Help...im in a dilemma

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mark_edd

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you know? its been too long and this thing keeps boggling up my mind. I’m in a dilemma whether to stay as a catholic or convert to another sect. we all know that the catholic church is mainly built by Christ and to go to other faith seems to be a spiritual suicide. I’ve read many articles just to relieve me of this but there’s just no definite answer. I’ve been aware of the dryness of worship we have during mass.they say its just the way it is…along with other traditions. It seems to me that there’s nothing new in the catholic church. The church seemed to be left by time.I only felt silence. For me, there is a need of change in the church’s system. Many,many people had left. The church must have a charismatic vibrancy in worship.The church must wake up. There seems to be a great spiritual depression.Some priests just sits and stares drowsily to the point that they look lifeless instead of having Christ’s lively image.

I need reasons for me not to leave also.
 
Hello Mark Edd,
I think you are confusing some things here.

First, some parishes are “better” at being vibrant, some parishes are even charismatic. The priest and fellow Catholics in your parish are just ordinary people, just like the people at the other church you’ve attended. But you can’t judge the Truth of what’s being taught, prayed, and happening by the way people who are there act or “seem.” Have you tried becoming involved in changing the things you would like to see changed?

Secondly, and I think more importantly, you seem worried about what you are getting out of the Mass you attend. But what’s really important is what you are bringing. If you feel dryness at Mass, try to remember what you are actually witnessing and being a part of.

A non-Catholic service, no matter how vibrant and charismatic, is a bunch of Christians praying and rejoicing. You can certainly pray and rejoice with equal fervor as a Catholic. Pour yourself into a rosary group, or organize some like-minded Catholics.

Hope I helped some, may God bless you Mark

Bweedle
 
I’m sorry that you are struggling.
Can you find a way to deepen your love and understanding, and your relationship with God…because if you change faiths, you are looking for stimulation from outside of you, not really seeking any answer between God and yourself. Do you spend any time in the Church to pray before or after Mass, Do you read the gospels to know more about Jesus, to experience Him, do you ever read anything writtten by or about modern saints?

“The Eucharistic Sacrifice is the source and summit of the whole of the Church’s worship and of Christian life. The faithful participate more fully in the sacrament of thanksgiving, propitiation, petition and praise not only when they wholeheartedly offer the sacred Victim, and in it themselves to the Father with the priest, but also when they receive this same Victim sacramentally.”

“The other sacraments, as indeed every ministry of the church and every work of the apostolate, are linked with the Eucharist and are directed towards it. For the Eucharist contains the entire spiritual good of the Church, namely, Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread, offering through His flesh, living and life-giving in the Spirit, life to all who are thus invited and led on to offer themselves, their labours, and all created things together with Him.” [Vatican 2 documents]
 
Okay,hooooh, thank God! He sent someone.
And it’s you…

may i ask some answers to this question?

here it is…

do you think that there’s an ongoing improvement within the church?

🙂
 
I just include a prayer or maybe two that maybe or maybe not give you any thought that might help. It’s part of how I approach the Mass.

God’s gift of redemption and Jesus’ heart-gift
Jesus, although we are often complacent regarding this gift of Your highest creative imagination, the Eucharist is Your heart-gift to humanity throughout time. You grant it for our spiritual nourishment and for our intimate communion with God, with Christians throughout the ages, and with all saints in Heaven.

You offer Yourself to God in reparation, thanksgiving, petition and praise on behalf of everyone who ever lives. I ask You, with the Holy Spirit, with the intercession of Your Mother, of all saints and angels, and of all souls, to offer the Mass for all persons in the highest way intended by God.

Thank You Jesus for this gift of Eucharist that is offered for everyone, even those who know nothing of this gift! The Eucharistic offering is never an isolated event or the prayer of any one person, but of all people. Therefore, in the Eucharist, I say ‘Amen’ to all Your hopes and dreams for everyone and everything that You intend in time and eternity.

The Mass is the only banquet to which one may invite countless souls from around the world throughout time. I invite the Angels of dear ones and of each other person living and in Purgatory, to share fully in the Eucharist as they proclaim ‘Amen’ to all the hopes and dreams that God has for each of these souls.

