Prayers Needed

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Little_Katie

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I would really appreciate your prayers. I’m struggling with my faith and I have been doing so on and off for almost 4 years now.

I have been having a lot of inner struggle with my feelings towards organized religion and as such I don’t know how I feel about The Church on some days… I know that I love our history and traditions, but spiritually I struggle with so much.

I feel disconnected from God and I have difficulty praying. Even going to mass has begun to feel empty. Prayer is hard because it no longer comes naturally for me and reciting memorized prayers doesn’t feel like it’s genuine…

The thing I have the hardest time with is that I am currently the only Catholic in my family. So I have no support system in my family to help me with my faith. I also have no Catholic friends… So if any of you are interested in becoming friends and talking online possibly outside of the forums as well, please let me know. I could really use a mentor right now.

Thank you for your prayers.
 
Hi Little Katie,

Just hang in there and keep on praying … your prayers mean even more to the Lord now. And I for one would be happy to become friends. 🙂

Praying for you with Bible verses from today’s Liturgy of the Hours:

Mid-morning reading (Terce) 1 Peter 1:13-14 ©
Free your minds, then, of encumbrances; control them, and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth, but make a habit of obedience.
Noon reading (Sext) 1 Peter 1:15-16 ©
Be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy.
Afternoon reading (None) James 4:7-8,10 ©
Give in to God: resist the devil, and he will run away from you. The nearer you go to God, the nearer he will come to you. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.
 
Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen
 
Dear Lord and Father, Little Katie is having problems with her faith. We ask that you send you Holy Spirit to her to grace her with the gift of faith that she so desperately desires. Also, Dear Lord, send Your holy angels to guard over her and guide her in the ways of righteousness. All this in Your Name we pray. Amen
 
Katie,

I am so sorry you are struggling right now. The fact that you acknowlege this and are seeking help is a wonderful to see. Your heart is right and although you may not feel as close right now, suprisingly, you are:) HE only knows how very lonely our walk with Him can be. He understands. I’m not Catholic, but will pray that someone who is will be the mentor you need right now. I will also pray for your walk with Him to become stronger and stronger. Blessings in Him,
mlz
 
I am sad too…very very sad…but what can be done…GOD makes me go through this knowing that i will prove i am worthy of his grace… Though there are many religions out there Catholicism is the true way to GOD…never give it up…the very fact you r suffering is because u carry catholic ideals…u’ll find peace if u think more…dont give it up…i dont know who u are but i beg not to give up catholicism…its life…dont loose it…i am very sad right now…depressed…am not able to be normal…but all i say to myself is this…Jesus be at my side…Mother be at my side…its a miracle all fears go away…Hope this helps u 🙂
 
Suffering servant of God
Dear Jesus, as Suffering Servant [Isaiah 52-53] You accepted all human weakness and struggle in atonement for human sin. You obtained redemption for all who choose Your ways.

With You, I accept the gifts and burdens of my humanity for the sake of others’ salvation. While I endure my faults and life’s difficulties, accepting them as opportunities to grow in love and wisdom, I ask that through Your mercy I never actually sin against You or other people.

Suffering Servant of God, united with You, I offer the heartaches, failures and misfortunes of others’ lives and mine. Your life in me is my real self that desires and moves towards goodness and others’ welfare. Where we can only experience grief or depression before traumatic and distressing occurrences, empower us with trust in You.

Please grant me confidence in Your merciful action even when all seems hopeless, so that like You, I will obtain numerous conversions in blessing for my life lived in service of You and others. October 1980

Jesus, even when I feel devastated or despondent, I desire to pray and try to assist others. Help me to accept humbly, without surprise or disappointment that I seem imperfect and unfruitful, and that life seems dark and gloomy.

Let me live Your dream of me regardless. Let me be the treasure You created me to be, for You and for anyone in my life. Please delight Yourself in me and fulfil Your will in my life despite my inadequacies and trials.

