Drifting away from the Faith

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MHT32

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Hello Forum,
I would like some advice as to how to get back to the faith. I used to be very devout, but since the school year started in August, it feels like I have been ridding of all the religious stuff I had in my life. I have stopped praying and going to Mass and I honestly don’t know what I believe in anymore. Is there a reason for any of this? Also, how do I go about getting my faith back? Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
 
Are you a college student?
If you can become familiar with some other Catholic students, perhaps join the Newman Club or some similar group, that might help.
Does your campus have a vibrant Catholic campus ministry? Is the priest approachable?
If not, is there a town/city parish close by that you could attend? If you could make a good confession, I’m sure the priest would have some good advice for you.
 
opus101 said:
Are you a college student?
If you can become familiar with some other Catholic students, perhaps join the Newman Club or some similar group, that might help.
Does your campus have a vibrant Catholic campus ministry? Is the priest approachable?
If not, is there a town/city parish close by that you could attend? If you could make a good confession, I’m sure the priest would have some good advice for you.
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Im still in high school, college is still 2 years away. I have a parish thats only 4 miles away so I could easily drive there and it wouldnt be a problem. The only thing is, I dont know if Id try to make amends in my life nor am I sure what I believe in. The priests at the parish are very approachable and are friendly though, and going to confession wouldnt be that bad. But id only go to confession with the intent to live a better life, and I dont know if I will try to make amends in the future.
 
MHT32 said:
Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
Click to expand...
Jesus said: “repent” and* “believe the good news (Gospel)”!*

He came so we may have true life.

So turn to Jesus - repent -pray --renew your Yes of Faith --your baptismal promises. Commit yourself to him as his disciple. Repenting of any and all mortal sin and making a good examination of conscience and a good confession with a resolution to avoid all mortal and and the near occasions of mortal sin --a commitment to follow him.

In Jesus of Nazareth is true life

(and thus in his Church …the Sacraments…etc)
 
 
well since you are posting this I assume you want to stoke the fire in your faith

well here are some suggestions

Get 2 books (Catholic books) besides the bible or Catechism - perhaps something like rediscover Catholicism , Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor (highly reccomended and easy read) or Where we got the bible - you can get it free here - formstack.com/forms/index.php?1427154-5KiwrjApQO

get some CD’s on your faith on things you are not sure about from www.lighthousecatholicmedia.com - they have greats ones on confession, Eucharist - ANYTHING

get a free CD here - lighthousecatholicmedia.org/kiosk/freeSample

also try to get involved in a ministry in your parish, I do an easy ministry - I make rosaries and meet with people at a parish once a week and its great.

if you live in an area with a Catholic Radio station - try to make a point to listen to it when you can

hope this helps!
 
MHT32 said:
Hello Forum,
I would like some advice as to how to get back to the faith. I used to be very devout, but since the school year started in August, it feels like I have been ridding of all the religious stuff I had in my life. I have stopped praying and going to Mass and I honestly don’t know what I believe in anymore. Is there a reason for any of this? Also, how do I go about getting my faith back? Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
Click to expand...
Hi Matt,

I don’t think that faith just “leaves” us… people abandon it, sometimes step by step, sometimes through little choices, or unconfessed sin, etc. Maybe it could help to acknowledge that in the end, you do have a free will: if you try to hold on to your faith, God will help you. So make sure that in your will, you don’t give up, regardless of how you feel. Faith is not in the feelings, but in the will. I would recommend also praying for a full repentance - something that anyone could benefit from, really.

What could really help is committing to pray the Rosary every day. A lot of people have found or regained faith through this. Faith is a gift, it’s a grace… the Rosary brings us many graces and protection.

Try going to Mass again, even if you don’t feel it, but make sure to only receive Communion after making a good Confession. It could help to talk to a good priest too.

Don’t avoid the Church and prayer as you try to figure out what to believe in, because this way you’ll just be avoiding receiving more graces to help you believe in and find the truth. Pray the Rosary, go to Mass, go to Adoration, - even if you feel nothing for a while, be patient, and bit by bit, it would help. Maybe ask God for faith and try to trust Him with this, because the more we trust, the more we receive. Think about what brought you to where you are now, - whether it was distrust, unconfessed sin, etc. Ask God for light to help you see what it is… ask the Holy Spirit. Mary’s prayers are also very powerful.

