Losing Faith and Obsession

[John92]

I need some advice here;

I’d say I’ve been doing a “decent job” of being a Catholic since my last confession, and I get to doing a decent job of following the faith through frequent prayer. I try to say at least one rosary a day, and I’ll say the Jesus Prayer randomly, especially on walks sometimes I’ll say it over and over, etc, and I’m trying to do good works too (which are a form of prayer), like cleaning the house for my mom, etc.

The problem is this though. I’ll go to confession and then be doing really good for a few days. I’ll pray a lot and everything. Then at some point I’ll start to feel like my faith is “slipping away”, I’ll have bad thoughts about religion (i.e.: what if this is all false and I’m wasting my time?), the Devil starts tempting me very harshly and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know whether I’ve actually doubted this week or only been tempted to doubt, but it’s disconcerting regardless.

I feel like part of it might be because I get “obsessed” with religion and because of the obsession I end up getting “sick of it”. I’ll think about Jesus all day or whatever, try to direct my actions towards him, and then I start to get tired and begin to drop my Cross a bit towards the end of the week.

So has anyone else dealt with this, and how did you deal with it?

 

[MercyMia]

Are you familiar with the Divine Mercy devotion? Maybe just get an image of Divine Mercy and keep it in a spot in your house where you can see it and when you feel like you are in a jam spiritually, just say the words “Jesus, I Trust in You.”

 

[lakotak]

I need some advice here;

I’d say I’ve been doing a “decent job” of being a Catholic since my last confession, and I get to doing a decent job of following the faith through frequent prayer. I try to say at least one rosary a day, and I’ll say the Jesus Prayer randomly, especially on walks sometimes I’ll say it over and over, etc, and I’m trying to do good works too (which are a form of prayer), like cleaning the house for my mom, etc.

The problem is this though. I’ll go to confession and then be doing really good for a few days. I’ll pray a lot and everything. Then at some point I’ll start to feel like my faith is “slipping away”, I’ll have bad thoughts about religion (i.e.: what if this is all false and I’m wasting my time?), the Devil starts tempting me very harshly and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know whether I’ve actually doubted this week or only been tempted to doubt, but it’s disconcerting regardless.

I feel like part of it might be because I get “obsessed” with religion and because of the obsession I end up getting “sick of it”. I’ll think about Jesus all day or whatever, try to direct my actions towards him, and then I start to get tired and begin to drop my Cross a bit towards the end of the week.

So has anyone else dealt with this, and how did you deal with it?

Hi,

The Devil hammers me most everyday, that following Jesus is false and I am wasting my time. I go to church everyday and am involved with lots of Church doings and I do lots of prayers. The closer you come to Jesus, the harder the Devil is going to press you, in my case, especially if God has hide his Presence from me. I just think about Jesus at those times and go ahead with what I am doing. I try not to think of what the Devil is suggesting to me. Be careful that you are not relying on feelings, this can get you into trouble, take it from one who knows. Faith follows, feelings will be in flux and that is when the Devil will make his move. I have to acknowledge the fact that Satan is suggesting things that take me from Jesus, but I don’t have to give in to his suggestions. I just turn to Jesus or some scripture passage and go ahead and do the things I was going to anyway, church, read the Bible, prayers, etc. I think about the fact that Jesus was tired and tempted on His way to our redemption, but he did not turn from His path and He depended on His Father, as we should depend on Him during times of trial. Jesus was there where we are now, if He didn’t turn back, surely we can do no less. Maybe this will help.