struggling with faith

[romancatholic94]

i posted a while ago that I was struggling with my faith. I’m still going through a period of spiritual emptiness but it has gotten much better. I have been talking to my pastor and other priests at my parish and trying to come to terms with my doubt. I feel MUCH better than I did before, doubt is such a horrible feeling. I truly believe though that doubting and question makes faith stronger, I have never prayed so much in my life and I am so much happier. The sources of my doubts were because of my professors, some were very hostile towards Catholicism and I found myself angry and unhappy during class because of it. This lead me to start questioning what I believed. A question for Catholics who struggled with faith or lost it and regained in life, how did you overcome doubt? What make you REALLY believe? Where did you find God?

Thank You!

 

[po18guy]

Thank the Lord, I have not lost my faith. But, I deepened it exponentially in the presence of Christ. Go before the Tabernacle, or to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Offer your doubts and emptiness to Christ Himself. Then, be patient with Him as He has been patient with you. You may be amazed sooner, or you may be amazed later. But, when you know that He is there, you will be changed.

 

[JRKH]

i posted a while ago that I was struggling with my faith. I’m still going through a period of spiritual emptiness but it has gotten much better. I have been talking to my pastor and other priests at my parish and trying to come to terms with my doubt. I feel MUCH better than I did before, doubt is such a horrible feeling. I truly believe though that doubting and question makes faith stronger, I have never prayed so much in my life and I am so much happier. The sources of my doubts were because of my professors, some were very hostile towards Catholicism and I found myself angry and unhappy during class because of it. This lead me to start questioning what I believed. A question for Catholics who struggled with faith or lost it and regained in life, how did you overcome doubt? What make you REALLY believe? Where did you find God?

Thank You!

I overcame it by reducing all to it’s most basic elements. As Christians that basic element is spelled out as L-O-V-E…It is the oft overlooked core of the NT…

By overlooked, I don’t mean that people don’t see it, but rather that people become so distracted by other things and other arguments that they tend to lose sight of this essential truth which is the very foundation upon which we stand.

Love is the foundation of all our faith, our teachings and our practice. Once one comes to this realization, everything else becomes “details” (but important details).

Of course Catholicism is not the only faith tradition with “Love” at it’s core so finding my way back home into the Catholic Church was a combination of the fact that I was raised Catholic and so it was already familiar…but even more it was the realization that Scripture, history and teaching all point to the Catholic Church as being the one true Church.

Hope this helps a little

Peace
James

 

[fred_conty]

Pray and meditate on the suffering of Jesus. No matter what else is bothering you, the sufferings of Jesus will bring you back to reality. Many great saints of the church advocated that. That is where all problems get resolved, in the sufferings of Jesus, the crucifixion. The suffering mysteries of the rosary are good.

Just a thought.

 

[tskrobacz]

• The Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
• 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself”

.if you are to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and will ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind how can you ALSO love your neighbor as yourself? In the answer to this you will find God.

And here’s something practical you can do:

A contemporary theologian has described mercy as “entering into the chaos of another.” Christmas is really a celebration of the mercy of God who entered the chaos of our world in the person of Jesus, mercy incarnate. I have never found it easy to be with people who suffer, to enter into the chaos of others. Yet, every time I have done so, it has been a gift to me, better than the wrapped and ribboned packages. I am pulled out of myself to be love’s presence to someone else, even as they are love’s presence to me.

 

[kayla]

I struggle a lot…I think many Catholics do as their faith is constantly being tested.
This is how I increase my spiritual life and faith.
Go to church regularly even if you don’t feel like it, this is where God speaks to us.
I heard a CD by Fr. Larry Richards “Mass Explained” he said something that really moved me…Jesus waits for us in the Blessed Sacrament and he longs to be with us! Mass is the one thing that always brings me back to my faith, it has such a profound effect on me that I’m often moved to tears.
God Bless