Just can't put my finger on it

[Anglewannabe]

Lately, I feel like something is blocking me from being close to God. And I really don’t know what it is. I can’t help but think if I could just figure out who I need to forgive or what I need to confess, I would get over a big hurdle and have more peace of mind

I believe that God tell us things in His time and does not tell us things He does not we believe we are ready to hear. Nonetheless, I am very confused as to why, if I want to be close to Him, He doesn’t tell me what I need to do.

I feel very fed up with the merry go round

Angie

 

[ClearWater]

Lately, I feel like something is blocking me from being close to God. And I really don’t know what it is. I can’t help but think if I could just figure out who I need to forgive or what I need to confess, I would get over a big hurdle and have more peace of mind

I believe that God tell us things in His time and does not tell us things He does not we believe we are ready to hear. Nonetheless, I am very confused as to why, if I want to be close to Him, He doesn’t tell me what I need to do.

I feel very fed up with the merry go round

Angie

Hmmm. Not sure.

 

[tawny]

Praying to the Holy Spirit to give you guidance, direction, strength, fortitude & wisdom in your time of need.

 

[MarcoPG]

As I read your post, I immediately thought : There is no better time to surrender to the Holy Spirit.

We will pray for you, but pray yourself the Holy Spirit to come and make it clear. Also, don’t let go of the Cross. Pray that you accept your doubts to become a better believer, and pray that your sufferings in doubt can be accepted as offerings.

About your forgetfulness and finiteness, well, that’s because you are human, so it is part of the pope, too! There are moments where you just have to trust and not despair. These three help a lot: Faith, Hope and Charity.

Every believer, I am sure, has such moments.

 

[InNomineDomini]

Part 1:

I have just the series you should listen to: ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=7128

Also, I’m going to make some suggestions based on two caveats: (1) I’m just an idiot layperson and (2) I’m going to assume a sort of minimalist approach to answering your question, i.e., the least a Catholic should do to grow closer to God (although I don’t recommend starting all of this at once; see the ending paragraph in the second post). If you already do these things, then please excuse me for making such a list. I’m certainly not assuming that you don’t. ** **Also, I’m going to recommend some resources. I’ve tried or looked at almost all of them, but some of them I haven’t.
**
Frequent/Devotional Confession
**
I personally find myself genuinely needing to go to Confession once a week. One of the things I struggle with, for example, is having uncharitable thoughts about others.

But going to Confession weekly, or even bi-weekly, is a wonderful way to grow closer to God. Try focusing on one or two venial sins that you constantly commit, and really make an attempt to prayerfully focus on them and bring them to Confession. Here’s a resource you could get for this topic: lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/the-healing-power-of-confession#

Frequent Mass Attendance

Try making a sincere attempt to go to daily Mass, or at least to go more than once per week. There are multiple resources available on how to get more out of Mass, and here’s one of them: lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-mass

Holy Hours/Eucharist Adoration

Spending time before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and really pouring out our hearts to Him, is what I would consider another essential of the Catholic spiritual life. Here’s an episode of Catholic Answers Live on this topic: catholic.com/radio/shows/eucharistic-adoration-5053

A Deeper and More Frequent Prayer Life

A daily Rosary is a wonderful way to start! If possible, praying the Rosary as a family is another. Here’s a resource on this: taylormarshall.com/2010/09/12-tips-for-praying-family-rosary-daily.html

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is also quite wonderful, as is an attempt to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (LOTH). If you’ve never done the latter, I would highly recommend it! Try it out for a while here: divineoffice.org/

If you decide to try to make a LOTH a daily part of your prayer, you can purchase a number of items to assist you. Here’s one such item: amazon.com/Shorter-Christian-Prayer-Four-Week-Containing/dp/0899424082

Naturally, you could acquire all four volumes of the LOTH. Since each volume takes quite a few weeks to pray through daily, you could purchase one volume at a time. Here’s the volume we’re going to start using for Advent and Christmas: amazon.com/Liturgy-Hours-Advent-Christmas-No/dp/0899424015/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534070&sr=1-1&keywords=liturgy+of+the+hours+volume+1. What a great place to start!

