Feeling completely lost, contemptful towards God

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niall

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I’ve been feeling very frustrated with myself lately, because I feel as though throughout most of my journey in the faith, I simply do things because of fear of punishment, and not for love of God.

It’s very frustrating, because at times, I feel as though I could not possibly love Jesus more if I tried, and I have felt the deep love from Him too. But all of that right now is entirely gone.

Right now, I feel as though there is no hope for me. I try to look at things and pray things that may make me feel emotion or sorrow for my sins, but nothing does it. I feel practically nothing when I look at the crucifix, with Jesus suffering for the sins I’ve committed. I know I’m dealing with the spirit of pride right now, but I still feel that all is lost because I cannot force myself right now to truly love God.

Right now, I need very many prayers. Please pray for me.
 
I WILL pray for you;

However you need to understand THAT God NEVER ABANDON’ us; test US. YES!

Your are experiencing what a great many of us Informed and practicing Catholics have experience in our own Spiritual journeys. Theologians term it :THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

Mother Theresa Now a SAINT, is reported to have had this for a great part Her Ministry in Calcutta. So PRAY your way through this; and end EVERY prayer; with THY will not my WILL BE DONE dear Lord.

Amen!

Life itself [all of it] Is thee God Test

Blessings, and prayers
PJM.
 
I can relate to this, niall. Most of the time when I pray, I don’t feel much at all. No matter what my prayer is, whether it’s the Rosary or in Mass, I find myself just saying the words, but not actually putting any meaning behind them. But you can find comfort in knowing that Jesus is pleased with based on the sole fact that you are continuing to be obedient and pray to Him, despite not receiving any warm or reassuring feelings. Jesus understands our frail humanity. He made you just the way you are and for some of us, like myself, emotional feeling is not our strongest suit. Trust in Jesus and ask Him to help you love Him. He doesn’t expect us to have grand emotional stirrings we we pray. In fact, a calm and contemplative heart is very pleasing to Him. Be at peace. You’re going through a stage in spiritual growth that will yield much grace if you perservere.
 
Hi Nial

What you are experiencing now is normal and natural. It is just a period of dryness, spiritual dryness. That’s all. Our journey is made up of hills AND valleys. We cannot be up in the hills always. It is important now for you just to persevere. Even if you do not feel love at the moment you must continue to pray. This is important. God values perseverance. Pray even when you receive no consolations. Just pray the rosary, five decades per day. Force yourself to go to Adoration and go even when you feel nothing. Jesus is still with you. Just because you don’t feel it doesn’t change that fact. Keep up the prayer. This is vital. While it is nice to have all these lovely feelings, at the end of the day feelings are fickle. Stay with the Lord even when the journey seems tough. May God bless you.

Please don’t give up. This is very important.
 
I often feel very much the way you do, especially lately. I pray, but with little love and hope. At times, I almost think that I’m giving God an ultimatum.

The only consolation I have right now is that I continue to pray regardless of how I feel. What I have noticed is that bad habits, sinful behaviour are losing their control, even though I’m in a low emotional state. It’s almost like an addict going through withdrawal.

I will pray for you.
 
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Recently me too. I read it is a test and it happens to everyone. We must pray despite what we feel or think we feel.
God bless you and turn His face on you again (so you can see Him!)
 
Hello, feel at peace, your second paragraph shows that the first is wrong.
Ask for more faith and keep on doing righteousness.
God tests us in the similar way as one tests a metal so that it grows stronger, not in a “now let’s see what he does” sorta way, he’s Omniscient and all.
It makes us sure to have a more pure love, to love God for love of God and not for us to have the spiritual benefits. Not to live for experience but for God!

Just keep going. Try not to do less. If you feel you cannot do more at this time, then that is probably fine. But do the same as you’ve always done, in terms of prayer life.

Many crucifixes are not detailed enough for you to see all the physical pain Jesus experienced. Empathy is the best way to feel, so if you really want try thinking about how you’d feel in that situation, then realize it pales in comparison to the actual pain of Christ.
 
There’s really only one thing to do; cry out to Him as if Hell is about to swallow you whole.
 
Hi niall,

I went through this many years ago, too.

I was a period of “dryness.”

It was kind of like I felt “nothing” inside, or “dead” inside, regarding my spiritual life.

