How do you get your faith back?

[1strongcatholic]

There has been a specific event in my life very recently that has injured my faith in the Church. I don’t want to share what happened but I want to know how I get it back?

I need to look outside of my own parish for answers. Not saying I want to leave my parish, but because of the circumstances it’s not appropriate for me to seek help at my parish.

I could use some guidance.

 

[Ralph4454]

It’s hard to get into it without knowing the details. I recommend talking to your preist, and praying to God for guidance. Sorry I couldn’t be much help. I will keep you in my prayers and hope you get better answers from others.

 

[PJM]

=1strongcatholic;There has been a specific event in my life very recently that has injured my faith in the Church. I don’t want to share what happened but I want to know how I get it back?

I need to look outside of my own parish for answers. Not saying I want to leave my parish, but because of the circumstances it’s not appropriate for me to seek help at my parish.

I could use some guidance.

Know that I just added you to my prayer list!

Step one is get on your knees and pray

Step two Make a GOOD and complete Confession

Step three Ask the BVM to intercede for you [daily]

Step four consider he following:

***On day at a time dear Lord; help me one day at a time.

I really do not know if I, want to be a catholic any more,

Joe, don’t over react. The grass ain’t any greener anywhere else and ONLY in the CC can you find the following.

The Only Church, religion and Faith founded by Jesus Himself

The ONLY place once can actually meet, greet and in an intimacy that is sublime; eat Jesus, so He is physically in us and we physically are part of Him. WOW!!!

The ONLY place one can have known forgiveness of sins. That Joe, is a BIGGY!

The ONLY place that has and VALIDLY practices the Seven Sacraments

The ONLY Place that uses the ENTIRE BIBLE

The Only Church that actually uses the entire Bible [even thought this varies somewhat by parish.]

The ONLY place qualified [it takes God’s constant intervention] to explain the Bible correctly

One of the few churches to understand the required role for Mary

The ONLY Church with the same bundle of Doctrine, Dogma, Sacred Tradition, and traditions throughout the entire world.

***The One True Church that Christ died to found, and gives Himself personally as a promise of perpetual Holiness [the CC… NOT the folks in Her] and the seat of all TRUTH on all MATTERS of FAITH and Morals.**AND finally, ONLY the Catholic Church holds factually, “the keys [ALL OF THEM] to heaven, as is God’s promise, God’s Will and God’s decision! [Mt. 16:19.]

**John 14: 16 **“And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.”
John 17: 14 I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ***17 Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth”

***Christ has done this ONLY for His Catholic Church.

**Eph. 2:19 **“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [singular] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; singular] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

The Catholic church is not simply better than “any other church,” it is heads and shoulders ABOVE EVERY OTHER church COMBINED! There really is no other option if heaven is ones goal. BUT your curent parish is not the only option.

In reading this next passage keep in mind that Bible was completed BEFORE the end of the First Century, when the ONLY Church, ONLY Christian Faith was CATHOLIC. Therefore, this passage has particular meaning and significance for ALL Catholics.

**Heb.6 Verses 4 to 10: **“For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, [Jesus in Holy Communion] and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned. “

 

[Rence]

There has been a specific event in my life very recently that has injured my faith in the Church. I don’t want to share what happened but I want to know how I get it back?
I need to look outside of my own parish for answers. Not saying I want to leave my parish, but because of the circumstances it’s not appropriate for me to seek help at my parish.
I could use some guidance.

It is hard to give advice without having any idea of what it’s about. But I would suggest you talk to a priest from a nearby Parish. Or contacting the diocese about connecting you with a spiritual advisor/counseler.

I don’t know what happened, but you must not let the bag things in life lead you away from the Chuch. Life is full of up and downs and they can be really up, and really bad downs. It’s times like these that you lean on God. Please don’t be discouraged.

 

[Elizabeth_Henni]

Go to Mass everyday and receive the Eucharist.
Pray the rosary once per day.
Receive the Sacrament of Reconcilliation 1 - 4 times per month.
Find a Spritual Director you are comfortable with.
Remember that Faith is not an emotion…it’s a conscious decision.
Remember Faith is not the same as your relationship with others, but rather your relationship with God. A relationship with God means learning how to know, love and serve Him. The first thing to know about God is that He loves you so very much…so much so, that He gave to us His only Son. So much so that He gave each of us a free will allowing us to choose Him or not. Regardless of our choices, He loves us unconditionally.

Consider this…perhaps you never lost your Faith, but maybe you just FELT like you did out of discouragement with the actions of others that have nothing to do with FAITH, but rather one or more human beings choosing to behave in ways that are not of God.

My prayers are with you.

Pax Christus,
Elizabeth

 

[Trishie]

You are feeling betrayed by a person in your parish whom you should have been able to trust.
In that event, when trust has been shaken by one person, it is easy to suspect all in that position.
That is natural.

I am most sorry that you have been thus hurt and it should not be.
I ask God to help you recover.
Pray for the person, as somehow, to heal, you must forgive,
even if to say to God, I cannot forgive but I know I must, so please put Your forgiveness there and help me to forgive each time I remember and again can’t forgive.

Even if your forgiveness is only the act of praying for the person who hurt or betrayed you.

But you’re far from alone in this.
Consider, first of all, God Incarnate, the best human being ever born,
he taught and did so much that was wonderful and good,
yet one of His friends sold him into torture and murder of this best of Men.
All the rest but one ran off when they saw He had been arrested, and the head of the group lied about even knowing Him.

Jesus was betrayed. We shouldn’t be surprised when it happens to us.

One of these friends remained a traitor, and is it really so surprising that we sometimes find there are fellow Christians to whom mush has been trusted, also betray us?
Should we lose faith because our trust is betrayed?
Jesus’ witness is ‘no’.

