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

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1Lord1Faith said:
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.
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It’s not just about me, it’s all the couple hundred people sitting in the church.

I’m pretty sure they aren’t all phoning it in given that like I said there’s no obligation right now. Plus, some of them I see at the daily Masses, prayer groups etc too.
 
StudentMI said:
All about love and mercy. Literally that’s all we hear about.
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I watched the end of “Love and Mercy: Faustina” today - I’d previously rented it but the rental expired 15 minutes from the end so I had to wait a bit to find a place to see the end, given that I didn’t think I should have to pay twice - and it was all about how it was really important to get out the message of Jesus’ merciful love in this era. Maybe whoever is preaching in your area is taking that to heart.
 
I’m sorry you experienced that @Tis_Bearself and that you felt discouraged. I hope you feel better. I had a Carthusian monk once tell me that whenever people of any stripe, even the saints, spoke on a particular topic, we should be wise like serpents and extract what is profitable for us in the moment, and ignore the rest. I guess in any given homily there’s always going to be someone who just isn’t helped by the message. Maybe someone needed to hear about sloth in the Mass, who knows. Besides, someone said earlier, not everyone has the same talent for homilies.
 
That’s okay. I try to say some of each because Mary and I go way back so my first love is the Rosary. But I am firmly convinced that the Divine Mercy is also very important and am working very hard on trusting Jesus and also Mary and Joseph. It does seem like the three of them fix things if I trust, although of course not everything gets “fixed” the way I asked or would have planned.
 
Thank you all for being understanding. I was just having a moment and always feel silly for complaining. Guess I just needed a little vent.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
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.
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There is a deacon at my parish who always lectures us on how important it is to attend Mass, go to Confession, and have a strong prayer life. And I say lecture because that is what it is, he tells us that God always demands more of us and that we are not showing gratitude for our blessings, etc. I always feel hopelessly inadequate after one of his talks. In addition to preaching to the choir, he gives these lectures instead of an actual homily on the Bible readings for the day.

I think this is a chronic problem in many places. So no, it is not you. Don’t be discouraged.
 
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Socrates92 said:
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.
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I’d expect that sort of thing in a group like Fr. Heilman’s “US Grace Force” because the group has a military and sports coach theme.
Sunday Mass at a large parish doesn’t.
 
MarysLurker said:
And I say lecture because that is what it is, he tells us that God always demands more of us and that we are not showing gratitude for our blessings, etc. I always feel hopelessly inadequate after one of his talks.
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Must be hard to think that God is such a carmudgeon.
 
Lucy_1 said:
Must be hard to think that God is such a carmudgeon.
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Yes. I have scrupulosity secondary to an anxiety disorder, so much of my daily mental energy is dedicated to convincing myself that God is not like that. Homilies like those described by OP make this harder.
 
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I want to thank the OP. This thread has turned into what we’ve sort of been missing around here with all the political tension.
 
Just so you don’t think it’s only your priest that occasionally delivers a dud…

Our Rabbi was famous for his dry sermons. He occasionally delivered a good one…which had everyone wondering who wrote that one for him. He was well loved and and an excellent counselor one on one as well as charming and kind. He just wasn’t good at sermons. He retired after 35 years as the Rabbi of that congregation, so they suffered a lot of years with dry, often pointless sermons. A few years later when he died, his packed funeral was full of people that loved him and missed him…and still chuckled at his bad sermons!

For Catholics, at least the priests are usually rotated around! :hugs:
 
Socrates92 said:
Why not? Does going to Mass require some great effort?
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Yeah, sometimes it does.

It may not be a great effort for you but it could be a sacrifice for others. Not everyone’s circumstances are the same.

Try going to mass and trying to get several small children ready. This is a big deal.

Anyway it is not just attending mass faithfully. Those who do attend mass faithfully tend to pray more and take their faith seriously. Not all, but a lot do. This is the case of preaching to the choir.

The people who are most in need of this sermon aren’t even there.
 
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There is a deacon in my parish that does the same thing and I must admit that I do feel uncharitable emotions and think uncharitable thoughts.

Technically though, he isn’t wrong, so I take it for what it is.
MarysLurker said:
And I say lecture because that is what it is, he tells us that God always demands more of us and that we are not showing gratitude for our blessings, etc.
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I just saw a homily from Bishop Barron yesterday and in it, he says God is not a curmudgeonly taskmaster, hard to please and itching to send us to hell on a mere technicality. To assume so, would put the focus of salvation on our own efforts, on ourselves. It would be also the wrong view of God.

The right thing would be prima gratia, with God’s Grace first and our cooperation second.
 
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That homily on spiritual laziness was actually meant for me, delivered through you and the miracle of technology and CAF. Thanks 😒
 
I keep thinking there may have been people in the congregation who benefited from it. Whatever the topic is, it’s going to hit home with at least a few folks out of a large group.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
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.
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The exhortation to action has to be taken in context.
We do, and we also are. The two are inseparable. Contemplative expressions of spirituality are not a lesser form. But they also are not a haven from which to avoid action (not aiming this at you personally).

Our pastor’s constant theme is doing the word in addition to reading and praying the word. His focus is to Christian action, as expressed in Mt 25. This can get a little disturbing at times as we wonder how we can get further involved in social action in a community that is relatively prosperous. The local food bank has volunteers climbing over one another to help. Take a mission trip? Not all of us can do that. I mentor a teenager. That does not always seem to satisfy the call to action either.

This kind of exhortation to take action can be dissipating for people when separated from a committed life of prayer. Frustration can lead to throwing one’s hands up.
Try to keep it in perspective. I agree with your pastor that the classical sin of sloth is the sin of our day.
 
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goout said:
This can get a little disturbing at times as we wonder how we can get further involved in social action in a community that is relatively prosperous. The local food bank has volunteers climbing over one another to help. Take a mission trip? Not all of us can do that. I mentor a teenager. That does not always seem to satisfy the call to action either.
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Yeah, I would wonder a bit what the priest had in mind.

I’ve met people who were not priests who basically were not satisfied with anyone’s “action” efforts unless they were devoting pretty much their life to the “call to action” as a first priority. I worked on a volunteer pro bono project with a guy who was like that. If you wanted to focus on your school work or even take some time off and watch a football game instead of taking on more social justice work, he got upset. I quit working for his group because he was not taking a reasonable approach to volunteering and it was stressful to be around. The priest is probably not that bad, but he may well have some expectations of people that are not being met.
 
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