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Robert_Sock
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I believe God has different expectations of people, and that He expects a lot from me, like keeping my mind fixed on Him.
I feel like I'm sinning not keeping God at the center of my attention
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Richard320
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CountrySteve
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What would make you assume he suffers Scrupulosity?
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JRKH
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I believe this is something best addressed with your confessor…To many nuances for us to try to address here.
Peace
James
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WesleyF
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God expects that every person love him with all his heart, soul, strength and mind (Luke 10:27). So yes, if we are not loving him with all our mind, we are sinning. It’s a sin of omission, although a venial sin. What do you think people like St. Francis confessed every day in confession? I think it were these sins of omission. The closer you get to God, the more aware you become of the good you are not doing, rather than just the evil that you are doing.
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Richard320
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The subject line.
Do you have anything to offer the OP, or do you just like to criticize?
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R_C
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Recall:
To honor or revere a creature in place of God’ is a sin, of idolatry. That’s a different story, though. I am sure that is not what you are referring to.
You probably mean that due to the many tribulations of life you see yourself perhaps more like Martha than like her sister who was always before Jesus. But not all are blessed with her sister’s calling - most of us have to be in the world and work hard, like Martha. The secret lies in letting our prayer expand beyond words and thoughts, to include deeds. Yes, let your actions be a prayer, an offering to Christ, and let everything be ultimately motivated for the love of God and the good of souls. Then it will be easier to make the Lord God the center of your attention, whether consciously or unconsciously, at all times
I do not know about scrupulosity. What I do know is that it is very good to feel the need to keep God at the center of your attention. In this you are fulfilling the Scripture:
Not keeping God at the center of your attention does not seem to be a sin.
To honor or revere a creature in place of God’ is a sin, of idolatry. That’s a different story, though. I am sure that is not what you are referring to.
You probably mean that due to the many tribulations of life you see yourself perhaps more like Martha than like her sister who was always before Jesus. But not all are blessed with her sister’s calling - most of us have to be in the world and work hard, like Martha. The secret lies in letting our prayer expand beyond words and thoughts, to include deeds. Yes, let your actions be a prayer, an offering to Christ, and let everything be ultimately motivated for the love of God and the good of souls. Then it will be easier to make the Lord God the center of your attention, whether consciously or unconsciously, at all times
I do not know about scrupulosity. What I do know is that it is very good to feel the need to keep God at the center of your attention. In this you are fulfilling the Scripture:
This is also the instruction of St. Paul:
And Luke 18 begins as follows (emphasis mine):
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TiggerS
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Not even our contemplative religious saints had their mind on God all the time. It is probably impossible. In fact, in carrying out the just duties of our state in life, the contemplative has his or her mind on what he or she is about and thus our mind is focused on work that God has given us to complete as well as one can and mistakes can be made if one is not focused on what one is doing - unless of course one is rapt in some kind of mystical type rapture or prayer. This is why, generally speaking, mystics can be a burden on a community - because their mind can be taken from what they are about.
Mystics are a great gift to a community and to The Church, but also, they can be a burden sometimes unable to complete their duties even adequately, let alone as well as they can. This can mean that others in the community must complete their own duties as well as those of their loved mystic.
St Joseph of Cupertino was a great mystic and an absolutey humble man and monk, but he did bring disturbance into the community. In chapel, finally, he had to be tied down or he would levitate. Apparently, this phenomena too brought much attention to a normally quiet and secluded monastic setting and this is ideally as it should be - a disturbance in that Joseph could be seen initially floating above the monastery levitating.
When we go about our relationships and duties for the Love of God, we are praying even though our minds are not thinking about God in every moment or consistently and always. Certainly a contemplative soul who has made progress will think of God and speak with Him at times during their days and probably many times and outside the normal times set for prayer, and while still focused on relationships and duties.
A contemplative prioress once asked me what I thought about when I was ironing.
I replied “The ironing”
“So do I” was her reply.
