need guidance..

[Monica4316]

Hello,

Please pray for me because I can’t figure out where God is trying to lead me… specifically I can’t figure out if He wants me to be Catholic or Orthodox. I feel so many contradictory things and I’m afraid of taking a step in either direction. This has been going on for several months… sometimes I really feel like I should be Orthodox, but I don’t know if this is from God. Other times I really feel like I should be Catholic. Intellectually I agree with Catholicism and I can see much evidence for it. But I’m often aftaid I’m wrong… all of this started with fear… but I dont know if that’s because it’s a temptation, or because my conscience was telling me I’m on the wrong path… I was baptized Eastern Orthodox as a child and later became Catholic. I’m really not sure what to do and this is really difficult. I’m so scared of making the wrong choice, and I’m also having difficulty being totally open to God’s will. Please pray for me that Jesus would help me, because this is becoming too much for me to deal with

thank you!! God bless

 

[kamaan]

I am praying for you, Monica

Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur Nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen

 

[NEWCATHOLICJEFF]

Hello,

Please pray for me because I can’t figure out where God is trying to lead me… specifically I can’t figure out if He wants me to be Catholic or Orthodox. I feel so many contradictory things and I’m afraid of taking a step in either direction. This has been going on for several months… sometimes I really feel like I should be Orthodox, but I don’t know if this is from God. Other times I really feel like I should be Catholic. Intellectually I agree with Catholicism and I can see much evidence for it. But I’m often aftaid I’m wrong… all of this started with fear… but I dont know if that’s because it’s a temptation, or because my conscience was telling me I’m on the wrong path… I was baptized Eastern Orthodox as a child and later became Catholic. I’m really not sure what to do and this is really difficult. I’m so scared of making the wrong choice, and I’m also having difficulty being totally open to God’s will. Please pray for me that Jesus would help me, because this is becoming too much for me to deal with

thank you!! God bless

Monica,

I am new to this, and in fact have yet to be confirmed a Catholic, although it will be soon. I was raised a Lutheran and during my look into the Catholic church and subsequent look at what Martin Luther originally thought I had to open my eyes to the fact that the Lutheran Church had changed some of its teachings. I thought why and how did this happen and I came to the conclusion that since Luther’s time they just kept creating new sub-churches. Now they will ordain women and gays, or at least some do. All view contraception as ok and Luther thought it was one of the most disgusting things that could be done.

For me the Orthodox and RC really have only two big differences.

The first is the role of the Pope. With he above explanation of what happened to the Lutheran Church I actually appreciate the role of the Pope now. The Orthodox churches are now having differences of opinion when it comes to both Life issues and Divorce and I think they will continue to create greater distances from each other because they have no central authority. No Pope.

The second is the Filoque. My understanding is this. If The Holy Ghost is in fact the love between the Father and the Son is this a one way street? If it is not if the Holy Ghost is manifested because of the love flowing between the two then it seems only logical for me that he not only comes from the Father, but also the Son.

I do not see any other major differences between the two? I am not certain if I will be confirmed in the Eastern Rite or not, or maybe the new Anglican rite, but it will be a church in communion with Rome. I fully appreciate the leadership of the Pope.

I think you need to pray on this and follow your heart.

God Bless.

 

[PatrickSebast]

Well first I would encourage you, as a Catholic, to remain in communion with Rome. I think I am pretty much required to do that after all and judging by your number of post I am sure you are aware that a great many will think/say the same and in manner much stronger (and possibly harsher) than that.

As far as making major decisions about where to go in life, I was once told by a very wise Priest that making a decision about what God wants from you need not always be something so definitive that it plots out a major quality of the remainder of your life. The journey to priesthood is a many step process which can be quit at any time if the seminarian or his advisors decide it not to be his vocation, and a couple that is considering the marriage vocation generally doesn’t make the decision in a days time. I have found that God is not willing to give me an ultimate answer to many questions such as my vocations to simply because He has instead been calling me to the journey and not the destination. So if you can’t find an answer to your immediate question, perhaps consider that you are asking the wrong question. Rather than which belief system should I join, maybe you could ask “How can I explore these feelings, and what can I learn from each Church?”, or maybe something simpler like “Where, as in at which Parish, can I best serve and honor my creator at a local level?”

Both sides of the Schism are willing to admit freely that it is not a good thing, and it is merely because of currently irreconcilable differences that it continues to persist, maybe part of your journey will help you repair one or more or many broken strands between the Churches, who knows maybe you could even repair enough broken strands that history will look back at you as St.Monica, a unifier? We are all called to sainthood afterall, and whether your task is one that shines for the world or is something that is known only to the wispers of the angels and saints, I am practically certain that you should embrace this confusion as a journey. In the meantime I will be keeping you in my prayers.