I wish my life to be a celebration of this heart-gift of Jesus who loves us each so much. For Jesus, Bread of Life, You are my pearl beyond price. I offer this pearl to the Father for each soul entrusted to me, and for all persons.

Third and second last paragraphs…that’s my angle on praying for people. We can’t just be sponges and thus disappointed, we need to take some active part, as in prayer for other. I’m sure you do, but sometimes we have to remind ourselves to give, to pray for, others with genuine caring, not just going through the motions.
 
A Mass offering

Jesus, during Mass I am sometimes distracted. Regardless I ask to be fully in Your presence. May the Holy Spirit, our Mother, all Saints and Angels, the souls in Purgatory, offer Mass with me, for sake of Your whole Mystical Body.

Even at most aware, I feel deaf, dumb and blind regarding the Eucharist. Therefore, I surrender my being and life, and all persons for whom I pray, to Your ‘Amen’ within this Sacramental Sacrifice.

Jesus, as the Spirit transubstantiates bread into Your body, please also transform me into You! I feel ordinary and small, and others see me so. Yet I am full of the peace of knowing that in the presence of the Father, through the Holy Spirit, with the communion of Saints and Angels, You pray Your Eucharistic prayer of love, thanksgiving and salvation in us. Thank You Jesus for the gift of Eucharist, which is beyond human understanding and hope.

I seek Your Eucharistic prayer in each instant of my life. I seek it for praise and thanksgiving to the Trinity—for all the wishes of Your Heart, and for the hopes of the whole Mystical Body. I seek it for the purification, expansion, holiness and unity of Your Church. I seek it for priests, religious and for the entire human family. I seek it for justice, love and peace; for souls in purgatory; for my own dear ones.

…Eternal God, look at me, see Your Son, and answer all the wishes of His loving heart in me and in those whom He longs to bless through me. Thank You for Him and for the Spirit who brings Him to me and me to Him. Thank You for giving me opportunity and faith to live a Eucharistic life—for others’ benefit, and mine. Please folood me with grace to respond wholeheartedly to this extraordinary gift of Eucharist and Communion.
 
Communion

Jesus, You who welcome me into Your loving presence, welcome to my heart! Deep in Your love I rest. All distance and time disappear in Your Sacramental presence. By Your extraordinary mercy, in each Communion I am with You in Heaven and on Earth, with Father, Holy Spirit, with the Angels, with communicants from past, present and future. Within each Communion I pray for everyone who ever lives.

I trustfully lean against Your breast, listening to Your seeming silence. I speak of everything in my heart, hope, and life for You, for everyone, for my dear ones, and for me. Trusting in Your mercy, I surrender my being and theirs, with our goodness, our sin and indifference.

Jesus, as I dwell in You who dwell in me forever deep within Your love, please hold me close to Your heart along with each other person. Thank You for this gift of Communion.

The Pearl of great price

God, Eucharistic Communion is the gift of Jesus truly present in His humanity and divinity, uniting each person in the whole Mystical Body. Do not let us undervalue this marvellous gift.

Please forgive all neglect and sin against the Eucharist, sacramental Communion, and the exposed or tabernacled presence of Jesus. Please fully overwrite all such sin with every act and moment of sacramental love and reverence throughout time.

Let there never be a time when the Eucharist is no longer appreciated. May there always be Christians who offer it faithfully in their hearts, whether or not they are actually present at the Eucharist. In some countries, the Eucharist has been banned, and those who love it have been persecuted. Do not let these deprived persons become inured to their loss. Let them continue to treasure Your sacred Eucharist.

Comfort those who are deprived of the Mass and Communion. Let their desire for Your eternal Offering and Thanksgiving, and their longing to receive You in their hearts be fulfilled spiritually by the same Holy Spirit who changes bread into the Body of Jesus, and wine into His Blood. Enter into their hearts and lift them to Your own heart, Father.
 
mark_edd said:
Okay,hooooh, thank God! He sent someone.
And it’s you…

may i ask some answers to this question?

here it is…

do you think that there’s an ongoing improvement within the church?

🙂
Click to expand...
Hello, Mark!

Do I think that? It’s not a question I usually think in quite that way. I don’t think I can make that kind of assessment. There appears to be something of a return to the more traditional. If you are asking me whether I believe the Church is improving as an institution, I doubt that I would be comfortable in answering that as the overall picture is best known to God, and I don’t see myself as an authority. There are those who have posted in these forums that the Church is perfect. I can only say that God is perfect, that God’s truth is perfect, we who make up the Body of Christ, the Church, are not, nor were we ever in the history of the Church.

