Obsession with the Church, spiritual gluttony

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de_profundis

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Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
 
My grandma always said that both too much and too little of religion will drive you crazy. You need to balance out your time and find some other hobbies and personal interest. I’m in no way saying that you should become idle in prayer or devotion, just take it easy and be temper ant towards them.
 
There is no such thing as spiritual gluttony. We are supposed to thirst for God and our desire for union with Him should consume us. It is only when we do not put God first, and preoccupy ourselves with our appetites for other good things that are not God, that we become disordered and succumb to gluttony.

That being said, thirsting for God is not the same thing as being over-religious or over-zealous. Many people confuse the two. The Pharisees were over-religious and over-zealous about the rules of the Jewish religion, rather than the love and service of God. This kind of stale religiosity infects all religions, including Catholicism.
Remember what St. Paul said: “Though I command languages both human and angelic - if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing…and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains - if I am without love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians, 1-4) In other words, these people who follow the law of religion without its spirit of love, are like people simply making noise.

To answer your question: Through my readings and in my personal experience, I have discovered that different devotions appeal to people at different times in their lives. From what I have read, that’s perfectly fine. If the scriptures do not appeal to you right now, let other spiritual readings guide you, as long as they are guided by the wisdom of the Church.

At the same time, I will say that the scriptures are a beautiful way to grow closer to God and to understand Him. If you have difficulty with interpretation, I cannot stress enough the importance of having a good bible study group. It will deepen your faith in ways you never dreamed of.
 
The problem here is not your enjoyment of certain practices, but your lack of prayer. I would suggest that you, possibly with the help of your priest, make a daily plan of life that includes time for personal prayer and scripture reading. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount of time - fifteen minutes is enough for a beginner - but it does need to be a regular commitment. You may need to cut back on some of the things you enjoy in order to make the time, and that’s OK.

Lent is a great time to start, especially if you find that you are going against the grain a little bit.

Betsy
 
Some people are obsessed with Star Trek. At least you are a papist and not a trekkie. :rotfl:

If you are, then my bad. 👍

You can balance things out as someone suggested. Continuing with my example, Star Trek can be a new interest and hobby, haha. I hear there’s a Klingon Language Institute.

But seriously, the Church is not sola scriptura so while you are encouraged to read the Bible, you don’t have to do it everyday if it’s not your thing. But if you do, you get some neat indulgences. Tradition is up there with scripture, so I don’t think it’s bad to want to read other things.

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I’m lazy, reading the bible and praying requires effort that goes beyond ordinary effort. I’ll mop the floor before I read the bible. I tell myself that the house should be clean before I study, but in fact, its just my laziness.

Is it more than laziness? I don’t know? I don’t think so. Its just that the spiritual body is weak. Like a person who is out of shape doesn’t want to go to the gym. I think we need to read the bible and pray more. Yes, good reasoning I’d say. If one can make it a habit then we’ve made it.

In the forward to my Douay Rheims bible it says to just read the bible for 15 minutes a day for one year. Sounds like a piece of cake! Not. I’ve had that bible for years and I think the most consecutive days I’ve read it is about three. 😦 Not as easy as one would think. I’m the same way with prayer. I was at three days a week and now I’ve lapsed and gone a week without praying.
Totally useless I am. But I keep trying and keep renewing my resolve. But sometimes it does occur to me that I may die without every having developed any discipline at all. What will that mean for me? What will be the consequence of my laziness and inability to overcome it?
 
de_profundis said:
Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
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I am in a similar boat as you 🙂 You can get a daily nourishment of the Word and of the saints by going here.
 
de_profundis said:
Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
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Do you like to go to Mass? If you do, then you are taking in Scripture. Just because someone doesn’t like to read, doesn’t make them less of a person.

Not everyone is literate, but God is approachable and can fill you no matter how you like to receive the message.

People were faithful Christians long before they were able to read Scripture and prayer books on their own.

Just a thought from a linguist and a teacher.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
There most certainly is. Saint John of the Cross refers to it in Dark Night of the Soul: ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.vii.vi.html

It is very important that we not let spiritual exercises prevent us from attending to the duties of our state in life — as spouses, parents, workers, members of society, etc.
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What an excellent resource. This is both convicting and relieving. I think this is definitely the place where the OP will find his answer.

Thanks for posting.
 
Lisa44 said:
🙂 What if we let our state in life, prevent us from spiritual exercises?
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Yes, there’s that danger too! We have to live in the world without being of the world. Balance in all things!
 
Thanks everyone, what a response. A lot of great advice.

Spot on, St. John of the Cross is exactly where I picked up the spiritual gluttony tag 🙂 It was nice revisiting his words in that link.

I guess I am struggling to see the face of Jesus in all that I am doing. As someone said, I feel like a sounding gong. Not to sound overly evangelical, but I feel I need a more ‘personal relationship with Christ’.

My course of action in light of your advice: more prayer and simple contemplation - less reading and intellectualising.
 
de_profundis said:
My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. .
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I’m just glad you’re not reading worldy stuff!!

i used to do a lot of that kind of spiritual reading… but i enjoy prayer because, well, i’ve been through hell… and… well, Long Story…

anyway, i tend to read a lot of books that i wonder sometimes if God wants me to read… I read this book recently about Clarence Thomas… which was an OK book except it was written by liberals… I hate when libs write books on conservatives… The authors contradict themselves… subTitle of book is: The divided soul of C. Thomas & yet the book shows all the way through just how sure of himself C Thomas is… and i think that’s what irritates the lib authors… He is totally conservative & they want to think that maybe he isn’t somehow… :rolleyes: Anyway… then there is this not too favorable book about the pres I’m reading… I feel i need to be informed about him but on the other hand, doens’t leave me feeling especially close to God (to read about someone who apparently isn’t)… Anyway… I wonder if God would prefer i do other things with my time… but not sure I’m actually “sinning” (??:?)

anywya… just thoght i’d ramble on for a few minutes… 😃
 
de_profundis said:
Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
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Dear friend, You need a holy and orthodox spiritual director. You have the desire and will for holiness and with a director you can do it.

