Feeling Ashamed and embarrassed

[NguyenKimPhat]

Dear CAF,

I am hoping that you can please help me. Sometimes, I remember the sins that I have committed in the past, and I feel incredibly embarrassed and ashamed of myself. How do i deal with this? I have already gone to confession… but the memory is still there. And the feeling of shame and guilt hurt so badly.

What should I do? I am so tired.

 

[Domiy]

Remember that God forgives all sins. Jesus died for all of our salvation. What you’re feeling is guilt for your past wicked ways out of the love you have for God, and there are few greater things that God loves more in a person!

Read the Gospels, they’re full of examples of a persons past being forgiven, regardless of how bad it is. Particularly remember the unrighteous lady who had faith in Jesus and told herself that if she could only touch his robe, she would be healed by His goodness. She did so, and Jesus, “moved by compassion”, healed her of her pain and past, and said “your sins are forgiven”.

Other things Jesus said in relation to that is “Your faith has made thee whole” and “GO, AND SIN NO MORE!”.

So yeah, pray, give your troubles and guilt to God, acknowledge that you are not worthy but you believe in Jesus’ death for your own sins, and thank him for that salvation, and repent. Ask God to give you his comfort and happiness, and devote yourself to Him. Sin no more, and make up for your past. Pray, follow Jesus and follow his teachings. Forgive your enemies, give to charity etc.

Do that, and I assure you not only a clear conscious and heart, but a life full of glory and comfort beyond your expectations. Join the club

 

[fbl9]

Dear CAF,

I am hoping that you can please help me. Sometimes, I remember the sins that I have committed in the past, and I feel incredibly embarrassed and ashamed of myself. How do i deal with this? I have already gone to confession… but the memory is still there. And the feeling of shame and guilt hurt so badly.

What should I do? I am so tired.

Forgive yourself, resist the temptation to beat your self up over your past.For it is the emeny trying to steal away your peace.

 

[Matt_Collins]

Remember that God, being God, is perfect. Everything He does, He does perfectly. So when He forgave you, He forgave you perfectly. He loves you perfectly.

A perfect lover would never want the person He loves, and whom He has forgiven, to continue to feel guilty. When lovers reconcile, it is pure joy. Yes, there will be tears of regret. But once the beloved is forgiven, he enters into a new joy with his lover that is at least partly based on knowing that his lover loves him enough to forgive even the most serious offenses.

Once you are forgiven, the temptation to continue to feel sad, and to be embarrassed, is in a sense denying God the joy He deserves to see you be happy in His love. It is the devil’s final grasping at straws to keep you from entering into the intimate joy of the love of God.

Be happy that you have a Lover who loves you with a passion beyond all description, Who is literally dying for you to be happy in His love.

It’s true that you don’t deserve this kind of love. None of us do. But try to imagine what it must be like for a lover who wants so desperately to give a gift to his beloved, which he knows with absolute certainty would make his beloved happy forever, but for his beloved to refuse the gift out of pride. Can you imagine the grief that would cause?! Well, that’s what refusing to let go, continuing to mull over past offenses, and refusing to be humble is doing to God.

That’s why Satan, who hates our beloved Lord, is tempting you to doubt His love and forgiveness.

When you boil it all down to the essentials there are three great lies Satan uses to tempt people:

1. There is no God.
2. There is a God, but He doesn’t love you.
3. You are God.

This temptation has elements of all three lies. Here is how they play out in this scenario:

1. God hasn’t forgiven you perfectly, therefore, since he has done something imperfectly, he’s not really God.
2. God doesn’t love you enough to truly forgive you perfectly and want you to be happy.
3. You should be ashamed of not being perfect!

 

[Kontrak]

I’m tired too Brother!!!

I am working on this myself. That’s why I read this. There are no coincidences with God.

There is a lot of excellent advice here especially the one above. Wow!

But also and this is the stage I am up to, in all humility, realize that God works through other people too, so think about looking into therapy for your guilt your shame your scruples etc. They could be a mild form of ocd and who knows what. Ask you priest to recommend some good ones who won’t steer you wrong.

 

[Carolus_Martell]

You have to accept the fact that Jesus really and truly died for our sins. If you made a good confession then your forgiven. That’s that…otherwise you could put Jesus in the position to suffer his passion again and again, who knows?.. maybe, I dunno.

Lets hope there’s not a dark sided quid pro quo for your lack of faith in the sacrament. But this continued remorse can’t be good for your mental health either. Remember David was a big sinner, he asked for and accepted Gods forgiveness… and he remained the apple of the Lords eye.

Don’t make it harder than it is, if the church says your forgiven then take it to the bank. \

Best wishes.

 

[JRKH]

There are sins that once we realize them can drive us to horrible anguish. It’s not a matter of our not accepting forgiveness - for we do.
It’s more a matter of purging ourselves…Sort of a self imposed penance that can serve to build up such a wall of hatred for that sin that it could become nearly impossible to ever commit it again.
Gradually - over time - the anguish and embarrassment will abate but the memory and the lesson will remain…

How do I know???

Been there - - - Done that…:bighanky:

In today’s society there is a desire to purge guilt…There is even a sort of running joke in both Catholicism and Judaism about guilt…The Jewish or Catholic mother playing the “guilt card” on their kids is probably the most common…
But the fact is that guilt is a useful tool given us by God for our benefit. Guilt does not mean that you are “getting down on yourself”. it means that you are taking a good hard look at yourself. That you recognize problems and seek to improve. Guilt helps us to do that. Remove guilt and the desire to improve is fatally weakened

Now guilt can certainly be misapplied and misused and can lead to despair - but it doesn’t have to.

You know you are forgiven so hang on to that. You know you are sorrowful, embarrassed and sad…so use that extra “penance” to fortify yourself against any future attacks by the enemy and temptations to sin.

Peace
James