event, I probably would do the same thing.

It’s like I’ve calculated that Jesus is Lord, but my heart just won’t accept it. What do you say to this, CA?

 

[fhansen]

**Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. **
Saint Augustine

Conversion, or metanoia, is a process which takes place over time and doesn’t end once we enter the Church, according to the CCC. And the bible says that Jesus saves us while *yet *in our sins and transgressions. So while sin is something God wants gone from us, He knows our hearts and that it doesn’t happen overnight. There will be dry or stale times and times when you take it all more seriously and seek God and purity more earnestly and in the latter case our spiritual growth and increase in understanding and knowledge can be amazing while in the former case we feel like we’re going nowhere. Persevere in seeking God and don’t give up in your struggle against sin and in hindsight you’ll see the gains you’ve made. And always keep in mind His love and mercy-and give it time.

 

[EphelDuath]

Thank you for that answer. I will meditate on that.

 

[John_Hiner]

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Perhaps you have faith, but not discipline. It takes discipline to be a disciple.

A short book that might be helpful to read is “The Art of Loving,” by Erich Fromm. With the exception of the chapter purporting to discuss the “love of God,” the book is insightful regarding the demands of love as an avocation. (One should avoid the chapter on “love of God” altogether, since it suffers from fundamental mistakes; the balance of the book, however, especially the discussion of the “Practice of the Art of Loving,” is very useful, if one reads it with ingenuity.)

The integration of will, mind, and desire required by holiness is an integral part of the skill needed to love as Jesus requires.

If you have “calculated” that Jesus is the Lord, your judgment is sound, and you are disciplined, then you have an exciting and interesting adventure ahead. Unfortunately, in modern American society, as Dr. Fromm discusses, interior discipline is seldom developed, because the rigors of “external discipline” replace the spiritual work needed to develop this trait.

To paraphrase Dr. Fromm: one does not fall in love, one must stand in love. From the little that you have written in your original post, it sounds as though you are waiting to “fall in love” with Christ. That is not how love works.

I hope this helps.

Spiritus Sapientiae nobiscum.

John Hiner