I need a bit of help find the right Saint biography to read

[WarriorForJesus]

MichaelTDoyle:

Pray the Rosary (just wanted to add what helped and helps me)

You know, you do have something there. Maybe that is what I really need. I had been praying the Rosary as much as 3 times a day (only one set of mysteries at each time). And I wasn’t tempted during that time.

Now I’m reading the Bible and trying to pray more, not the Rosary, but directing my inquiries and requests and praise to God in Jesus’ name. But it hasn’t helped me get over my tendancies.

Seems the Rosary has something going for it that I hadn’t really noticed before.

 

[Br.Dan_OCD]

I suppose modern scholarship says that St. Mary Magdalene might not have been a prostitute or the woman caught in adultery. But, she did have seven devils driven from her and somebody was those women… I’m just using her name out of a sense of tradition and I don’t think she would mind if you tried to imitate her love for Jesus, whether or not she had the same sins.

As for St. Pelagia, she’s also known as “the Penitent,” which doesn’t have the same edge! Her life is rather unknown.

On a different note, frequent confession and communion helps as does having someone else with whom you are accountable, i.e., someone you immediately inform regarding your failures and will always spur you on to improvement.

Finally, i wouldn’t think of it so much in terms of “leaving your past behind” but allowing God to take your past and re-shape it into love and virtue. Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our wounds of sin can become wounds of love and those ways which we have been most sinful can become the ways in which we are most Christ-like!

 

[franjos]

Hi Warrior,

If you have problems with lust, reading spiritual books will not help you much, they will only enlighten and inspire you. I suggest you try the power of the 15 Mysteries (Holy Rosary) of our Blessed Mother everyday. There will only be 2 possible outcomes, it is either you give up praying or your lust leaves you.

I too had lust problems before, and it was one of the main roots of my dark and sinful life before. Read my testimony which I posted in other threads. I hope it would help you.

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I would like to share to everyone what happened to me last year. Perhaps, you may realize how important praying to the Blessed Mother (and Her Rosary) is to me.

I was born and lived in a province since childhood, but after getting a job in Manila, Philippines (9 years ago), I started living a sinful life. If I had died earlier, I would surely have plunged into the burning sulfur of hell without any doubt or question.

I sinned and sinned, and didn’t even bother to pray, stayed away from God, forgot God, worked myself to death, focused on my career, increased my knowledge by going to a graduate school and increased my wealth and worldy possessions.

However, our Lord God had mercy on my soul and started calling me back, thru the Blessed Mother Mary:

1st Call: Two years ago, my college friend died. He was my classmate, same age as mine (32), with the same promising career as a chemical engineer. He and his career is gone now, at a very young age. I was shocked and felt fear. What if it was I who died?

Effect : I only felt fear, but did nothing to repent.

2nd Call: Last year, I received an email from my college friend that our dearest and most intelligent professor died at the age of 40+. He and his intelligence is gone now, also at a very young age.

Effect : My fear increased, but did not repent.

3rd Call: In August of last year, my very rich boss suddenly died of cancer at the age of 49. Her money and enormous wealth did not save her.

Effect : This time I was really struck hard, started to pray a little and started reflecting on my life, but did not repent.

4th Call: Last year again, I was bed ridden for a week due to kidney problem. The pain I had, felt like I was gonna die. I started praying hard to God, to forgive me for my transgressions. But after few weeks of being healed, I went back to my sinful life.

5th and Final Call: One week after celebrating the 75th birthday of my mother last year, she became very ill. She was brought to the hospital and was struggling between life and death. The hospital bills have drained all my savings, and left me with loans. After two months of struggle, and with no more resources to fight for her life, she died before Christmas, and so we had the most sorrowful Christmas ever.

This recent events moved me to change my life. It made me realize many things:

1. First, our life is very short, and death which seems to be far away is really approaching to each one of us.
2. Second, What is professional career for, if God takes away my life right now.
3. Third, Worldy intelligence will be blotted out once the Lord God called us back.
4. Fourth, Money and Wealth cannot save us from death, once the Lord has retrieved the life He gave us.
5. Fifth, not to invoke the Lord God to anger, for His hands are mighty and powerful.
6. Lastly, that I should be thankful to the Lord and the Blessed Mother in bringing me back to grace.

