K
Kalabreanne
Guest
Hello all! I love reading the forums and just now decided to make a profile so that I could try and get some help with this. (If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize, I looked for the right area and this was the best I could find relating to my situation.)
I have been attending RCIA classes in my parish since August, with my best friend of 7 years. I attended Easter Vigil mass with him this year, and it solidified my decision that I wanted to become Catholic. After a few years of not attending worship services of any kind I have been having SO much fun, and I am seeing a lot of changes in myself that I could not have achieved on my own.
To get to the point, my boyfriend/fiance of nearly 5 years was baptized Catholic. He practiced up until around 15, (he is 20 now) when his family began going to a Baptist church near him instead. His parents had entire control of the situation, and I do not believe he “left” the church out of any spite whatsoever, rather following along as his parents pleased. He has shown some interest in my classes, looking through my papers, etc, and talking about Mass, his favorite hymns, etc, with my friend and I. He even attended class with me once and told me that he had fun - and later had me teach him how to say the Rosary, which he did quite regularly for a while.
His attitude has seemed to slowly shift over the past couple months…Here lately when I had brought up him attending mass with me, he would tell me that he “isn’t ready.” it was very unusual for him. For a while he wouldn’t give me any more details, but after some pestering I got him to tell me the reason behind his feelings. He told me that he doesn’t feel that he is deserving. He told me that, shortly after changing churches, when his life was not going very well (he was being bullied constantly at school, coming home to abusive parents, and his cousin had just been born with a heart defect) he cursed God heavily. Apparently when he was looking through my RCIA papers, he found a snippet mentioning the ‘Unforgivable Sin’ of cursing the Holy Spirit. He told me that he feels that he is indeed unforgivable. I asked him if it was something he felt sorry for, if he could go back, seeing how things worked out, would he still do it? (He moved away from his abusive parents, and his cousin survived and is now healthy) He told me definitely not, but that he didn’t feel that God would welcome him back. I told him it was my understanding that he only need to feel remorse for what he did, and to confess his sin to be welcome back to the Church. Am I wrong in this?
I have done lots of research, I have pulled out my bible, countless things. He said that he still feels that he isn’t worthy to God, after cursing him. He says that he doesn’t think that he can reconcile with God. The way that I put it to him, I said: “Think of your forgiveness as a door…if you do not feel remorse, that door stays closed and locked…you unlock it with your confession, you open it with your reconciliation.” Is this wrong? I came across the definition of “Scrupulosity” today and I must say it was the closest thing I’ve found to what he is feeling right now. Any help would be appreciated - including teachings on the subject, bible verses, anything.
I have been attending RCIA classes in my parish since August, with my best friend of 7 years. I attended Easter Vigil mass with him this year, and it solidified my decision that I wanted to become Catholic. After a few years of not attending worship services of any kind I have been having SO much fun, and I am seeing a lot of changes in myself that I could not have achieved on my own.
To get to the point, my boyfriend/fiance of nearly 5 years was baptized Catholic. He practiced up until around 15, (he is 20 now) when his family began going to a Baptist church near him instead. His parents had entire control of the situation, and I do not believe he “left” the church out of any spite whatsoever, rather following along as his parents pleased. He has shown some interest in my classes, looking through my papers, etc, and talking about Mass, his favorite hymns, etc, with my friend and I. He even attended class with me once and told me that he had fun - and later had me teach him how to say the Rosary, which he did quite regularly for a while.
His attitude has seemed to slowly shift over the past couple months…Here lately when I had brought up him attending mass with me, he would tell me that he “isn’t ready.” it was very unusual for him. For a while he wouldn’t give me any more details, but after some pestering I got him to tell me the reason behind his feelings. He told me that he doesn’t feel that he is deserving. He told me that, shortly after changing churches, when his life was not going very well (he was being bullied constantly at school, coming home to abusive parents, and his cousin had just been born with a heart defect) he cursed God heavily. Apparently when he was looking through my RCIA papers, he found a snippet mentioning the ‘Unforgivable Sin’ of cursing the Holy Spirit. He told me that he feels that he is indeed unforgivable. I asked him if it was something he felt sorry for, if he could go back, seeing how things worked out, would he still do it? (He moved away from his abusive parents, and his cousin survived and is now healthy) He told me definitely not, but that he didn’t feel that God would welcome him back. I told him it was my understanding that he only need to feel remorse for what he did, and to confess his sin to be welcome back to the Church. Am I wrong in this?
I have done lots of research, I have pulled out my bible, countless things. He said that he still feels that he isn’t worthy to God, after cursing him. He says that he doesn’t think that he can reconcile with God. The way that I put it to him, I said: “Think of your forgiveness as a door…if you do not feel remorse, that door stays closed and locked…you unlock it with your confession, you open it with your reconciliation.” Is this wrong? I came across the definition of “Scrupulosity” today and I must say it was the closest thing I’ve found to what he is feeling right now. Any help would be appreciated - including teachings on the subject, bible verses, anything.