God bless:thumbsup: 🙂
 
PhilotheaZ said:
There most certainly is. Saint John of the Cross refers to it in Dark Night of the Soul: ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.vii.vi.html

It is very important that we not let spiritual exercises prevent us from attending to the duties of our state in life — as spouses, parents, workers, members of society, etc.
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This is a very good link, and I thank you for it. St. John of the Cross is the best. But if you read it, you’ll notice that he is talking about those who pursue spiritual things because it basically makes them feel good about themselves, e.g. pride; these people want their own way and will not listen to anyone else, etc. That doesn’t seem to be the problem with the OP. He just loves reading spiritual things, and I totally agree, they are very sweet.

I also had and sometimes still have a problem with preferring reading about the saints, etc. instead of the Bible, but I have been able to overcome this by reading the Liturgy of the Hours. That has the “sweetness” that you like with writings of the Fathers and others in the Church’s history, but it is also very heavy in the Psalms (if you do it everday, you will have read all 150 Psalms in one month), and other writings of the Bible. The way in which these are presented has opened up the Bible to me in a way I never realized, and I now find it just as “sweet” as all of the other spiritual writings, etc. You’ll also be praying at the same time.

If you can’t afford to buy the actual book of the Liturgy of the Hours (the 4 volume set is especially expensive), you can use this website. liturgyhours.org/ If you have an Iphone or Ipod Touch, you can download an App for 99 cents which will give you the Breviary everyday and is approved by the Vatican. It is a wonderful spiritual tool that the Church has given us.

Mary
 
Lisa44 said:
I’m lazy, reading the bible and praying requires effort that goes beyond ordinary effort. I’ll mop the floor before I read the bible. I tell myself that the house should be clean before I study, but in fact, its just my laziness.
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I suspect this is just like anything that needs to be made into a habit. For years and years I “put off” prayer, the the point where I actually thought I might be demon-possessed because I couldn’t do it. Turns out that, like a lot of things, I was afraid of doing it “wrong.”

The cool thing about being Catholic is that we have tons and tons of written-out prayers to start with. If you can just say an Our Father and then stay with God for a while, that’s a really good start. It also helps me to use physical cues to put my heart and mind in the right place. I like to kneel and cover my head in a certain place in the house, dim the lights and maybe light a candle. If it helps, go down to the church and light a candle there. Write prayer times in your calendar and keep them as you would any other appointment.

I’m eager to find out how this goes for you. God bless.
 
de_profundis said:
Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
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I never really cared for the Bible, but loved the Church immensly. For me, actually, I think I *disliked *the Bible because of the abuses of Protestants regarding it. I one day realized that “hey, the Bible is a Catholic book, put together by the Catholic Church. What have I to fear from it?” I then started studying the Scriptures with a passion, learning how to defend our beliefs against those who would distort His words to condemn His Bride. Now I came to love reading the Scriptures simply *because *they are His words that He thought important enough to inspire men to write down. I started off slow, just one chapter a day beginning with the Gospel of St. Matthew. Sometimes I was able to read more, sometimes not, but I made the commitment to one chapter a day. Pray to the Saints God chose for this great mission, that you develop a love for this holy reading. God Bless.
 
de_profundis said:
Sorry to pollute this forum with a second thread today - I’m not a big poster so I’ll do my worst 🙂

My problem is: That I love reading books about the Church, lives of the saints, encyclicals, spiritual books, the ‘ask an apologist’ section of this here forum, watching DVDs of catecheses, listening to podcasts, etc., but I VERY rarely find the concentration or will to pray or to read scripture. I feel like a spiritual glutton, eating up the entertaining and juicy bits and avoiding anything that involves self-sacrifice or the slightest bit of patience. I get paranoid about this, and feel guilty doing any of the aforementioned things, while they are not bad in themselves. I get so paranoid that I also feel guilty when experiencing any spiritual ‘sweetness’ whatsoever, whether that be a particular moment in the mass or fraternising with other Catholics or singing the psalms with my wife.

Is this normal? Is there anyone here with a similar experience, and if so what do you do to combat it? Here I am procrastinating again when it’s probably an issue of will… your help is appreciated.

Peace.
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In my opinion, what you are doing with your spare time is fabulous! I would never stop reading Catholic material. But as far as not praying or reading the Bible, I say yes, it is a matter of will power. As Catholics we need to do both of those things. Just start out slow. Start praying even just 5 minutes a day, telling God that you don’t know what to pray for, or that you can’t consentrate and ask Him to help you. Start out just reading ONE paragraph of the Bible a day. That’s actually what I did and now I read it every night. If I’m tired, sometimes it really is just a paragraph but I usually read much more because the more I read, the more is revealed to me. And I love it.

Just do it. Action comes before motivation. And you can put that statement to the test.

Kudo’s for all of your spiritual reading!! I Love that stuff too! Can’t get enough! 🙂
 
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