I too knew that this could happen, so I just kept going to Mass, and Adoration, and just kept praying and doing everything else that we would do as Catholics do, regarding prayers, devotions, and regarding our Spiritual life.

It did pass, but for me it probably lasted several months, if I recall correctly.

Prayers said for you, that you pass through this phase smoothly.

God bless you! 🙂
 
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I sometimes struggle with this. All I can do is make myself do the right things whether or not I feel like it or want to.
 
@niall

True Repentance is through from the love of God ,fearing punishment is not Godly repentance.

Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband,the Lord of hosts is his name;the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,the God of the whole earth he is called.6 For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off,says your God.7 For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.8 In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you,but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer
 
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I agree with many of the comments in here that say there are periods we go through in which we feel like God is so far away. My understanding of why God may do this is so that we learn to follow not out of emotion, but because we have learned that God’s way is good. Also I do believe that God is Love, but God is also so many other things to us. A Spiritual journey is not an emotional journey, otherwise we would only make progress when we felt great. Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt before the crucifixion? Sometimes the way forward is anything but fun, and how we feel emotionally should often be disregarded, especially when we have spiritual work to do, because the enemy is quite able to tamper with emotions. Emotions should be used as an indicator but never as the sole means to make decisions.

I would say this about the crucifixion though: Others have talked about the physical pain that Jesus endured through the crucifixion… in my own meditation I have come to the conclusion that though the physical pain he endured must have been phenomenal, that it couldn’t compare in the slightest to the spiritual pain such a loving person would have felt shouldering the sins of the world not just in that moment but at all times. To look at Jesus on the cross and see only physical suffering is not to take into account the true measure of suffering He must have experienced. As it is must be with God when we sin, I do not know if God suffers for it, but I can imagine that it is very displeasing to Him. I have encountered sadness from God for my own mistakes, and being led astray, but rarely have I ever sensed anger.

Not all feelings we have come from within ourselves, nor are they all from God; the enemy can inject both thought and emotions into our conscious streams. Deploy the armor of God, and realize that defense is not its purpose.

Life is not only a ‘test’ - there are beautiful things to be enjoyed - listen to music - go for walks in natural settings - and always keep fellowship with others (not just through electronic media) - prayer is an indispensable tool, but God can reach us in many other ways, but we have to put ourselves out there for this to happen.
 
Hello Niall, if you would be willing to hear a non-RC approach to salvation it will help you. As a Catholic myself who moved on in the faith many years ago, I can totally relate to the feelings of inadequacy and despair. Catholicism itself breads this despair in my view, (though it is denied.)

But the most dangerous part of this issue is when you begin to look upon God Himself as unfair, difficult, judgmental or even dangerous. This is a mistake. Protestants too fight these same kind of feelings. Not all protestants, just the ones who actually embrace a more RC view of salvation.

In your view, you are waiting for a final “justification,” from God where the Lord will say, “… well done good and faithful servant!” But until, or unless you endure until that time, a certain sense of insecurity, and inadequacy creeps in. Got it.

Jesus never spoke of eternal life this way. Read the gospel of John. In that book there are more references to how one receives eternal life than Matthew, Mark and Luke combined. John’s gospel is considered an evangelistic gospel of salvation because of the repetitious expressions of salvation.

Just pay close attention to the simplicity of Christ offer of eternal life. Then pray and ask Him about it.
He is so gratuitous in His offer that many in both Catholic and Protestant circles get angry about it. “It can’t be that simple!” “It can’t be that easy!” Salvation requires your good works to seal the deal!

Many Pius expressions borne out of frustration and condemnation are thrown at anyone who takes Jesus at His clear word. Let me do the homework for you: read John 1:12; 3:15-16; 3:36; 5:24; 6:40, 47; and John 10:28

All of these verses have one common denominator: All of theme require that you “believe” Jesus is the Christ. John 20:31. That is it!.. to believe in who He is! If you already believe He is the Christ, you have already entered eternal life by faith apart from any good works.

Pray and thank Jesus for saving you eternally. Worship Him for saving you eternally. Thank Him for giving you the free gift of eternal life. Then ask Him for His peace that surpasses all understanding to guard your heart.

I guarantee you, the Spirit of the Lord will descend upon you and comfort you, and love on you to an overflow.

Let me know how it works out.
Blessings.
 
