Does anyone else get tired of being told they're spiritually lazy?

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Tis_Bearself

Patron
It’s not that I think I’m so great or anything and we all have room for improvement, but what is the point of a homilist talking to an entire church full of people who are at Mass despite the COVID dispensation still being in place, telling them how spiritual sloth (defined as indifference, just not caring about God or being close to him) is the greatest threat of our time? First of all, we know, second of all, it’s not like most people bothering to come to Mass would be guilty of it.

If I looked I could find other outlets that seem to suggest those of us reading prayer pages aren’t praying enough, or that we’re “bad Catholics” in other ways.

It’s like being on a football team that practices pretty hard every week, even though people have the occasional off day or off week or mess up from time to time, and always having it insinuated that you’re still not good enough and you’re pretty much on the level with everybody who’s not working out at all, just sitting around watching TV and eating pizzas.

It’s occasionally rather depressing.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes I have a fleeting thought of just throwing in the towel on trying to be a “prayer warrior” or anything. I don’t do it because Jesus and because I realize such thoughts come from the evil one, but feeling constantly like what I do doesn’t matter gets to me sometimes. It’s not like I want a bouquet handed to me for it, I just want some kind of understanding that we’re not all ignoring the Lord except to sit through obligatory Mass, which these days, is not even obligatory on Sunday and one could skip the whole thing.
 
You have brought the topic of Spiritual sloth here…
God has ways… who knows,
Don’t throw the towel: your towel works!
We are sent, being sent continuously.
I for one appreciate what you share here and the effort it takes, Tis.
 
Last edited:
Don’t let it get you down. It’s just a bad homily. No one has been telling me that I’m spiritually lazy. Does that homilist often make such assumptions or judgments about the parishioners?
 
Last edited:
I gotta be honest, I hear examples of these sermons and wonder where all these people go to Church. I’ve never heard anything like that in a sermon.
 
My problem is basic human nature. I really don’t like being corrected, especially when I know I’m wrong.
 
Live long enough and you’ll hear one or two. Not all priests have the same gifts. I usually get irked for awhile and then calm down and realize that there is probably something important to take away from these experiences. I’ve had it happen in the confessional too.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
First of all, we know, second of all, it’s not like most people bothering to come to Mass would be guilty of it.
Click to expand...
Why not? Does going to Mass require some great effort?
Tis_Bearself said:
It’s like being on a football team that practices pretty hard every week, even though people have the occasional off day or off week or mess up from time to time, and always having it insinuated that you’re still not good enough and you’re pretty much on the level with everybody who’s not working out at all, just sitting around watching TV and eating pizzas.
Click to expand...
That’s an odd analogy.

I’ve done some competitive sports, and well as gone through military training. Such mind games are usually considered par-for-the-course to develop mental toughness. Some of the things that can come out of a seargent’s or coaches mouth can be quite funny sometimes, actually. What some guy on a couch is doing was never relevant. Also, we tended to get punished as a team. If a criticism doesn’t apply to you personally, why worry about it?
 
Last edited:
Well, I don’t know what the sermon entailed but it is helpful to know that people suffer from sloth, as it helps your efforts in evangelization or in knowing what to pray for specifically. And, we all do have places to grow of course. I don’t know what the homily ended up saying, but if it was comparing people who just don’t care to religious Catholics saying they are the same then that would seem weird.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
but what is the point
Click to expand...
It always possible that a homilist wants the congregation to take the message out of the building with them.

I don’t get why you think the finger was being pointed at you though, unless he said something to indicate that even those in the congregation could be slothy.
 
Last edited:
Like what? Being shaken a bit? We get it often. Not that one catches every ball that flies. Sometimes in good faith one may realize it isn’t one’s biggest issue, some others it is.
Like in any family brothers and sisters, we receive the homily ( sometimes a real “sermón” 😟) as it comes ,together…at fault or not , and life goes on
 
Last edited:
Im so sorry the Homily was like that.

Grace,Mercy,forgiveness, compassion all personified in Him.
Lord Our God is boundless in grace during these times.
The blessed relief comes when we believe this abd realize no matter. We all need to get on our knees and humble ourselves that—this is what i can do now. Perhaps more or less in the future. God wants our love and does not keep score.
 
I don’t know what trend you mean, Student. What I’m trying to say is that we often get our ears “ pulled “ a bit
 
Last edited:
Beryllos said:
Does that homilist often make such assumptions or judgments about the parishioners?
Click to expand...
No, he’s not even the worst homilist of the lot (who I haven’t seen in a while so it’s possible he’s now helping at another parish). But he is a deacon, and the deacons in this area often give homilies that make me cringe. The priests are all usually okay to good, and one deacon is also okay to good, but there are two or three deacons that often miss the mark in my opinion. The gospel was about the foolish virgins who ran out of oil, and some parts of the homily about the gospel were good until the dude went down the spiritual sloth path. He even recognized at some point that everybody sitting in the pews understood the importance of God or they wouldn’t be at Mass. So I’m baffled as to why he went down the path of reminding us how a whole lot of other people in the world just don’t bother. Other than praying for them and letting our lives be a witness to them, we can’t do anything about them and hopefully one day they will wise up and return…in the meantime let’s please talk about something helpful to those of us actually sitting in the pews, to get us through the week.
 
I really wouldn’t mind that if the priest had some concrete suggestions. If he just put it out there with no help, then yeah, that’s pretty lame. Especially during this pandemic when ppl are having a pretty tough time carrying out the business of everyday life. It shows a lack of sensitivity.

Honestly, I can never tell how I’m doing. I go to Mass, go to confession once or twice a month, try not to commit grave sin-- I probably do a couple of times a year-- go to adoration now and then, try to serve and connect with whoever I happen to see throughout my day, do works of Mercy, give to charities. But it doesn’t seem like I’m even a smidgen closer to God than I was last year or 5 years ago. It’s really a bummer.
 
StudentMI said:
I gotta be honest, I hear examples of these sermons and wonder where all these people go to Church. I’ve never heard anything like that in a sermon.
Click to expand...
What are the sermons you hear like?

These parishes where I hear this stuff are considered some of the “better” parishes around here in that they produce a lot of vocations (there’s a local joke that “Our county makes, (another county in the diocese) takes”) and one seems to be a “feeder” for the bishopric and other diocesan offices.

As I said, the priests are generally good homilists, with a very occasional clinker. This is a deacon problem and I’ve complained about it on here before (sorry to vent again).
 
Last edited:
I have to agree that would be frustrating. After 15 years of catholic school, sports, education, life… I have learned that humans are generally not always the best judges. As a contemplative type I’m often labeled as “nice”, etc etc.

I was a decent athlete in HS (was on a championship team, even thought not wonderful myself). There are those who will straight up walk up and say “have you ever heard of this thing called excercise…?” because they taught a phys Ed class to a grade school.

I think people just assume. And I’ve often found it’s the first year students who know just enough to be overconfident.

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the truly great people are usually very humble, and have a lot of respect for others. They don’t have time for the drama.

So In short I often ask, “is this advice worth hearing?”… maybe yes. But then again we’re all still human.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top