Oh, and this is quite useful, too: amazon.com/Guide-Liturgy-Hours-Cbpc/dp/1937913872/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534125&sr=1-2&keywords=liturgy+of+the+hours+guide

Spiritual Reading

The Saints have written wonderful books!

amazon.com/Story-Soul-Autobiography-Little-Classics/dp/0895551551/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534245&sr=1-4&keywords=st+therese+of+lisieux+story+of+a+soul
amazon.com/Diary-Divine-Mercy-My-Soul/dp/1596141107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534257&sr=1-1&keywords=st+faustina+diary
amazon.com/Imitation-Christ-Vintage-Spiritual-Classics/dp/0375700188/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534327&sr=1-5&keywords=imitation+of+christ+by+thomas+kempis
amazon.com/Introduction-Devout-Life-Francis-Sales/dp/0375725628/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534373&sr=1-1&keywords=introduction+to+the+devout+life+by+st.+francis+de+sales
amazon.com/True-Devotion-Mary-Preparation-Consecration/dp/0895551543/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415534397&sr=1-2&keywords=st+louis+de+montfort+true+devotion+to+mary

Along with this last book recommendation, I recommend:

A Deeper Devotion to Mary

lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/true-devotion-to-mary-by-st-louis-de-montfort

 

[InNomineDomini]

Part 2:

Learning More About (and How to Defend) Your Faith

One of the best ways to really develop spiritually (IMO) is to intellectually understand the Faith better: the more open our minds through catechesis, the more open will our hearts be to God’s grace.

Frankly, I think one of the easiest ways to begin this is to listen to Catholic Answers Live, especially the open forums.

I particularly recommend:

Jimmy Akin: catholic.com/radio/shows/browse/all/all/Jimmy%20Akin/all

Tim Staples:catholic.com/radio/shows/browse/all/all/Tim%20Staples/all

Here’s another great resource: shop.catholic.com/books-1/apologetics/the-essential-catholic-survival-guide.html

Obviously, reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church is quite essential in and of itself. Try reading eight paragraphs (something like a full page) a day to finish the CCC in one year.

Scripture Reading and Study

Reading four chapters a day will make it possible to finish the Bible in one year. Start anywhere you like, but a wonderful place is with the Gospels themselves, particularly the Gospel of St. John.

Here’s a resource that introduces each book of the Bible: ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=6029&T1=

The above is also available in book form: amazon.com/Inside-Bible-Guide-Understanding-Each/dp/0898706653

If you’d like a deeper study, I recommend three resources:

amazon.com/Catholic-Concordance-Revised-Standard-Version/dp/1931018499
amazon.com/Catholic-Bible-Dictionary-Scott-Hahn/dp/0385512295/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415535395&sr=1-1&keywords=bible+dictionary+scott+hahn

Also, do a keyword search for the Navarre Bible: Reader’s Edition. Frankly, these ten volumes are expensive to acquire all at once – they take up maybe 9,000 pages – but like the Liturgy of the Hours, can certainly be purchased slowly, one volume at a time. These volumes remain, IMO, the best Catholic commentary on Scripture (on a popular level) that I am aware of. They are insightful, orthodox, and devotional. No squishy theology or faith-undermining notes here!

Finally, a great resource for getting an overview of the Bible: amazon.com/Father-Who-Keeps-His-Promises/dp/0892838299/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415535581&sr=1-1&keywords=a+father+who+keeps+his+promises+by+scott+hahn

Doing More for Others

Try finding a local food pantry to volunteer at, and prayerfully offer your service to God. Try also giving more in terms of donations to charities. Try sponsoring a child in another country, and finding time to pray for him or her.

Anyway! Forgive me for such a long post, and for recommending some ways to spend money, but I wanted to give my opinions on what to do in order to grow closer to God.

Obviously, there’s so much more than can be said, but I have a feeling that, if I recommend more books, I may get a cyber-smack.

Also: don’t try too much at once! I tried to make a list, but really want to emphasize that these are all options you could try. Hopefully, you can find at least one thing to begin with, and then build on that. But I certainly don’t mean to imply that a person should be spending 18 hours a day doing all of the above to a heroic degree.

