Spiritually dry?

[kittensrule]

For the past few weeks I just feel so unenthusiastic about my faith. I don’t look forward to going to Mass and during Mass, I just can’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm to pray. Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to help myself? Thank you

 

[Robert_Sock]

I too have been experiencing spiritual dryness and have found the following to be encouraging:

Matthew 5:3 RSV
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

It’s not a cure, but it helps me to persevere, and to better accept my dryness whenever it comes.

LOVE!

 

[ChibiViolet]

Prayers prayed without enthusiasm are far better than no prayers prayed at all.

 

[Dodge_pursuit]

Wow, must be an epidemic around here!

I’ve been having a rough time myself.

Today was a true low point. Usually, when I’m experiencing dryness or am otherwise “blue,” I at least find relief and peace at mass and when engaged in ministry. Today, I went to mass and I was serving (EM), yet the light never broke through the clouds.

I like to take a dose of 2 Cor 4-5 often when I feel like this. I try to remind myself, that these are the times when our good habits- such as liturgy of the hours and daily rosary- are crucial in helping us stay on the right path and not wander into sin or despair because we’re not feeling the fire.

*Lord, I know you want me to follow you in good times and bad, whether I have the joy of your presence and consolations or not. I know you want me to grow up (as a believer) and not rely on butterflies and goosebumps but on your Word and my faith. But I’m weak and I don’t know how much farther I can go on my own. Please give me the grace to keep smiling, keep being a good witness and keep walking the line, even when I feel lousy inside.

I ask this through Christ Our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, AMEN.*

 

[Nate123]

For the past few weeks I just feel so unenthusiastic about my faith. I don’t look forward to going to Mass and during Mass, I just can’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm to pray. Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to help myself? Thank you

"You may not have heard this before, and many spiritual directors will not know to tell you, but if a person is generous with God in responding to the graces given, that person will (relatively soon after making a serious commitment to follow Jesus) enter an experience where the consolations one originally experienced in prayer will be replaced with what feels like a newly imposed emptiness and a dry “inability” to pray as one once could. This is not a failure, but is exactly what is supposed to happen as the next stage of prayer depth.

If the experience of being “unable to pray” vexes you, you can be assured that it is not laziness. If it were laziness, you wouldn’t be disturbed by it. Just show up to prayer, put the time in, and don’t worry about how it feels.

In the experience we describe above, the “dryness” is the beginning of infused prayer (God is doing it), and is the start of the “passive purgation” of the first “dark night”. This infused prayer will eventually draw a person to the “transforming union” if God is allowed to continue what is beginning here. Without a good spiritual director, many will misinterpret this experience and become discouraged to the point of giving up prayer entirely or throwing themselves into active service since they “can’t pray very well.” Both options are serious mistakes." New Apologetics