Feelings

[Mig]

I have an explicit reason for asking, but before I reveal that, I’d like to know what you think about the role ‘strong feelings’ play in choosing the Church I commit too.

Allow me to give a bit of background to help you see where I’m coming from. At one time I’d have claimed ‘feelings’ play no part. Choosing correctly should be based on total rationality which in turn is based on study. I still believe that rational study plays an important part, I’m no longer convinced that ‘strong feelings’ don’t play as important a role.

 

[John_of_Woking]

I have an explicit reason for asking, but before I reveal that, I’d like to know what you think about the role ‘strong feelings’ play in choosing the Church I commit too.

Allow me to give a bit of background to help you see where I’m coming from. At one time I’d have claimed ‘feelings’ play no part. Choosing correctly should be based on total rationality which in turn is based on study. I still believe that rational study plays an important part, I’m no longer convinced that ‘strong feelings’ don’t play as important a role.

I’ve got to admit my conversion to Catholicism was in part down to feelings. I needed the Love of Christ in the Eucharist. Although it was also far more rationally coherent than everything else. For me it was nihilism or Catholicism and Praise God Catholicism won the battle.

 

[tbcrawford]

I believe the Holy Spirit moves us to think and feel and move towards God.When we pray to God for intervention in our lives and ask for guidance He will send His Holy Spirit to guide as along our path.

What some people may describe as feelings could in fact be the Holy Spirit working inside you.
If you are discerning joining the Catholic Church this could well be the case.

Pray to God for He will answer you,it may not be the answer you were expecting or in the way you thought but He does hear all prayers and does answer in His way.God bless

 

[ncstevem]

of the Intellect and the Will.

It is an act of the intellect to learn, understand and accept the One, True Faith and an act of the will to live the Faith we have learned and accepted.

Feelings are transitory and should not be the basis for one to live as a serious Catholic.

 

[PatriceA]

of the Intellect and the Will.

It is an act of the intellect to learn, understand and accept the One, True Faith and an act of the will to live the Faith we have learned and accepted.

Feelings are transitory and should not be the basis for one to live as a serious Catholic.

I don’t know about that, I have a pretty strong emotional reaction anytime I’m in the presence of the Eucharist. I have a pretty strong emotional reaction when I pray the rosary and talk to Mary. I have a pretty strong emotional reaction after reconciliation as well and I’ve been forgiven for all my trangressions.

I personally think “strong feelings” are very, very much a part of living a very faithfilled life. If I only had a matter of the fact approach to Jesus in the Eucharist, I don’t think I’d be Catholic.

 

[GloriousOrder]

As with all things, moderation and balance are the proper manifestations of wisdom.

Since the proper object of all human beings is God, and Christ is God, our goal should be conforming ourselves to Him. Eternity itself became mortal, and showed all the signs of mortality in that human nature. The Blessed Lord was filled with great emotion at certain times (He wept at Lazarus’ tomb), and was consumed by intense heavenly logic at other times (He gave the Sermon on the Mount). Was He not the perfect human being, and the best example to follow?

I came to a point, myself, in choosing between three “churches”. My Christian journey had come to fruition by stages, and my road now reached a fork in three directions. Whether I became Anglican, Roman Catholic, or Eastern hinged upon logic and upon emotion. Logic would determine whether one of those three options adhered most perfectly to Christ’s teachings and the history of the Holy Martyrs, Saints, and Doctors. On the other hand, emotion would determine which I felt most glorified God. After all, you need your logic and iron will for the first half of the journey; however, once it has been narrowed down, your emotions give a sense of which faith is truly honouring God’s majesty. We are emotional beings! These feelings that bring tears to our eyes at the sight of a Roman Baroque Church are often great graces of consolation which point us in the right direction.

Have a blessed Sunday!

 

[Anne1964]

I think God may use strong feelings to call you to His Church, but once you are there you shouldn’t expect the strong feelings to always be present.

For example, when I first returned to the Church I experienced very strong feelings during Mass. This lasted for about 4 months. It was one of the things that prompted me to go to Mass every week. I have never experienced that kind of joy anywhere else.

Four years later, I don’t experience strong feelings at Mass very often anymore but I still go to Mass every week because I have decided to accept the requriements of the Catholic faith. I did that through formation in the faith. But without the initial strong feelings I might not have returned to the Church at all.

 

[JRKH]

I have an explicit reason for asking, but before I reveal that, I’d like to know what you think about the role ‘strong feelings’ play in choosing the Church I commit too.

Allow me to give a bit of background to help you see where I’m coming from. At one time I’d have claimed ‘feelings’ play no part. Choosing correctly should be based on total rationality which in turn is based on study. I still believe that rational study plays an important part, I’m no longer convinced that ‘strong feelings’ don’t play as important a role.

“Feelings” can and will change. Study of saintly men and women over the centuries reveal everyone will go through changes in their feelings… sometimes refered to as “Dark nights”.
You might recall awhile back after Mother Theresa of Calcutta died, that some documents were released revealing many “feelings” of doubt, loneliness etc…The Dark Night", as St John of the Cross put it…
Therefore it is dangerous to place too much emphasis on “feelings”

That said, one can, and will, “feel” drawn toward a particular sprituality, to Truth and toward where God wishes them to be. Whether this “being drawn” is a feeling, or an irresistable intellectual conviction could be debated…But such a draw will, in all likelyhood, not change over time. It will be fairly constant. It might wax and wane a bit depending on other factors, but if God “Draws You” to a particular spirituality it will be a consistant draw toward Truth.

So I guess that I would see “feelings” as a component in so far as a “comfort level”, or a sense that you are “in the groove”, or “at peace” with what and where God wants you to be in your life. But this “feeling” grows, not so much from a, “burning in the bosom” as from an intellectual conviction…In other words, faith.

Peace
James

 

[Spirithound]

I don’t know about that, I have a pretty strong emotional reaction anytime I’m in the presence of the Eucharist. I have a pretty strong emotional reaction when I pray the rosary and talk to Mary. I have a pretty strong emotional reaction after reconciliation as well and I’ve been forgiven for all my trangressions.

I personally think “strong feelings” are very, very much a part of living a very faithfilled life. If I only had a matter of the fact approach to Jesus in the Eucharist, I don’t think I’d be Catholic.

Consolations are certainly a great blessing from God, but many people simply do not receive them. On the other side, an emotional reaction can be evoked by nearly anything, most of them things that are incidental to the substance of the liturgy.

 

[Bluegoat]

Feelings are useful, but sometimes misleading.

A strong feeling that something is fishy, dangerous, or just doesn’t add up can be an important clue that one ought to investigate things further. As well, persistent feelings of unhappiness or emptiness in one’s religious life can be a sign that something is wrong.

And some people find that their feelings are actually a more reliable guide on many occasion than their intellect - they have a higher emotional intelligence than rational intelligence, if that makes sense.

Of course emotion has many pitfalls, so it needs to be guided by other things. In the end, as a pp said, it is about balance, and each thing in it’s proper place. But discounting feelings because they can be misleading is like discounting your sense of smell or eyesight because they can be tricked.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante is the Christian everyman on a journey to God. Virgil, who represents human reason, rescues Dante from the wilderness guides him through Hell and purgatory. But Beatrice, his beloved, guides him through Heaven. Both reason and love have their place in our journey into God.

 

[LLMom]

Feelings do come and go and shouldn’t be the sole basis of a decision, but they do make us human. There needs to be a balance as with so many things.