 

[tskrobacz]

Hello,

Please pray for me because I can’t figure out where God is trying to lead me… specifically I can’t figure out if He wants me to be Catholic or Orthodox. I feel so many contradictory things and I’m afraid of taking a step in either direction. This has been going on for several months… sometimes I really feel like I should be Orthodox, but I don’t know if this is from God. Other times I really feel like I should be Catholic. Intellectually I agree with Catholicism and I can see much evidence for it. But I’m often aftaid I’m wrong… all of this started with fear… but I dont know if that’s because it’s a temptation, or because my conscience was telling me I’m on the wrong path… I was baptized Eastern Orthodox as a child and later became Catholic. I’m really not sure what to do and this is really difficult. I’m so scared of making the wrong choice, and I’m also having difficulty being totally open to God’s will. Please pray for me that Jesus would help me, because this is becoming too much for me to deal with

thank you!! God bless

Know this…the path of faith is not the path of certainty. Pray only for knowledge of God’s will for your life and the courage to act on it. Be willing to walk forward in the mystery of not knowing but trusting that God’s will is being accomplished by the simple love and forgiveness you bring to everyday living.

 

[odhiambo]

The Lord is all we have.
In Him we trust.
In Him we hope.
Amen

 

[244Rocket]

I was baptized Orthodox because my father was Orthodox. Neither of my parents went to church and when I realized what faith was about, I started going to my mother’s church which was Roman Catholic and was baptized again. I have followed the Roman Catholic faith all of my life and am very comfortable with it and do not agonize over it.

I pray for you to make the right decision for you and to find peace and happiness with it.

 

[Monica4316]

Thank you so much everyone

 

[DiggidyDog]

I am praying for you.

 

[azchurch]

I’m really not sure what to do and this is really difficult. I’m so scared of making the wrong choice, and I’m also having difficulty being totally open to God’s will. Please pray for me that Jesus would help me, because this is becoming too much for me to deal with

The Good News is…God will never, ever ever lead you where He does not want you. The other good news is that yours is not a problem that others (including me) have not struggled with mightily. The “bad” news is that it is your struggle and it’s hard! But be comforted in knowing that as long as you are honestly and faithfully searching for God’s Will in your life, you cannot go wrong. He will not let you!

And perhaps the reason why He is leading you through this is to allow you to be convicted totally in your heart wherever you find a home. God didn’t need to see Abraham lift the knife over Issac to know what Abraham would do. But Abraham knew when it was done that God is faithful and true. You will know it too.

 

[imi_uru]

Monica here is a prayer by Thomas Merton:
Trusting God in Decisions

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen

Come Holy Spirit!
Replace the tension within Monica with a holy relaxation.
Replace the churning within Monica with a sacred calm.
Replace the anxiety within Monica with a quiet confidence.
Replace the fear within Monica with a strong faith.

 

[Monica4316]

Thank you so much everyone!!

I really appreciate all the prayers… I think they really helped and I was able to open up to God more this evening, more than I have in a month praise God!

God bless!

 

[philipmarie]

Don’t join the Orthodox Church!

Seriously, there is only one Church and that is the Catholic Church, not the Schismatic Orthodox Church. Elizabeth Anne Seton was an ex-Episcopolian and, after a year of spiritual agony and uncertainity with her children saying “poor mama!”, she converted to Catholicism completely saying: “I will go peacebly and firmly to the Catholic Church: for if Faith is so important to our salvation, I will seek it where the true faith began and recieve it among those who recieved it from God Himself(and Mary too!)”.(From Modern Saints, their lives and faces, by Ann Ball. TAN.)

Is the Russian Orthodox Church a true Church? Does it have real valid sacraments? Does it have the true faith?

No, the Russian Orthodox Church is not a true Church because of the following reasons.

First, one has heard of the numerous Eastern Catholic Churches in Communion with Rome. These Eastern Churches(NOT including the Russian Orthodox Church) are not like Protestant denominations, set up without the permission of the Pope or some crazy churches which invent their own doctrnes… they are either large diocheses(such as the Greek Catholic Church) which have their own valid and holy rite, or a sort of branch of the Catholic Church which has it’s own rites and liturgy but which is always obedient to the Pope. If one becomes an eastern Catholic, he is still a Roman Catholic as he still remains faithful to Rome and will not believe a diffirent faith from what he was thaught.

