Is Christian life supposed to be dry, desolate, and empty?

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+JMJ+
MTarcisius said:
Haha, that’s epic. I don’t know why they would care…unless they want to stifle freedom of expression…
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Unfortunately I have been here long enough to see many instances of uncharitable words here, I just do not want to be the one to start them, and if I did, I want them to end with me.

Anyways do you have anything to add to the discussion?
 
nuntym said:
+JMJ+

Unfortunately I have been here long enough to see many instances of uncharitable words here, I just do not want to be the one to start them, and if I did, I want them to end with me.
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That is very respectable. 👍
 
BobCatholic said:
The Dark Night, I was told, has a period of time of intense joy where God made his presence known in a pleasant consolation. If that is missing, it is not a Dark Night.
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You are correct about this. Saint John’s Dark Night is largely misunderstood because it is taken out of the context of The Ascent of Mount Carmel. This has resulted in a separate idea of a dark night. This different idea of a dark night is not necessarily wrong, however it is not actually The Dark Night of the Soul that Saint John wrote about.
 
nuntym said:
+JMJ+

Nope 🙂 You can have joy right here, right now…but joy we can always have here.
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Impossible, we have to carry a cross. Suffering is mandatory.
John 16:33 I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
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Because after one is dead, the elevator goes up. So that makes people happy.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
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You took the verse out of context, read the verse right before it:
And I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life.
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It is easy to rejoice if you’re guaranteed to go to heaven!
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
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You do know Paul had six tons of revelations and had the thorn in the side to keep him from become ego-maniacal? No wonder he was rejoicing, he SAW the good his sufferings were doing. This is not the same case for ordinary people.
Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
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The Apostles had six tons of revelations, they knew their sufferings were doing good, this is not the case for ordinary folks.

Again, suffering is required.

This is the cross.

Joy is optional. Suffering is mandatory.

Everybody got 2 suffer - Fr. Stan Fortuna.
youtube.com/watch?v=kgZbP8nddhU
 
+JMJ+
BobCatholic said:
Impossible, we have to carry a cross. Suffering is mandatory.

Because after one is dead, the elevator goes up. So that makes people happy.

You took the verse out of context, read the verse right before it:

It is easy to rejoice if you’re guaranteed to go to heaven!

You do know Paul had six tons of revelations and had the thorn in the side to keep him from become ego-maniacal? No wonder he was rejoicing, he SAW the good his sufferings were doing. This is not the same case for ordinary people.

The Apostles had six tons of revelations, they knew their sufferings were doing good, this is not the case for ordinary folks.

Again, suffering is required.

This is the cross.

Joy is optional. Suffering is mandatory.

Everybody got 2 suffer - Fr. Stan Fortuna.
youtube.com/watch?v=kgZbP8nddhU
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Clearly you are equating joy with pleasure or satisfaction or security.

You will NOT be totally happy in this world. If it was so, we do not need heaven. But you will always find joy always even in the midst of suffering. No, not even that: you will find joy from suffering.

Because if not, well, I would have given up Catholicism loooong ago 🙂

Read. Again. My. Posts.

Or go read some St. Thomas Aquinas. Or any saint for that matter, without your deliberate blindfolding of yourself from their joy.

Or heck just go do and accept God’s will without any complaints.

You’ll see 😉
 
Bookcat said:
There are yes times of suffering in life…and of struggles in prayer…dryness and such - but that is no not the whole of Christian life!

Jesus of Nazareth is our joy and our life. Nor is Christian life all about “no’s” rather it involves a great yes.

Indeed:

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI Deus Caritas Est

“If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we “live”.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI (Spe Salvi)

w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html

(such is not per se a matter of the emotions…tis deeper that such …though it can can does effect the emotions too at times…Christian joy though can exist even in great suffering…and struggles…)

“The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.”

“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”.”

“The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. Christ, who told us to forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22) has given us his example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven. Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. May nothing inspire more than his life, which impels us onwards!”…

“I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.”

~ Pope Francis (The Joy of the Gospel)

w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html#The_joy_of_the_gospel
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I have found life is a struggle for sure. In fact, we have a family “joke” about how we can never get past seven consecutive days without one member having some “crisis”.

At the same time, there is joy in practicing the service and ministry of our Faith, especially as it applies to my local Parish and Community.

The more I learn about Christ’s call for each of us to find our own pathway to holiness, the more I realize that a significant part of that calling is to service. That service applies to my family. Thus, I find myself as the family Elder, ministering to my kids and grandkids in the way Christ taught us.

Doesn’t always work, but being engaged with that focus of service and ministry, gives me a kind of joy in itself.

I know if I was not working on my call to service, combined with my engaging in our Church’s Sacraments, I would be lost in mediocrity
 
Focus on building your heavenly treasury.

Engage in spiritual warfare to extremis and bring to God souls. Nothing makes God shower a soul with graces and favors when that souls ardently desires to bring others to him through prayer and offering up sufferings.

Another tip is to “praise The Lord” not just when things are good or he’s granting you a special experience, but when he isn’t or worse, sending you difficulties.

Thank you for sharing your difficulties. Said a prayer for you.

Bk
 
Well there is this one rule in Christianity I don’t know why it exists. Are you allowed to have a crush on a married woman? I can see how it is harmful for someone to try to break up a marriage and seduce a married person. But suppose someone has a non lustful crush on a married person and has no intention in trying to be with this person, why is it still a sin? I do not see how it is harmful. I am not going through this right now. But I know as I grow older, more women in my age group will be married. And I might be single because maybe marriage is not my calling. I might be a priest and I might be surrounded by married women as well as others in the parish and I might develop a crush on a married woman.
 
realtiger said:
Well there is this one rule in Christianity I don’t know why it exists. Are you allowed to have a crush on a married woman? I can see how it is harmful for someone to try to break up a marriage and seduce a married person. But suppose someone has a non lustful crush on a married person and has no intention in trying to be with this person, why is it still a sin? I do not see how it is harmful. I am not going through this right now. But I know as I grow older, more women in my age group will be married. And I might be single because maybe marriage is not my calling. I might be a priest and I might be surrounded by married women as well as others in the parish and I might develop a crush on a married woman.
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You might not want to keep trying to find 100% of the answers to your growth in life by looking for the exact Christian “rule”. We are all human, all repeating sinners, but have great potential in God’s eyes. In the end Christianity is about the natural moral truth of our thoughts and actions. You are probably young enough that you don’t remember the famous quote from former President Carter that he had “lusted after other women in his heart/mind”. He received some bad press over that phrase, yet he was simply noting that the real visceral man of the world will always have conflicting feelings.

In the end, each of us is called to walk our own pathway of holiness by living the basics of Christ’s preaching/teaching. Viscerally we may “feel attracted” to many earthly things…question is…what are you doing about it?
 
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