Please help

[holyliving]

Sorry if this is the wrong page for questions, but I need your help. I am living in mortal sin. I am addicted to soft and harder forms of pornography. Though I have visited the sacrament of confession, I lack true repentence. I know this because I cannot resist the lure to sin again and again. I don’t want to mock our Lord or cheapen the beauty of his mercy in the confessional by knowing I WILL sin this.way again. How do I find true repentance, so that a I can freely break the chains of this prison in which I live? Incidentally, my prayer life is poor.

Please help. Sincerely,

holyliving

 

[Fledgling]

Have you asked to talk with your Priest one-on-one if he has time?

Counseling, lots and lots of counseling.

Prayer and self-control…Because it really is a self-control issue.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Fighting off an addiction is different from lack of repentance. Some people are chin-deep in the habit of sin that even though there is a concious effort to go the other way, they still fall into the same sin. Many of us knowingly or unknowingly suffer the same problem. Its not about being unrepentant but you have formed a bad habit that unconciously you just keep going back to.

Fasting and meditation is key. Fasting trains us to fight of things that come subconciously natural, whether its good like eating, or bad like the habit of sin. As long as you are actively trying to become better and fight off sin, you are showing being repentant. Keep praying that God frees you from the bondage of sin.

 

[Trishie]

The fact that you don’t ‘feel’ repentance does not mean you have no repentance.
Repentance is a decision, a choice, first of all.

You have a habit to overcome, and you need to overcome it… yes with prayer and making certain sacrifices, but also by practical means. You need to find practical strategies to change these habits. And you need to starve the pathways you have expanded in your brain with sexual stimulation, by avoiding feeding them eg at porn sites,
but you also need to develop other mental pathways, other interests…including interests that are more outward-looking, involving more active kindness towards others instead of the inward-looking pursuits that are crippling you.

Remember that Jesus insisted on the command to love God above all, and others as self, and made plain in Matthew 25 verses 31-46, that He judges souls by whether or not they live lives of practical kindness to others.

God bless you.

 

[Scoobyshme]

The difference between the Saints and us is not that they didn’t sin and we did. The difference is that every time they fell, they got up and tried again, without exception.

You cannot break free of this addiction alone. You need help. Help is available, however.

I would start by going to the following site:

familylifecenter.net/strugglewithporn.asp

Also, download and listen to the .mp3 audio talks from the following:

alabamacatholicresources.com/Purity.html
(Start with the last one on this page.)

alabamacatholicresources.com/Downloads/The_Poison_of_Pornography.mp3

alabamacatholicresources.com/Downloads/Conquering_Lust_by_Father_Kenneth_Dean.mp3

Next, if you haven’t started, start praying the Rosary every day. It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. Just Do it! (Like Nike says.)

You can download the Rosary in audio form here:

alabamacatholicresources.com/the_rosary.html

You are in a spiritual battle for your immortal soul. If you do not fight, you will lose. As the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say, “Dead bodies float downstream.” You have to fight against the current and “the world.” You will either end up a winner (going to heaven) or a loser (going to hell), for all eternity. Life is all about choices…and consequences. You’re getting your butt kicked, big time, by the father of lies, Satan, who’s telling you it’s okay, you’ll get better later. There may not be a “later” for you. You may die suddenly today. Go to Confession, if you need to, every time. Time to get up off the mat and man up and fight back!

God bless!

 

[holyliving]

Amen, my dear brothers and sisters! I am grateful for your advice. Peace