Hypocrisy advice

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Hello, I have not posted for a few years now, I have been away from the Church for about four years. Part of the problem was I re-married after being a widower for thirteen years. I continued attending Mass at my old parish a few miles away, but gradually stopped going, mostly I admit through laziness. Also I am quite shy regarding starting at a new parish, I dread meeting new people, but the worst problem I have is after all the Terrorist attacks in UK I find myself hating them and I cannot forgive them. If I did go to this new parish I feel as If I would just be a hypocrite while receiving communion etc. I know I should make an appointment with the priest for advice and a general confession but I cannot pluck up the courage to do so. What would you suggest? Thank you for reading this.
 
Go to confession. Feelings are often beyond our control. You have to work on them. It takes time.
 
I know that I am a hypocrite - I don’t want to be one, but like you I struggle with forgiveness and loving those that hate me (maybe not personally hate me, but hate Catholics and/or Christians). I suspect that many folks trying to live the faith feel the same at times, so you are not alone.

Maybe you could book an appointment with the priest for a general introduction and explain your dread of meeting new people and ask him for help. Then hopefully, you may feel more confident about making an appointment for a general confession.

Only one being wants you not to receive the Eucharist and that is the same being who wants you worried and anxious enough not to experience the joy, blessings and graces that come from the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation. The hardest part is the before, and then afterwards many of us wonder why we were so worked up that we lost our joy and peace for that period of time.

Praying for you.
 
In charity, a suggestion. You state you hate and cannot forgive. The suggestions that you go to confession are a good one, but I might add that is may be very beneficial to discuss with a priest, what constitutes hate and forgiveness. As an American citizen, the actions of those who committed the atrocities on 9/11 engender in me deep feelings. I am repulsed by their actions and their beliefs. I believe that anyone who would commit such acts should be hunted down and eliminated. I forgive them only in the spirit that final judgment of them and their actions is the purview of God, not me, but I will not forget what they did and what others who think like them do. To put people like that in prison forever, or to even execute them, is not hate, it is self protection. And I will support all actions that seek to prevent them from doing anything like that again. I consider those attitudes, prudence, not hate or forgiveness.
You can do nothing about the past. Why allow it to affect your future? If you have given up on God and his love, Law, and Mercy because of those terrorists, ask yourself, in your life, have the terrorists won, by your hatred, has their terror succeeded?
 
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english_guy said:
Hello, I have not posted for a few years now, I have been away from the Church for about four years. Part of the problem was I re-married after being a widower for thirteen years. I continued attending Mass at my old parish a few miles away, but gradually stopped going, mostly I admit through laziness. Also I am quite shy regarding starting at a new parish, I dread meeting new people, but the worst problem I have is after all the Terrorist attacks in UK I find myself hating them and I cannot forgive them. If I did go to this new parish I feel as If I would just be a hypocrite while receiving communion etc. I know I should make an appointment with the priest for advice and a general confession but I cannot pluck up the courage to do so. What would you suggest? Thank you for reading this.
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Hospitals are for patients, churches are for sinners… (a.k.a. hypocrites - as we all are at some point).

Welcome back home, brother.

"And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)
 
My advice is, you would not be a hypocrite if you receive Communion after a Confession. No matter how sinful we are, how unworthy we may feel, how hypocritical we are with regards to our feeling on certain issues, they will be washed away by the grace of Confession. The problem is we often under estimate the power and the scope of God’s forgiveness. We thought that we are in a situation where Confession cannot resolve it.

Confession can. It is God’s grace.

God bless.
 
Many thanks for your kind answer, I am slowly building up courage to tackle this problem that I have.🙂
 
May I suggest that the MOST effective way to battle and defeat terrorism is to frequent the sacraments. YOU can’t do much about it, if anything, personally. But God hates terrorists too, and He can and will defeat them in His own time. And you can help further that along by returning to God big time.
Just some food for thought.
 
Go to Confession and tell it all to the priest. Tell him how long you’ve been away, how long you haven’t been to Mass for, all your serious sins you can remember, and tell him about your feelings of hate. He will be delighted to have you back.

And I would say the very fact that you do not like the feelings of hate you have, demonstrates that you are trying to free yourself of them. I would say that demonstrates a degree of repentence.

I was away from the Church for over a decade and had gotten involved in all sorts of rubbish. I felt welcomed back with open arms after I went back to Confession.
 
Thank you so much for kind words, I am giving them a lot of consideration.🙂
 
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