 

[InNomineDomini]

One more thing.

As I was starting to shave, I was reminded of a thought. Sometimes, God permits us to experience spiritual dryness, a real lack of emotions or of joy when we try to draw closer to Him.

A reason for this is because He wants us to love Him. That is, He doesn’t want us to love the **consolations **of God, but to love the **God **of consolations. Our Father doesn’t want us to love merely His gifts, but to truly love Him.

We will therefore experience an emotional ebb and flow in our spiritual lives, and we will sometimes get a foretaste of Heaven, and often we won’t.

But our focus should be on loving God more deeply every day, despite the emotions, so that when, with God’s grace, we finally see Him in Heaven, our joy will be all the greater. Our heavenly consolation, after all, will only be as deep as the love we have for God here on earth.

 

[Dorothy]

One more thing.

As I was starting to shave, I was reminded of a thought. Sometimes, God permits us to experience spiritual dryness, a real lack of emotions or of joy when we try to draw closer to Him.

A reason for this is because He wants us to love Him. That is, He doesn’t want us to love the **consolations **of God, but to love the **God **of consolations. Our Father doesn’t want us to love merely His gifts, but to truly love Him.

We will therefore experience an emotional ebb and flow in our spiritual lives, and we will sometimes get a foretaste of Heaven, and often we won’t.

But our focus should be on loving God more deeply every day, despite the emotions, so that when, with God’s grace, we finally see Him in Heaven, our joy will be all the greater. Our heavenly consolation, after all, will only be as deep as the love we have for God here on earth.

Yes!

It is a test of our faith to love the Lord and trust Him when we do not feel His presence.

Prayer and the Sacraments are such treasures to us!

 

[pianistclare]

Sometimes God is simply calling us to do our daily work, chores, tasks with humility and patience. Anything can be a prayer. Consider Therese the Little Flower. She was called to small things in life. But no less a Saint for it. Do you best at everything.
I think that many people believe that God “literally” speaks to people.
If any of us are waiting for a big road sign or a huge “aha moment” we might be more than a little disappointed.
Most of the time, I simply ask the Holy spirit (unpin awaking ) to place me wherever I can do God’s will today. Put me in front of anyone who needs a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, or hands to help.
And it always turns out that at the end of the day, I feel like in some small way, I have made a difference.

Peace.

 

[Anglewannabe]

If any of us are waiting for a big road sign or a huge “aha moment” we might be more than a little disappointed. .

I have come to accept a long time ago, I will probably never get a huge Aha moment. However, I don’t feel peace like the way I know it is possible. I feel that my patience is being tested to an extreme and I really don’t think this is how life is suppose to be. I can’t help but think there is something more I am missing

And it always turns out that at the end of the day, I feel like in some small way, I have made a difference.

Peace.

I must admit if you can feel like that everyday, I am jealous

 

[pianistclare]

I have come to accept a long time ago, I will probably never get a huge Aha moment. However, I don’t feel peace like the way I know it is possible. I feel that my patience is being tested to an extreme and I really don’t think this is how life is suppose to be. I can’t help but think there is something more I am missing

I must admit if you can feel like that everyday, I am jealous

Keep in mind, that the prince of lies really wants you to feel conflicted, confused, ineffective, questioning.
That’s how he attempts to get a toe-hold. Be the very best and most stubborn Christian you can be. Rejoice always. Force yourself to see the bright side of things. Do not let him undermine your relationship with God, who only desires peace for you.
Fight the good fight. Patience and a solid prayer life, even in the dry times. It will see you through. Be strong.
You never know what God has in store for us. A heartfelt prayer to the Holy Spirit everyday works wonders.

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

If you have a feeling that somewhere there is unforgiveness you can’t p(name removed by moderator)oint, maybe you can isolate some of the situations in which you notice it most.

Maybe keep a journal of the times when it bothers you. Just put the day, time, what you are doing, maybe what you were thinking about or what happened just before. Maybe you can find a pattern and gain some insight into where it’s coming from.