But the Russian Orthodox church and it’s following churches are not like these pure, Eastern Churches… the Russian Orthodox Church WAS an Eastern Church dedicated to Rome. But it later revolted aginst the Church, it’s Patriarchs got excommunicated and remain schismatics to this day(the Eastern Schism. It was the Russian (**un!)**Orthodox Church that seperated from the Catholic Church, not the other way around). They even have their own anti-pope, Shenouda III.

It is not a true Church and neither is it a branch of the Catholic Church. Protestantism is not a branch of the Catholic Church as we all know and neither is the Orthodox church. See this quote:

St. Cyprian of Carthage: “There is one God, and one Christ, and there is one Church, and one Chair founded by the voice of the Lord upon a Rock. **Another altar cannot be constituted or a new priesthood be made, **beside the one altar and the one priesthood. Whosoever gathereth elswhere, scattereth. Whatsoever by *human *madness is instituted, so that the divine disposition is violated, is adulterous, is impious, is sacrilegious” (Epist. ad Pleb. xl. n. 5).

"We declare, say, define and proclaim to every human creature that they by necessity for salvation are entirelY subject to the Roman Pontiff."Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, November 18, 1302, ex cathedra.

 

[philipmarie]

Neither does it have true Sacraments. Pope Leo XIII in His Quantam Curia declared all Anglican Orders as null and void and invalid. Not only are their sacraments invalid but also ineffective becuase of this.

True, that the form of the Russian Orthodox church’s sacraments could be valid but that does not mean that they are effective. For a sacrament to be valid means that it has to have a form which is acceptable to confer it correctly but for t to be effective, it must always be given inside the True Roman Catholic Church, even though the one confers may be a very big sinner.

The sacraments(if they can be called that) of the orthodox church are inneffective:

“Once these conditions (intention of Orders) are present, the sacraments may be conferred by either the good or the wicked, the faithful or the heretical, within the Church or outside it: but **within **the Church, they are conferred both in fact and in effect, while outside it, although conferred in fact, they are not effective.” -St. Bonaventure from, The Beviloquium.

“Outisde the Catholic Church, the true Sacrifice cannot be found”- Saint Augustine.

Since the first Russian schismatics, although they were validly and effectively ordained and consecrated, neverthless, when they seperated from the Catholic Church their power to confer the sacraments was withheld from them so their successors have absolutely NO power.

 

[philipmarie]

Neither do they have the true faith, obviously. They deny the Catholic Papacy, the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, and the Immaculate COnception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

History shows that it was not the Catholic Church that invented some heresy and then the Orthodox came and tried to ‘reform’ the Church like how Luther claimed a centuries later. it’s obvious that the orthodox invented their own lies. With Mary’s protection and help, the Church always preserved Her faith; and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it.

 

[odhiambo]

INFANT OF PRAQUE NOVENA PRAYER.
O Jesus who has said, " ask and you shall receive,seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be open," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother
I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.
I pray for your guidance for Monica

O Jesus who has said," all that you ask of the Father in My Name,
He will grant you," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother,
I humbly and urgently ask Your Father in Your Name that my prayer be granted.
I pray for your guidance for Monica

O Jesus who has said," Heaven shall pass away but My Word shall not pass away"
Through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother
I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.
Amen.

 

[Monica4316]

Thank you for the prayers and advice!

Philipmarie, I agree with you except for one thing… the Catechism says that the Orthodox church does have valid Sacraments. The Anglicans don’t, that’s true, but the Orthodox do because they have kept their Apostolic Succession. They are the only other church that has the Sacraments and the Eucharist. As for the form of the Sacraments, the form in the EO church is the same as in Eastern Catholic churches, and those are valid I’m not saying that the Orthodox church is the true Church, - well that’s what I’m trying to figure out, - but the Catholic Church does teach that the EOC have valid Sacraments, even though they are schismatic. The Anglicans and other Protestants don’t have the Sacraments though.

God bless

 

[philipmarie]

Thank you for the prayers and advice!

Philipmarie, I agree with you except for one thing… the Catechism says that the Orthodox church does have valid Sacraments. The Anglicans don’t, that’s true, but the Orthodox do because they have kept their Apostolic Succession. They are the only other church that has the Sacraments and the Eucharist. As for the form of the Sacraments, the form in the EO church is the same as in Eastern Catholic churches, and those are valid I’m not saying that the Orthodox church is the true Church, - well that’s what I’m trying to figure out, - but the Catholic Church does teach that the EOC have valid Sacraments, even though they are schismatic. The Anglicans and other Protestants don’t have the Sacraments though.