“A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.” (Saint John of the Cross) “Do not say, “God will consider the number of my gifts.” [Ecclesiasticus 7:9]

“Offer to God the sacrifice of never gathering any fruit. If He wills that throughout your whole life, you should feel a repugnance to suffering and humiliation—if He permits that all the flowers of your desires and of your good will should fall to the ground without any fruit appearing, do not worry. At the hour of death He will cause fruits to ripen on the tree of your soul.” (Saint Therese quoted by Celine in ‘Counsels and Reminiscences’)
 
Eternal God, when my spirit has burned to ashes, ground to dust with a boulder of mute and heavy sorrow, please give me trust in Your personal love for me.

When mine, or others’ mistakes or uncaring have wounded and savaged my heart, where are You to restore what is injured even when I plead for Your intervention and strive to heal the damage? And yet, though You seem absent, I still humbly cry out for Your mercy and healing.

When my efforts leave me helpless with no path left to try, please comfort me and show me a new path.

When others undermine with repeated assaults and short-circuit my resolve, send wise friends to comfort and support me. For no sooner has one problem and heartache eased or resolved than another, equally painful, arises for another or myself.

I seek You but sometimes am left to feel You are heartlessly steeled against me and my life becomes a flat salt desert. Please help me to trust in You even then, when trust no longer seems possible.

My heart cries out repeatedly, groping in the helplessness of fears, disappointments and grief that words cannot convey.
Yet still I call on You and place my tatters of faith in You. Please have mercy on me Your child, and hold me close to You in all my struggles.
 
First of all know that my prayers are with you. As weird as it sounds, if you can just hang in there, these periods of darkness can become the times in which we actually grow in our faith more than any other time.
 
Mike_Dye said:
First of all know that my prayers are with you. As weird as it sounds, if you can just hang in there, these periods of darkness can become the times in which we actually grow in our faith more than any other time.
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Exactly!

You can PM me if you wish. Just keep trying to be a good Catholic. God will reward you for your fidelity in the next life, if not in this life.
 
PRAYER FOR
THE GIFT TO SEEK GOD
AND LIVE IN HIM.
Father, in your goodness
grant me the intellect to comprehend you,
the perception to discern you,
and the reason to appreciate you.
In your kindness endow me
with the diligence to look for you,
the wisdom to discover you,
and the spirit to apprehend you.
In your graciousness
bestow on me a heart to contemplate you,
ears to hear you,
eyes to see you,
and a tongue to speak of you.
In your mercy confer on me a conversation pleasing to you,
the patience to wait for you,
and the perseverance to long for you.
Grant me a perfect end,
your holy presence.

Amen.
 
Check with your parish Katie, and talk to your priest. There might be a program that might help you out and you’ll have the opportunity to make friends with someone in your neighborhood who shares the faith.

I’m praying for you Katie …
 
My prayers are with you too. I also have gone through times of darkness and doubt, and times where prayer is difficult and offers no consolation.

I spoke with my pastor a few years ago when I was going through an especially dark time. He had a couple of wonderful things to share with me.

First, are you praying a Morning Offering prayer? By doing so, you are offering your entire day to God, including your doubts, sadness and struggles. God uses these sufferings to bring great graces to you and those you offer them for. A simple morning offering prayer goes like this:

Dear Lord Jesus, I offer You my day – my work, my prayers, my joys and my sufferings – in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins and the sins of the world, for the intentions of Our Holy Father, for the intentions of my friends and family, for (any special intentions here), and for all poor souls in purgatory.

Secondly, the fact that you continue to pray, in spite of not “feeling” any better afterward, is a true testament to your love for God. You are choosing to pray, and choosing to love him. My priest said that Our Lord appreciates these prayers even more because they are being offered out of pure love and devotion to Him, and not for any merit we feel because of them.

Know also that you are in a spiritual battle. It is our spiritual enemy who puts these doubts into our heads. Pray the St. Michael prayer and ask for spiritual protection:

St. Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle. Protect us from the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the earth seeking the destruction of souls.

Sometimes I repeat this prayer several times, or just repeat, “St. Michael, defend me.”

Know that this will pass over time, and as others have said, your faith will be strengthened because of it. You are not alone! You may private message me anytime!

God bless you, protect you, console you and hold you in His Hand!
 
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
 
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