Indulgences

[reggieM]

Once again I feel like a stranger in a strange land, I wish it were not so, but it is. Speaking of which, you know how one can learn a foreign language faster and more thoroughly by living in a country where that language is primary? I feel it would be helpful for me to do just that if it were possible to be surrounded by Catholic teaching, thought and tradition for a while, say about two calendar years. (There are few options out there I think for an older, divorced, disabled Wesleyan type protestant male on the road to Catholicism.) There simply is so much more depth to the Catholic spiritual life than your typical US protestant lifestyle, and just too much tradition I know next to nothing about much less experienced. Indulgences are just one of many, many areas of which I have no frame of reference. Taking the RCIA class and going to Mass just does not seem immersive enough.

Over the last year and half I have learned many things about the Catholic Church (and conversely my own long held beliefs) and in the midst of a spiritual awakening, but all within the confines of my little room. However, I know I am impatient. I will continue to pray and meditate on the Lord in these things.

I admire your efforts. I think you’re on the right track – immersion is the best way. Catholicism is a full-life experience. You can get some of it with teaching or RCIA, but to fully absorb it and see the depths, it’s best to live in the Catholic world as much as you can.
Your comparison with the typical US Protestant spirituality is apt – Catholicism is an ocean of truth and depth which cannot be fully exhausted by any one lifetime. It has centuries of controversies and learning and spiritual experience that cannot be matched.

I’m sad to see also though, that many Catholics don’t want to understand much more than Sunday Mass, at best. For example, indulgences are not really important to people – although they’re one of the greatest gifts we have.

 

[OldeThom]

I admire your efforts. I think you’re on the right track – immersion is the best way. Catholicism is a full-life experience. You can get some of it with teaching or RCIA, but to fully absorb it and see the depths, it’s best to live in the Catholic world as much as you can.
Your comparison with the typical US Protestant spirituality is apt – Catholicism is an ocean of truth and depth which cannot be fully exhausted by any one lifetime. It has centuries of controversies and learning and spiritual experience that cannot be matched.

I’m sad to see also though, that many Catholics don’t want to understand much more than Sunday Mass, at best. For example, indulgences are not really important to people – although they’re one of the greatest gifts we have.

Thank you ReggieM … and some great suggestions jmcrae. I also have a few retreats set up over the next few months at a couple of monasteries in my general area. Just getting to these monasteries will be an adventure in itself as I don’t drive

Yes I am quite familiar with protestant apathy and complacency, and quite sure it exists in the Catholic Church as well. Slothfulness is after all a deadly sin, as it is now defined, and a core human trait I’m sad to say. I think the world is ripe for a spiritual awakening … maybe that is a “no duh!” as my daughter loves to say.

Respectfully,
Thom

 

[jmcrae]

Thank you ReggieM … and some great suggestions jmcrae. I also have a few retreats set up over the next few months at a couple of monasteries in my general area. Just getting to these monasteries will be an adventure in itself as I don’t drive

Get someone who is a daily Mass attender (who is also attending the retreat) to drive you there. (My first time riding in the car with a devout Catholic was an eye-opening experience.)

 

[CentralFLJames]

…
Yes I am quite familiar with protestant apathy and complacency, and quite sure it exists in the Catholic Church as well. Slothfulness is after all a deadly sin, as it is now defined, and a core human trait I’m sad to say. I think the world is ripe for a spiritual awakening … maybe that is a “no duh!” as my daughter loves to say.

Respectfully,
Thom

OldeThom, your comment "I think the world is ripe for a spiritual awakening" is so apropos. I am really excited for you. I too just finally after about 30 years of committed but mediocre spiritual achievement finally woke up. It took the untimely death of my beloved and lovely wife to open my eyes to the grace God sheds on us through each other and the free gift of life itself. My Lord, how we are so blind to the Love of God and how apathetic we all are - spoiled children all. I am unable to objectively discern if it is just “me” in my reawakening to the call to sainthood and holiness that God calls each of us to as a result of my loss of spouse or its somthing more universal - but it seems to me “something is happening in our time.” I sense a huge spiritual swell of reawakening that is poised to break like a tsunami on the shores of the complacent as the rest of us are preparing for it.

“Surf’s up” as they say and the times are a changin’. Battle lines have been drawn and God is doing something new.

God Bless you in your new embracing of the Catholic faith - its a monumental treasure that so many just squander; or such only contemplate the surface as a shimmering sea of blue that makes for a pretty vista backdrop. It’s such a pity that these never really bother to look into depths or swim in its refreshing waters.

As for me I can only imagine that some pious retired nun or religious person was on her knees for decades praying for the spiritual awakening of just such as me. All I can say is
“God bless her”, whereever she is, since I finally “got it”. I have a lot of secular baggage and bad habits to break and replace - not to mention an endebtedness that I can never repay. But that will have me praying daily for the rest of my life to reciprocate the favors and love.

God Bless,
James.

 

[OldeThom]

James,

Your words brought both great sorrow and great joy to my heart! I feel your loss and the suffering you endured (may yet still endure.) I almost let my own pain and suffering consume me, destroy me. In my darkest hour God intervened with the pure and simple voice of my youngest daughter who prayed for me to, “Come home.”

My eyes were opened to the meaning of those loses that caused so much pain, many caused by my own hands, and God showed me something wonderful: His Love. I have been so very blind for so very long … so very long … it just simply hurts. Every part of me aches to know God and live the way He has always wanted me to live. I understand the baggage you carry …

Dearest brother, I feel strongly God is calling us all to awaken from our self-induced Christian comas. If we all answered God’s call to sainthood and holiness, just think what this world could be. I am no fool or blind idealist, however, for I know what lies ahead: the road will be bumpy, rough and narrow, with the prowling beast of darkness always nipping at my heals, but I know God will be there with me the whole way like a true and loving friend.

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. - Ps 121:1-2

God Bless you James,
Thom