I used to be unsure of God’s existence, and when I believed, I wasn’t too sure at first, but with prayer, I became more sure until it just became a part of me. Without prayer, it’s really hard. Keep on praying, pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet, because those are very powerful prayers 🙂 Try to open up in your will as you pray, even if you feel nothing. Remember faith doesn’t abandon us… it’s all in our choices. And we can always come back if we’ve gone further from our faith, if we only seek to come back. God will answer, when the time is right and you’re ready, if you seek.

God bless you!
 
MHT32,

Have you seen the movie Blue Like Jazz? It’s on Netflix. It addresses the same themes you mention. Don’t know if it will bring you back to the faith but it will not be a waste of your time.

Dominus vobiscum,
Billy
 
MHT32 said:
Hello Forum,
I would like some advice as to how to get back to the faith. I used to be very devout, but since the school year started in August, it feels like I have been ridding of all the religious stuff I had in my life. I have stopped praying and going to Mass and I honestly don’t know what I believe in anymore. Is there a reason for any of this? Also, how do I go about getting my faith back? Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
Click to expand...
Many people; maybe most people go through cycles, experience ebb and flow when it comes to faith. You could be going through this now. You are a sophomore in HS so you are going through a transitional stage in life. Sort of like navigating stormy seas in a small boat. As you grow into adulthood your faith will mature and grow as well. Don’t worry too much about the uncertainty.
The thing is, God is always there, even if sometimes we don’t think so. He is there, and watching and helping us along the way. Sometimes the help comes in the form of a challenge, like the one you are facing now. He is there, and He knows you and He is helping.
Find somebody, maybe somebody your own age, to go to church with. And just go. If you have a youth group at your church, try going there. Are there religion classes at your church? Try attending some of the ones for teens.
And just talk with God. The way you would talk with a friend. Ask him questions, talk about your doubt, ask for advise.
He loves you. You’ll be fine.

God bless you;
 
MHT32 said:
Hello Forum,
I would like some advice as to how to get back to the faith. I used to be very devout, but since the school year started in August, it feels like I have been ridding of all the religious stuff I had in my life. I have stopped praying and going to Mass and I honestly don’t know what I believe in anymore. Is there a reason for any of this? Also, how do I go about getting my faith back? Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
Click to expand...
Matt,
our blessed mother Mary spoke with Sister Justine Bisqueyburu, a
Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, in 1840, about a green scapular.

Mary herself made certain promises to those who would keep the scapular on them,
wear or carry it, and would say a certain prayer everyday, and believe that
Mary would obtain those favors from her Son. Here are the favors she promised:
  1. Conversion of those who do not have the faith
  2. Reconciliation to the Church for those who have lost/strayed from the faith
  3. Assurance of a happy death
  4. Strengthening of the faith for those already in the Church
  5. Protection from Satan for those who wear or promote the scapular
This is the very answer to your search. But on your part you must
pray, at least daily: “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.”

Here are the very words of Mary to Sister Justine:
“The GREATEST graces come from using the scapular but these graces come
in direct proportion to the degree of CONFIDENCE IN ME which the user has.”

Now it is simple to have confidence in what Mary tells us, our heavenly mother. She is free of all sin and always has been. She certainly isn’t going to start telling lies now. So believe her and get a green scapular and stick it in you wallet and say the prayer every day. She will lead you back if you trust her words. It is her gift and her idea to help us.

You may get a free one by googling “Green Scapular”.​

“Mother virgin pure, hope and refuge sure, lead us safely to Jesus.” (hymn)
 
Hello to a fellow Catholic teen!!!

Come back to the faith! It’s too cool to leave!

Are there any retreats you could go on that would help?

Also, you might enjoy New Catholic Generation. NCG is a group of Catholic vloggers age 16-19. I’m not a member, but I watch their videos all the time. They’re very inspiring! I just did a post about it on my blog that gives some of the YouTube user names. lifedoesntgetmuchbetterthanthis.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/must-watch-youtube-channels-for-catholic-teens/

Hope this helps!! 😃
 
MHT32 said:
Im still in high school, college is still 2 years away. I have a parish thats only 4 miles away so I could easily drive there and it wouldnt be a problem. The only thing is, I dont know if Id try to make amends in my life nor am I sure what I believe in. The priests at the parish are very approachable and are friendly though, and going to confession wouldnt be that bad. But id only go to confession with the intent to live a better life, and I dont know if I will try to make amends in the future.
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Ask God to give you the strength to make the choice to make amends 🙂 it’s in your will to say yes…but we need grace.
 
I feel you are being pulled away from the faith by things you do not even understand. Is it the company you keep? The movies you watch that are anti-Christian? Does your faith seem distant from your everyday life?

Yet you have the good sense to ask for help here.

