Prayer and experiencing fun

[anon91549587]

Hello everyone,

Over the last 6-8 months i have been praying the divine office 5 out of 7 days a week. Reading the works of the church fathers as well as the old testament. I spend most of my day thinking about God and praying for others as much as i can .

As i went deeper into all these , everything else in life started to feel lacklustre. I no longer experience fun in my daily life and broke up with my girlfriend after some months because …i do longer felt attraction even though we put God first , stayed chaste , reached out to non believers. Shes having mad fun but not me.

Has anyone experienced this or am i having signs of mental issues like stress etc .

 

[Mary888]

Has anyone experienced this or am i having signs of mental issues like stress etc .

I have experienced it too and I am not as devout as you are. I don’t think it’s mental, maybe it’s just a phase. Sometimes it disappears and all life is joyous when I leave the church so I try not to dwell into the detachment when it happens.
The only thing I can do is trust God and let Him guide me further.

 

[halogirl]

Could you be being led towards the priesthood ? Not the ‘having fun’ thing but having deeper priorities

 

[anon91549587]

Im not educated enough for priesthood and a monastry’s head did pray bout my request to “trial” the monks life but i was also turned down.

 

[tomo_pomo]

I have the same, im no longer interested i wordly things, but beware, for your good health sometimes you have to enjoy. Even st. Thomas said its good to take a nice bath when you are weary tired and gloomy

 

[Shelion]

I am a little surprised you asked that question, because in comparison to God - everything is lackluster…
Great Saints noticed that time and again - have you read Brother Lawrence’s "The Presence Of God" ?
I’d only see a problem, and then it’d be huge - if you found no joy not just in things unrelated to God (in a sense of pleasures which totally take your attention away from God), but in prayer or in spiritual reading and then kept doing that. Then you’d better talk to a spiritual director or your confessor.

Otherwise - nothing, I say nothing, compares to God. He is all the joy we need, and in fact that’ll be the major part of our happiness in Heaven - being united to Him for eternity.

I try to live like a nun inside - a Carmelite, contemplative - even though I am a mother of four. Whenever I can, I read spiritual books (not many presently), the Bible of course - the divine office once regularly, now rarely (though it’s great), and pray as much as I can - but prayer is becoming my life, and my life prayer - by offering to God everything in the morning - myself and all I do, and my crosses etc. And some time after it started - I just stopped having any attraction to worldly things and pleasures. And yet - I find it right, and I feel so peaceful, and it’s like I have never enough of God, I don’t love Him enough (like it’ll never be enough, cause He deserves infinite love, and I’m a finite creature - cause I’m still here, not at Home.

Don’t you feel that way?

 

[Shelion]

The point is here - what is your vocation - are you drawn to monastery? Because in quite a few saints’ biographies they were refused at first, later accepted (like st Gerard Majella) or they were refused in one monastery, accepted in another (like st Joseph Cupertino - I think at least that was this one). Sometimes it’s a trial - like God sees how persevering you are. God’s Grace is one thing - our cooperation is another.

 

[edward_george1]

I think it’s a little hasty for the people on this thread, who have only so much knowledge of the OP’s life and conscience, to immediately jump to “you should be a priest or a monk!” The OP has revealed that he started praying more, and then started feeling a certain way. The two might be connected, and they might not. Feelings, as CS Lewis said, can change with the weather or our digestion. There are times when I feel very strongly about my vocation to the priesthood, and times when I do not feel so strongly about it. There are times when I feel very strongly about my relationships with this friend or that one, and times when I do not. We cannot live our lives constantly chasing our feelings. We have to go with what is true and what is good, we have to choose to say yes to faith and to love.

It’s a bit of a leap to go from “I don’t feel like enjoying this or that thing” to “you should become a monk.” It is possible that these feelings are from any number of sources, but feelings certainly shouldn’t be the sole basis for making huge life decisions. To the OP: you should speak to a priest and get some spiritual direction to help you sort through this.

-Fr ACEGC

 

[Shelion]

I think it’s a little hasty for the people on this thread, who have only so much knowledge of the OP’s life and conscience, to immediately jump to “you should be a priest or a monk!” The OP has revealed that he started praying more, and then started feeling a certain way.

Not only that - he also wrote that he asked for trial period in a monastery and was turned down… So perhaps people just drew conclusions based on that?..
As for me, I re-read what I wrote - that part about being monk that is - I never said he should be a monk, just asked a question if he’s drawn to that vocation. Besides I only gave real examples that show that sometimes being rejected doesn’t yet mean there’s no vocation. That’s all. Whether calisthenics has the vocation or not, he sure knows better than anyone here. The only other person that mentioned this was halogirl and she wrote this as a question too.