The closer we are to God, the more humbling the experience and the more we are conscious of the good God and His Grace is doing in us (and in His world) and probably with some confusion, despite any evil we may have done, be it major or be it quite minor. One of the ‘arrivals’ (only to depart again) is a consciousness of what exactly sin is to some degree anyway -and it can fill the person with horror and much regret. One is conscious of a great abyss between God and all His creatures - only The Lord’s Love and His Absolute Humble Loving Mercy and Grace can bridge this great abyss…it can never ever ever be deserved in any way whatsoever. St Bonaventure had a beautiful theology of the Astounding Humility of God,
“The Humility of God - A Franciscan Perspective” (through the lens of St Bonaventure) books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Humility_of_God.html?id=m8LxAQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Mystics are a great gift to a community and to The Church, but also, they can be a burden sometimes unable to complete their duties even adequately, let alone as well as they can. This can mean that others in the community must complete their own duties as well as those of their loved mystic.
St Joseph of Cupertino was a great mystic and an absolutey humble man and monk, but he did bring disturbance into the community. In chapel, finally, he had to be tied down or he would levitate. Apparently, this phenomena too brought much attention to a normally quiet and secluded monastic setting and this is ideally as it should be - a disturbance in that Joseph could be seen initially floating above the monastery levitating.
When we go about our relationships and duties for the Love of God, we are praying even though our minds are not thinking about God in every moment or consistently and always. Certainly a contemplative soul who has made progress will think of God and speak with Him at times during their days and probably many times and outside the normal times set for prayer, and while still focused on relationships and duties.
A contemplative prioress once asked me what I thought about when I was ironing.
I replied “The ironing”
“So do I” was her reply.
The closer we are to God, the more humbling the experience and the more we are conscious of the good God and His Grace is doing in us (and in His world) and probably with some confusion, despite any evil we may have done, be it major or be it quite minor. One of the ‘arrivals’ (only to depart again) is a consciousness of what exactly sin is to some degree anyway -and it can fill the person with horror and much regret. One is conscious of a great abyss between God and all His creatures - only The Lord’s Love and His Absolute Humble Loving Mercy and Grace can bridge this great abyss…it can never ever ever be deserved in any way whatsoever. St Bonaventure had a beautiful theology of the Astounding Humility of God,
“The Humility of God - A Franciscan Perspective” (through the lens of St Bonaventure) books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Humility_of_God.html?id=m8LxAQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
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Robert_Sock
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I do not think I suffer from Scrupulosity.
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AlanFromWichita
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That is right. Not being “consciously aware” of God is not only acceptable, but it must be so. When a sprinter is looking at the finish line, she will be focused on the finish line and getting there. She should not be concerning herself with how much time is left on the clock; when she has four seconds to go, that is a distraction. Nor is she “focused” on who is sponsoring the race, at least not constantly.
In about 1970 when I was in grade school, I was playing the organ to practice for Sunday Mass while there was a huge remodeling project going on. The workers asked if I knew anything a little more lively, so I started playing Scott Joplin, and Sousa Marches on the organ. They said that was more like it.
Then while I was on Stars and Stripes Forever, I noticed Father Burns had just come in
so I quickly slid into “O Sacrament Most Holy.” I thought my goose was cooked for being so un-Godly. When I stopped, Fr. yelled up at me “hey! Why’d you stop playing the marches? You had my carpenters working double time!”So I went back to the marches; he said, “that’s better,” and left us all happy.
My point is that being efficient about doing God’s work does NOT imply that we’re thinking specifically about God all the time. Father Burns wanted the workmen to hear music that made them efficient, not one that repeatedly reminded them that this project was ultimately for the glory of God. I don’t hear any “slacking off” in your tone.
Alan
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TiggerS
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I am glad that the subject of joy in the spiritual life has been introduced. I wanted to edit my post not long after posting it seemed to me, but my time to do so had lapsed.
