Going it alone?

[averheyen]

Hey, any other Catholic men out there who feel like/or have felt that they’re going it alone?

I’m in my mid 20s, and I’m probably the only person I know who has any desire or concept of living a healthy moral life.

Any other Catholic men on this forum experienced this? How did you cope, what did you do? How did you stay faithful? Did you ever feel like the whole thing was pulling you apart at the seems?

Any advice would be appriciated.

• Adam

 

[MarcoPolo]

Well, I’m 4 years removed from that now, but I was that man. My advice:

1. Pray every day.
2. Have humility. Don’t think yourself above everyone, read the lives of the saints if it helps.
3. Just try to preach the Gospel by your actions.
4. And remember to pray to God for your needs.
5. I’ve also bitten the bullet and paid lots of money for Father Corapi CDs and I’ve found them invaluable through today.

 

[NTOT]

Hey, any other Catholic men out there who feel like/or have felt that they’re going it alone?

I’m in my mid 20s, and I’m probably the only person I know who has any desire or concept of living a healthy moral life.

Any other Catholic men on this forum experienced this? How did you cope, what did you do? How did you stay faithful? Did you ever feel like the whole thing was pulling you apart at the seems?

Any advice would be appriciated.

• Adam

Hope you don’t mind women responding? At work it seems I am the only Catholic or at least Catholic that takes her faith seriously. Needless to say, it makes you stick out like a sore thumb which can be very difficult. You get it both ways, subjected to the lure of pride (because some people tend to praise you for being so ‘religious’) as well as being open to humility (so you think you’re so holy) and downright attacks as well. Needless to say, I am not ashamed to be Catholic, neither do I purposely attempt to draw needless attention to myself. But always try to remain unwavering in my faith, be it in conversation or daily actions. Sometimes it seems like people have a sense of certain things which they deem to be inappropriate to talk about in front of you.

 

[averheyen]

Hope you don’t mind women responding? At work it seems I am the only Catholic or at least Catholic that takes her faith seriously. Needless to say, it makes you stick out like a sore thumb which can be very difficult. You get it both ways, subjected to the lure of pride (because some people tend to praise you for being so ‘religious’) as well as being open to humility (so you think you’re so holy) and downright attacks as well. Needless to say, I am not ashamed to be Catholic, neither do I purposely attempt to draw needless attention to myself. But always try to remain unwavering in my faith, be it in conversation or daily actions. Sometimes it seems like people have a sense of certain things which they deem to be inappropriate to talk about in front of you.

Not at all, it’s appriciated actually.

And I know what you mean about sticking out like a sore thumb.

Some days I just ask myself “am I crazy for wanting to be a devout Catholic?” because I always end up thinking about the weird religous people I’ve met, and I think “I don’t want to be like that.” (on my way back to the faith, I went to an evangelical church that preached 6th day creationism. It’s a long and stressful story.)

And I know what you mean about the pride and humility. It’s like…do I go about my business in the world acting as if I were this saintly angel, or as the human I am. Like when you read the lives of one of the saints, and it sounds like they were this perfect, angellic creature, graced with perfection, and then you read another, and it’s like “wow, this person is EXACTLY like me.”