But, the temptation is very strong. It seems like a magnet pulling me down. And the Wretched One does not want me to lead a better life. So, I realized going back to grace is a gift from Heaven. But remaining in grace is another hard thing to accomplish.

So what I did is I prayed the 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary everyday. I told the Blessed Mother sincerely that I will pray Her 15 mysteries everyday, in return for the favor of protecting me and not abandoning me especially in times of trouble. And she did, now I am completely changed. The Blessed Mother showered bountiful graces upon me which I do not deserve. And everytime I look back at my past, I felt sorrow for having mislead my life for so long and for having hurt God with my sins.

The spiritual battle is still ON and the temptations are still lurking around. But I guess it will never end while I am alive. But the most important thing is I have the Blessed Mother by my side now thru the Holy Rosary. I also have Jesus by my side, thru the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy Chaplet (which gives me so much peace) and the Holy Eucharist (which is the food of my soul).

And we have all the angels and saints by our side who desires as much to save our souls.

Now, these are the reasons why I am praying the Rosary, and why I am urging others to do so also.

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May the Lord God and the Blessed Mother bestow you bountiful graces.

 

[franjos]

Our Lord God has shown me How Powerful His Hand is that I should have never provoked Him to anger.

I have written in some thread what happened to me last year. Though, I would not go into its details, I would just narrate here how I was shown how Powerful and Mighty is God’s Hands.

I have been living a sinful life since childhood. But my sins became graver in the year 2000. I lost God, I lost my prayers, I sinned and sinned and sinned, became very lustful, wordly, proud, miserable and totally away from the grace of God.

For the past several yeras, I earned a lot of money from my projects as an engineer. And I should say, despite my sinful life God filled my pocket with overflowing financial graces. It was like that for the past six years (2000 to 2006). And I was very happy of course, becaus I was worldly. But in the year 2007, I made a wrong decision (though I would not detail its nature). It caused the faucet of the overflowing financial graces to be suddenly closed. Anyhow, I said to myself, “I still have savings, so it does not matter.”

Then in the middle of 2007, I invested half of my savings on a business which I thought would generate more money. But it did not turn out to be that well. Anyhow, I said to myself, “It is OK since I still have half of my initial savings.”

In the last quarter of 2007, my mother was hospitalized. She died after two months of hospitalization. After this, all my savings were drained out and I was left with loans which I am still paying now.

These events struck me so hard down, almost trampled under foot, that I surrendered myself completely to God.

After God brought me back to grace, during my prayers(especially with the Rosary) I was made to understand completely about the things that occurred recently in my life.

Here are the things that God enabled me to understand:

1. I continued to ignore God after so many callings and inspirations from above to leave my sinful life and return to Him, after several warnings, after series of my friend’s deaths, after my very own sickness. Thus, God was provoked to anger.
2. I also realized that God is very generous, infinitely good and very slow to anger. That for God to be angry with me and to be provoked to take back the life of my very own heart …my mother, I must have really offended Him.
3. I became dependent and secured with my money, and so first, God has willed me to make a wrong decision, in order to close the source of my income, so that my savings would no longer increase.
4. Secondly, He allowed me to invest half of my money and not generate much income in order to split my savings into half.
5. And then, when the final strike of God’s Hand came to me, I was scattered, in a snap all my savings were swept away. And now I was left with loans I am still paying.
6. Te Lord God showed me how foolish I was for :

• depending on money for security. The truth - God is the only security we have;
• thinking that death is still very far since I am still young. The truth - Death is just nearby to each one of us, so we must mend our lives and direct them towards heaven;

1. Lastly, God also showed me how much He loves a sinner like me. For despite all the things that happened to me last year, everything is a blessing, because He brought me back from sinfulness to His grace.

This is how I saw God’s Mighty and Powerful but Gentle, Loving and Merciful Hands in my life.

I thank the Mary - The Holy Mother of God, my Queen for interceding for my soul in those times. Had I not prayed the Rosary and had she not intercede for me, I believe everything could have been worst and I would be able to return to grace.

May God and Blessed Mother of God give you bountiful graces.