God bless

What your saying is true, that their sacraments are valid, but that does not mean that they are effective. Let us say that they do have apostolic succesion. They almost do because their Sacraments are valid; but at the same time, they don’t because they broke away from the Catholic Church and their power to confer sacraments got taken away from them.

I’m not saying that their sacraments are not valid as they are… I’m saying that they ar einneffective, according to the quote of Saint Bonaventure.

Monica4316, be very careful in the spiritual life. Give youself up in Mary’s hands and let Her guide you. Of course, how shall the Blessed Virgin guide you? I wish to disclose my own experiences:

 

[philipmarie]

I was a very big sinner, impious, crude, a hypocrite who practically ruined his schoolmates lives by his hypocrisy (and if I ever see any of my teachers, I’ll tell them that I’ve completely changed and that they should be ashamed of themselves for showing a preference to me instead of loving all their students equally. I mean, students are there to be brought up not to be hated becuase of some false defect!). However, I did occasionally pray a Hail Mary now and then and the unfailing prayer to Siant Anthony but, in order to convert, Mary permitted to devil to almost break me down.

It started exactly on the first of January, 2006 (the year they said that anti-christ was born! What a coincidence! Really). A feeling in me sort of forced me to make the sign of the cross everytime I heard the letter ‘b’ said and other rubbish. I was so annoying and it got so much on my nerves. Then came other rubbish rituals which, if I didn’t do them, ther would be grave consequences(or so I thought. I was such and idiot).

I started touching and sweeping every light switch that I could see, to remove the ‘badness’ in them, becuase sin travels through electricity and so I conducted the sin from the elctricity!; I had to touch my ears every few seconds; I had to say two Our Fathers before every dinner and a few empty prayers before bed; I was very careful to not say certain words or to choose certain materials for writing because then that would mean that the devil would inflict pain on me etc,… and by pain, I don’t mean that the devil would appear and beat the stuffing out of me! I never had a mystical experience and DEFINITELY never had a paranormal experience. I was afraid to sleep at night and did all sorts of superstitious things.

I even had that damned book, becuase it is the only decent way to describe, that damned book of ‘Wizardology’, a ‘childrens’ book on how to be a wizard. It had a cardboard ouija board, those satanic playing cards, and all that satanic nonsense. I threw it away a few days before my conversion but, it does not mean that becuase I threw that book away, the ‘curse’ was lifted. I felt brave doing it, throwing it away and felt no more the need to do those silly rituals. I gave them up altogether and now I have more freedom.

 

[philipmarie]

If one thinks that this was the over-active and fanatical imagination of some ‘devout catholic’, then he’s wrong. I am able to take under an oath that I was the biggest idiot in the whole world. I didn’t even know my ABC in religous instruction. I didn’t know that Mary never sinned, that She was a Virgin, that She was Queen of heaven and earth. I didn’t even know that Jesus was God and that the Holy Spirit was God. I didn’t know of all the charming Saints there were. Even when there was the hype that we were to have the first ‘maltese saint’ I was happy, not becuase we had a saint but because of some national pride.

My conversion went like this; I was taking private Math lessons in the summer (here, private lessons are not taken in a school. We go to some teacher who teaches out of school and he gives us lessons for example, in his garage). It was very uncomfortable there as I had to spend some three hours listening to boring Maths and Physics and I started thinking that I wanted to change, that maybe my happiness could only be found in God. I went home, not caring about the lesson, ate some pizza and gave up watching T.V. It was there that I started reading the Bible. A childrens Bible of course.

At first, I was like a half fundamentalist, half protestant mormon. I didn’t believe in the Catholic Church, or that we had to approach God through Jesus. I believed that the Bible was the sole authority there was and, through my avid pride and not because I loved God, O wanted to make of myself some ‘prophet that was to lead all mankind into salvation’. Good Grief!

I carried a mini Bible with me sometimes. The, I was introduced to the Rosary. I saw it hanging on my wardrobe and started praying it. I was reluctant as I thought that I would be praying to Mary instead of God but I started praying. It was there that I started being so devoted towards the Blessed Virgin. I studied about Her, and sincerely, when I read Siant Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion, I was so impressed that I immedeately started following the book.

I found out about the Miraculous Medal, Fatima, Lourdes. I carried a medal around me always and I felt very confident in the Blessed Virgin. I felt that I was loved and that I was somebody imporatant in Her eyes.

I said all this because I want to help you in the spiritual life. Do not join the Orthodox Church, at no cost. I do not men to offend anyone’s feelings but, the Orthodox really hate Catholicism and I have a very devout friend who believes that the Orthodox church has affliations with Communism (the pact of Metz). That is certainly something to avoid if it were true!