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I’m not Catholic but I’m thinking of converting for my own reasons. You have to consider that not everyone is called to worship the exact same way. And if everyone gave up works not thinking them necessary at all, I wonder how that would affect us globally.

In any case, you can’t save people who are lying on the beach basking in the Son already.

Truly believing and accepting Christ will result in a change of heart and mind which will manifest in our actions (loosely could translate ‘actions’ to ‘works’). What exactly this could mean could be just a bunch of small things, not one big thing.

Anybody who works for the Lord knows that in service it is the Lord who should always be praised for bringing works to fruition.

What if you’re wrong and salvation isn’t just something you can do in 5 minutes between classes? What if salvation is actually making contact with the Holy Spirit and then following its direction?

God Bless
 
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Just keep praying!

Some people experience that quietness or “dark night of the soul” where you feel spiritually dry, emotionless, you feel less motivated spiritually to do anything, perhaps feel sluggish and apathetic to even care. When before you were filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit and had zeal that felt like wings and a fervor in prayers that made you feel like you ran to God out of love and pure joy.

Now you feel like you’ve crashed and hit a wall- perhaps plummeted off a cliff into a dark tar-like goo that’s suffocating the life out of you. I sympathize!
I felt the same a few years back and only now, even though my situation has turned into a long journey through the dark. I’m slowly coming to understand that God had to keep resetting my faulty foundations for my own good! Some ideals were thrown out, personal principles amended, inner revelations discovered, etc.

My one advice is to keep praying anyway!

It goes to say, you can’t run till you learn to walk; you can’t know what ‘high’ is if you don’t know what ‘low’ is - these things happen on a spiritual level to bring you closer to God . He has His reasons. Just keep trusting. If you continue to do the right things because you fear just punishment, how great it will be to do the right things because you love him.

A quote from St. Francis de Sales
“But, finally, when we are afraid of offending God not to avoid the pains of hell or the loss of heaven, but only because God being our good Father we owe him honour, respect, obedience, then our fear is filial, because a good child does not obey his father on account of the power he has to punish his disobedience, or because he might disinherit him, but purely because he is his father; in such sort that though his father might be old, powerless, and poor, he would not serve him with less diligence, but rather, like the bird of filial piety, would assist him with the more care and affection.”
Click to expand...
http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/on_love_of_God/lg175.php

I will be praying for you and all those currently feeling this way spiritually.
Tanya
 
Yeah but good works are necessary, just not for the reasons you think my friend.
 
‘Good works’ implies a number of things.

Firstly the word ‘good’ - we have our own natural concept of what we believe to be good, but even though that might occasionally align with the Holy Spirit, we come to see very early on in our walk that it is only God that truly knows what is ‘Good’. A course of action or a decision we are intuitively told to make by the Holy Spirit may not ‘sit right’ with us. Realistically, we have extremely limited vision in comparison with the Holy Spirit. When guided by the Spirit into action the outcome of an event may not serve our immediate concept of good but may have much further reaching cause and effect than we will likely ever see and is of benefit often to the ‘greater good.’

So a ‘Good Work’ implies a work that is initiated by the Holy Spirit (God), which is sensed intuitively by the believer as being a ‘burden of the Spirit’ placed on him/her. The believer interprets the course of action with a variety of means, (often ‘coincidental in nature’ - revelation differs experientially), and carries it through to the finish.

This may not culminate with an end result that we can brag about with buddies over a beer at a bar. But we store our treasure in heaven, with the humble realization that we were only following direction, and God, though He asks for our cooperation, is the author of all things…

‘Good works’ are entirely between believers and God.

A good work isn’t necessarily starting a mission in Africa to feed starving children and to educate them to be self-sustaining… being in a state of Gospel readiness on a moment to moment basis, prepared to answer hatred with love is a good work in progress, not ever out of obligation, but because accepting Christ is to love,

But obviously you cannot earn your way into heaven with works of your own deciding.

A good work shouldn’t be with hope of reward or recognition; a good work comes after salvation, not before it. The reward has already been granted which is to know Jesus; what greater reward could there ever be?

Good works before salvation are vain and short sighted; good works after salvation are a love affair… with broken gifts laid at His feet.
 
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‘’’’’’ ‘’ ‘’ ’ ’ ’ ‘’’’’’ just because I think I missed a couple 😉
 
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