You have been given lots of good advice. Does anything here speak to you? Start simple with Jesus. Is He in your heart or has the world gotten too noisy to hear Him? Just sit still somewhere and talk to God. Ask him to take you step by step into his embrace.

You are so worthy of God’s love; can you allow yourself to feel it there for you? Can you allow yourself to go to communion and feel Christ in the Eucharist? Are you able to carry that over into making little sacrifices in your life? Little sacrifices that will change the world? Can you believe in those little things that reflect the Big Thing? The True Thing? God?

You are in my prayers.
 
Auntie_A said:
I feel you are being pulled away from the faith by things you do not even understand. Is it the company you keep? The movies you watch that are anti-Christian? Does your faith seem distant from your everyday life?

Yet you have the good sense to ask for help here.

You have been given lots of good advice. Does anything here speak to you? Start simple with Jesus. Is He in your heart or has the world gotten too noisy to hear Him? Just sit still somewhere and talk to God. Ask him to take you step by step into his embrace.

You are so worthy of God’s love; can you allow yourself to feel it there for you? Can you allow yourself to go to communion and feel Christ in the Eucharist? Are you able to carry that over into making little sacrifices in your life? Little sacrifices that will change the world? Can you believe in those little things that reflect the Big Thing? The True Thing? God?

You are in my prayers.
Click to expand...
It isnt the company I keep, my closest friends are practicing Christians (most are Catholic). I dont have much time for movies, but I watch almost every genre unless its like a porno or anything similar. So I dont think Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter is to blame for my life. And my faith does feel distant from my everyday life, but not like im doing anything worse than what I did when i was practicing. It seems like it just vanished, you know? Thank you for the responses, by the way.
 
Note: “feeling” is one thing. Faith is another.

We do not have a despotic control over our feelings…we have a diplomatic relationship if you will.

So feelings may nor may not follow in life…
 
Faith ~ “opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples.”

“Believers, so Saint Augustine tells us, “strengthen themselves by believing”.”…

“Only through believing, then, does faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one’s life apart from self-abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI Porta Fidei
 
MHT32 said:
It isnt the company I keep, my closest friends are practicing Christians (most are Catholic). I dont have much time for movies, but I watch almost every genre unless its like a porno or anything similar. So I dont think Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter is to blame for my life. And my faith does feel distant from my everyday life, but not like im doing anything worse than what I did when i was practicing. It seems like it just vanished, you know? Thank you for the responses, by the way.
Click to expand...
I think I understand. And I appreciate your honesty. It seems like you are going through a transition from childhood spirituality to adult spirituality. I don’t think your faith has vanished, although it certainly feels that way. Find a good priest and/or spiritual director and discuss this. It seems very normal. Sometimes I felt spiritually dry around other more enthusiastic people. Now I realize that I’m just different. We’re not all cut out the same way. My spiritual growth came from or was sustained by work, responsibilities, struggles, tragedies, overcoming tragedies, devotions and from attending mass. I didn’t always understand the lessons at the time. Keep on as you can.
 
MHT32 said:
Hello Forum,
I would like some advice as to how to get back to the faith. I used to be very devout, but since the school year started in August, it feels like I have been ridding of all the religious stuff I had in my life. I have stopped praying and going to Mass and I honestly don’t know what I believe in anymore. Is there a reason for any of this? Also, how do I go about getting my faith back? Any advice will help, thank you.
-Matt
Click to expand...
This happened to me in my teens years and I returned in my 20s, I was rebelling because my father “told me” to go, and I rebelled just about anything my father told me at that time. I would suggest that you focus on your personal relationship with God in works and prayer. Find a volunteer group that is associated with the Church, or if not, just do something regularly to help a neighbor out, someone at school, start out this way and find other prayer forms that get you in contact with God. That might be poetry, watch a movie like Sophie Scholl - The Final Days, look up imaginative prayer. Also of course go to Mass, but do these other things as well.

I would also suggest that you go to Confession at another parish where you don’t have to face your local priest if that is holding you back.
 
Plead with God to show himself to you. Pray to the Holy Spirit .Tell him you want to have faith, you want to be a good Catholic. Try going to the Vatican website and read some of Pope Benedict XVI’s homilies from Mass. Ask Jesus and Mary to guide you. Just be open and honest and they will come to your aid. Dont give up. As St JoseMaria Escriva said “where there is ascetical struggle, there is interior life” You have that interior life and it needs a spark. You can get that back with a really good confession. Have you ever read the Divine Mercy Diary of St Faustina Kowalska?
You are in my prayers!
www.divinemercypopes.com
 
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