He later restored to His remaining friends that purpose for which He called them.
The traitor remained a traitor even to his own self.

For Jesus, even Him, there was out of twelve good men, one traitor, and we praise and honour and thank Him that He did not lose faith in all the rest and thus disallow the establishment of the Church and the gift of the Sacraments…yes though His trust had been betrayed, He still gave forgiveness and trust.

When we encounter traitors, and when they wound us,
we are experiencing what Jesus did, to whatever degree.
It isn’t a reason to abandon or lose faith, yet many do.

May God help you towards healing and wise decisions, and may God help you towards healing of your trust with proper balance

 

[geekborj]

There has been a specific event in my life very recently that has injured my faith in the Church. I don’t want to share what happened but I want to know how I get it back?

I need to look outside of my own parish for answers. Not saying I want to leave my parish, but because of the circumstances it’s not appropriate for me to seek help at my parish.

I could use some guidance.

The Faith of the Church is still there. It is our and yours to possess, read and listen then act. It is obvious that you realize that the Faith of the Church carries the fullness of Truth as handed down by Christ, its Rock and guarded by the Holy Spirit through Peter’s Office.

To take it back:

1. Confess to a priest not within your own parish once you have prayed for a contrite heart.
2. Beyond the penance, pray the Act of Faith several times until it becomes natural in your mind and heart.

Bear in mind that the parish nor the parish priest IS the catholic Church. Remember Christ’s words about his apostles (in ages) will be sifted by Satan. Remember the Parable of the Sower about the Kingdom of God – that in this kingdom, there are both sinners and saints.

In the end,

1. Pray for those who, by their examples, ruin the shining glory of the Kingdom of God.

Cheers and keep smiling – God is Mercy, accept His Justice with humility.

 

[mfj]

If you are like me and a bunch of folk your faith is being hardened by fire. You will come out the other side stronger.

Faith according to the bible is Gd given and he won’t take it back.

If your faith was placed on men(in the church) it was misplaced.

Gd is good and can be nothing else.

Gd is there but maybe you need to forgive some one. (just wondering not accusing with out further info)

 

[monicatholic]

Jesus was betrayed. We shouldn’t be surprised when it happens to us.

and HE was betrayed by a man whom HE chose to be amongst His most intimate followers.

ours is a fallen world. even Jesus, the perfectly innocent Incarnation of God experienced the fallenness-- and HE experienced it like no other ever would!

Jesus promised, "In this world you will have many troubles. but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."

all the suggestions of prayer are excellent nes. and ask your guardian angel to pray with you and for you for a strengthening of faith.

 

[PrairieMom]

This might not be the right answer, and I might make things worse, but…

Sometimes it’s not about getting our faith “back”. To do so suggests returning to once was. We can’t do that. We are temporal creatures. Even Jesus taught to not put new wine in old wineskins; when something is gone, it’s gone.

Certainly, we have all had things that have tested our faith in the Church, in ourselves, in each other, and in God. Even when good things happen, we can never “go back”, but only forward. Our faith is a living, breathing, and evolving entity.

I suggest you pray, and instead of concentrating on getting your faith back, to work on moving forward in faith.

Other posters have made good suggestions for actions to take, and their advice is far wiser than I can provide. I just wanted to point out how a change in mindset can perhaps alter the situation.

Pax.

 

[sheilathebard]

I have had damaging experiences from people within the Church as well.

Keep in mind that letting those experiences harm your faith and your relationship with God is letting those experiences be bigger than they are. To defeat them, you have to see how small they are and how much bigger than them you can be. In a sense, you have to say to those experiences, “You’re bad, but you can’t take me away from God.”

I would definitely advise attending Mass outside your own parish for awhile. Sometimes a parish is so much more than a place of worship, which is usually a good thing, but right now, it probably isn’t. If you can’t reach another parish, try attending a different Mass, like an early morning one where there are fewer people, or one where you don’t know anyone. But I think a completely different parish is best – so you can remember what being in church feels like without the negative associations that you have. You might even find people you like who will help support you (even if you can’t necessarily tell them).

If the harm done to you is bad enough, you should definitely contact your bishop right away and tell the whole story. It’s another way of being bigger than what’s happened to you – to stand up and tell about it so that it won’t happen to someone else. If there are legal ramifications, you should seriously consider filing a report with the law. Just because something happened within a church doesn’t mean the law can’t or shouldn’t get involved. Sometimes that’s the only way to make the problems stop.

I have found that the greatest boon to my faith has come through rediscovering it – almost like starting over. My old prayer routine had become dry as dust – so I scratched it and began to pray in a way more natural to me, trying to really have a conversation with God. I read spiritual books that I hadn’t read before (Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales is excellent – it encourages moderation and common sense, which I think a lot of us could use to learn). It made me anxious to do much group prayer, so I prayed alone for awhile, except for Mass. I didn’t like being in the congregation where I felt like everyone was looking at me – so I joined the choir and attended Mass from up in the loft.

Like someone said above, maybe the focus shouldn’t be so much on “getting your faith back.” Instead, it should be on starting afresh – getting a richer, deeper, and stronger faith than you had before. I have seen people take the worst afflictions and turn them into deeper faith. I’m not quite there yet myself, but I’m getting there.

Most of all, remember the very basics: your relationship with God, who is your friend, who didn’t do this to you, who won’t abandon you even if everyone else in the world did, who completely understands what you’re going through and wants to help you through it. Whatever you do, don’t blame God or think that it means he loves you less. Nothing hurts Him more than seeing members of His Church hurt one another – so He’s hurting as much as you are. Trust him completely and ask him to lead you through this dark time.