Aren’t you then a little hasty in judging two people who asked simple questions instead of actually writing the words you claim we wrote? None of us wrote “you should be a priest or a monk!” That’s misrepresentation of what we actually wrote…

 

[Bluebright]

I am in agreement with the earlier post that you need a little patience. No offence meant but that is really no time at all. Often we are tried in life and this could be such a trial, watching others have this ‘fun’ that looks so enticing. I’d recommend prayer, in particular time before the Blessed Sacrament, so you wont give up your devotion and prayer. Jesus taught us to pray when things got rough so we would be strengthened, just as he did in the garden of Gethsemane. Our salvation came out of that and so will yours come out of your prayer now on earth just don’t give up. Jesus promises that storms will pass, but that we will be tested. Here’s a few Job 23; 10. John 16 :33, James 1 2-3 , 2 Corinthians 1 4-5.

 

[anon91549587]

Thank you all. I dont think its too much in relation to religious life but thank you either way.

 

[Shelion]

@anon91549587 Can I ask you something? Do you consider what I wrote, or the question by the other person about priesthood as equivalent to saying “you should be a priest or a monk!” ? I got chastized by someone here, because seemingly that’s what I did. I don’t think that way, but 1. I’m not a native English speaker - maybe I wrote sth wrongly 2. I might have implied it unknowingly - for sure that was not my itention.

Being misunderstood is not a problem for me - being misreprestented unfairly (that’s what happened) - is. I don’t have enough humility for it, I suppose to just pass it by in good humor, though I’m trying.

 

[edward_george1]

I apologize that you feel that you’ve been misrepresented, as it certainly wasn’t my intention do so. I don’t even know that I was referring to anything you wrote, just the suggestion someone else made that the OP should consider the priesthood. There tends to be a common theme on the forum that if someone can’t make it one state in life, the priesthood or religious life is a default or a fallback (or else if they can’t make it as a priest or religious, they should just get married).

You should know that my usual policy on these sorts of discussions is to speak generally about the overall tenor of a conversation, but if one particular person or statement warrants discussion, I will tag that person specifically. I did not tag you, so I wasn’t talking directly to you.

But thank you for your kind correction of my error. I am deeply sorry I have offended.

-Father ACEGC

 

[Shelion]

There tends to be a common theme on the forum that if someone can’t make it one state in life, the priesthood or religious life is a default or a fallback (or else if they can’t make it as a priest or religious, they should just get married).

My husband was consoling me that perhaps that’s why you wrote this - that things like that happened before many times, and you assumed I thought the same.

Thank you for this reply - it gives me peace.

As for the theme you described, I totally agree that it’s problematic - I lived through this experience in a way, and it took quite some time researching vocation online (meaning - what it is exactly and how do I know I’m where God wants me to be etc) and actually a funny story of God’s intervention (maybe He was exasperated with me, facepalming over my silly little quest).

Btw, I am new to the forum, I didn’t know about tagging, and I don’t know people or their way of writing/discussing yet.

 

[edward_george1]

Btw, I am new to the forum, I didn’t know about tagging, and I don’t know people or their way of writing/discussing yet.

All fine and good. You’ll get the hang of things in time.

I do take exception somewhat with how you’ve characterized me as “chastising,” “judging,” and “misrepresented” you. I would appreciate in the future if you would perhaps assume a little good will. This is the occupational hazard of being a priest on the internet; there’s no tone of voice and I’m an easy target for criticism.

Welcome to the forum.

-Fr ACEGC

 

[Shelion]

I do take exception somewhat with how you’ve characterized me as “chastising,” “judging,” and “misrepresented” you. I would appreciate in the future if you would perhaps assume a little good will.

I apologize. Isn’t that working both ways? I felt judged, chastized and misrepresented, so I honestly expressed that… After all, what I wrote was not what you said I wrote (and you said “people” in general, where there were two of us only). Whether you assumed our goodwill, I cannot say - I hope so. I suppose so, now.
Thank you Father for clarifying things. I’ll be more careful about what I write and will assume good will when reading (though like I said, I have some problems with that, and it’ll take time and prayer, so please pray for me to be more humble).
It’s amazing how God reveals to a person always new things to correct oneself from… It’s like a never-ending story (I’m talking about correcting my behavior, to be precise).

 

[anon91549587]

Actually no . I dont see any . And i dont see how the priest was directing any hits your way. I had a big problem being misrepresented all the time until i read the book , “humility rules” by father augustine. I found your post very beneficial , it made me feel less alone.

 

[Shelion]

Thank you. I read “Humility of the Heart” HUMILITY OF HEART That one. But one thing is learning theory, another living it - that will take all my life it seems But at least I see a lot of progress compared to 6, or 4 or half a year ago. It is easier in some cases, and more difficult in others.
I am glad I could help.

 

[Mary888]

Feelings, as CS Lewis said, can change with the weather or our digestion.

I think CS Lewis is confusing here sensitive feelings with sensible feelings. A sensible (psychic) feeling is deeper than a sensitive (physical) feeling. And feelings are not as fleeing as emotions. With all the attention given in the Scripture to the heart, and the attention our religion gives to the heart (which needs most correction does it not?) it is funny how Christians, maybe especially today, we have so little empathy for feelings and the important delicate in way in which they can change our cold thoughts into mercy.
I know I am criticizing here a lot of Holy Fathers and Saints teachings, but I just don’t understand it.