There is another excellent read, by a Jesuit this time “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy Humour and Laughter are at the Heart of The Spiritual Life” amazon.com/dp/0062024256 There are many incidents in this book of humour, joy, laughter in the lives of many of our saints - a rich sense of the funny. St Teresa of Avila, for example, and one of our great saints, mystics and a Doctor of The Church, had a wonderful sense of the funny and absurd in life and was heard to comment “Lord, spare me your sour faced saints” and on another occasion, falling off her donkey, she remarked to Jesus “Well, if this is the way you treat your friends, then don’t complain if you have so few!”. St Teresa spoke with Jesus(locutions) quite often in the latter part of her life. And if our spiritual lives are not balanced with a sense of lightness and laughter, we will become possibly quite dour faced saints - uncomfortable to be around. Everything is moralistic and dark, serious. If I am an uncomfortable person to be around, then I would be asking myself “Am I failing in Charity somehow?” and it just might be that everything to me is serious and dark, moralistic.
Our God is a God of Truth, Joy, Love and Laughter as is our spirituality ideally. Ideally, it has a lightness and a quality of joyful ‘dancing’ in and with life. Of course, it has the serious side, but also one of lightness and Joy in The Spirit It is a balanced spirituality.
Take for example, St Joseph of Cupertino (this is what I wanted to add to my post last night). Reading his story, I could only be convinced that our God is indeed a God of laughter, a sense of the funny and absurd in the quite serious - and there are many instances of this in our own lives, those of His saints, and in the people around us. Sometimes we have an Order priest say our Mass and interesting to note how people will approach him after Mass and appear to be conversing quite seriously - next thing, Father is laughing heartily and soon all around him are. Father sees the absurd and funny in the serious matters of life and last night at Vigil Mass I had an example of his insight into the serious and some absurdities - and with much laughter.
St Benedict in his Rule, warns against laughter. There are two kinds of laughter - the joyous (flowing from Joy in life and in spirituality) and that which can be a response to the cruel somewhere in life. It is laughter flowing from unkindness and unlovingness. I have mixed with women I regard as quite holy Benedictine nuns - and they were rich in a spirituality that had 'lightness and dance", laughter. They too could see the funny in the absurdities of life that exist even on an enclosed monastic cloister where the spiritual life and the way of perfection is that to which they have commited their entire lives. And because they are consecrated by The Church to commit their lives thus, their eternal salvation rests on just how they respond to that holy consecration. Serious stuff!..embraced and lived out with Joy and with laughter that flows from their Joie de vie, Joy in life. (my French is lousy, but my Latin far worse!)
St Francis of Assisi said “Preach The Gospel at all times…with words, if you must”. The first thing that speaks and probably most loudly to the other, and more loudly than our words, is the person that we are. And if we are overly serious, all the time serious, with no sense of Joy and laughter in life, then Christian Catholics and our Faith is going to be taken on board probably, as a religioun without Joy, without that very human quality (and Gift of God reflecting Himself) of being able to see and to laugh at some of the ridiculous and the absurdities in life. And our God will probably be regarded as a moralistic type of God, rather than The Lord of Loving Mercy, Peace and Joy, Truth.
A deep breath after all the previously stated above - and so seriously stated - and all about joy and laughter. That is rather ridiculous!!!
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AlanFromWichita
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I really liked your post.A deep breath after all the previously stated above - and so seriously stated - and all about joy and laughter. That is rather ridiculous!!!
Do your fingers ever run ahead of your mind, so that you don’t know what you’re typing until you see it? (Happens to me.)
Alan
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TiggerS
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Often, Alan!I really liked your post.
Do your fingers ever run ahead of your mind, so that you don’t know what you’re typing until you see it? (Happens to me.)
Alan
Sometimes I post and then later read the post and wonder “Where on earth did that come from?”…or as I am typing think to myself “Mmm that’s a good thought wherever it came from”. God is great and God is good and not at all biased nor prejudiced.
Sometimes however, I post, read it later and groan inwardly and most often, thankfully, take a moment to thank God no one picked it up and picked on the poster!
PS I really like your signature:thumbsup:
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