I would feel more comfortable in answering whether the Church is improving on a spiritual basis. I would say that there seems to be less of our faith taught and received in many Catholic schools than in previous times…but this may not be universally so.

I think that many of our young people walk away from the Church and our faith without real understanding of what they are throwing away. Many appear unfamiliar with the gospels, with many truths of our faith, many do not know of the richness of the insightful and inspiring writings of many saints, or even of the witness of their lives…and sadly don’t have a great appreciation of what the Eucharist really is.

But then this is true of many older Catholics, who are unfamiliar with these sources of spiritual growth, not very familiar with the gospels. How many actually spend time in prayer, or time before the tabernacle…of course many do, and there are some wonderful prayerful souls in our Forums…and many who have deep understanding ot the truths of our faith.

There are always people who contribute to the life of the Church in every age, whose prayers and love of God and of other people give the Church great spiritual richness, and go to the salvation of many whom they have never met as well as those whom they know.

I haven’t answered your question as put, but I’m not sure that I can. I hope you don’t mind, Trishie:)
 
Mark I’d turned off my computer and am supposed to be asleep, but you were still on my mind. I’m not insensitive to your difficulty. I’ve been in passing in parishes like you describe. I’ve heard homilies that I’ve had to struggle, not always successfully, to stay awake for, and even, in the past, have been at some Masses where the priest hurries through or seems depressed as you say, and may even be depressed.

I do wish you had a parish like mine. The people are so warm, alive, and interactive. Our priests encourage social occasions as well as spiritual ones. There are parish barbeques, and it’s a happy parish with lots of volunteers for everything. Our parish strongly supports the rebuilding of East Timor, the poorest nation in Asia, according to the United nations. We hold music events [parish talent], luncheons, have fetes to raise money for East Timor, and the schoolchildren work hard to do their part in raising funds for them, especially at present, for the building of a Catholic school in East Timor. In other regards money issues are very much played down in our parish and there’s only ever one collection, even though we have three priests.

They are wonderful priests, with genuine humanity and authentic spirituality, enthusiastic, loving, inspired, and each one has his own style with his homilies, but they’re all great, enlightening, human, spiritual in conveying the gospel message…so it’s all very well for me to say anything to you!

I do hope that the Holy Spirit will help you in any way he can to give you a deeper and richer Sacramental and prayer life. I ask this of You for Mark, Holy Spirit.
 
Mark, I feel the way you do sometimes and this is what I tell myself: in a way, the Liturgy is a microcosm of the spiritual life. Few deeply spiritual people stay in constant state of joy; a lot of the spiritual life is mundane, habitual, duty and sometimes very, very dry. If it weren’t, we’d become junkies for the enjoyment and it would become more important to us than God. Churches where high emotion is the rule may be more enjoyable, but worship isn’t about us “feeling it.” It’s about us giving to God the worship and thanksgiving He’s commanded us to and about our drawing together as a community to receive Christ in the Eucharist. It’s hard and frustrating to go to Mass where it seems even the priest is on autopilot, especially when we’re experiencing dryness ourselves and we long for a close experience of God. But there never has been or ever will be a greater miracle than the one that takes place on the altar at every single Mass. Other churches may be more lively and even more enjoyable at times, but they don’t have the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ right there in the church with them. It’s so mind-boggling that we can experience dryness during the Mass considering what the Mass is and does, but we do. It’s like the reality of it is so sublime and incomprehensible, we can’t experience it under normal circumstances. It has to be a special grace. Anyway, when I get frustrated (or even bored!), that’s what I try to focus on.
 
I can understand how you feel. It must be a little hard being in a parish where during mass everyone seems dead. They’re human, you can’t hold that against them. Us humans are imperfect, God is totally perfect. In the Catholic Church you have the fullness of Christianity, in other sects you don’t. I urge you to search for a parish that is truly “alive” and doesn’t seem like it’s half dead. Don’t be so quick to give up. The Church would never give up on you, why give up on it? We all want you to be a part of us, don’t leave. Trust God, and pray all you can. God Bless
 
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