Swearing in thoughts

[Veronica97]

I haven’t sworn aloud in many months. Today my grown son was swearing and I scolded him for it. I was feeling tired and stressed and I had the thought, “I don’t even care any more.” And then I took the Lord’s name in vain in my head. Afterwards I thought, “I don’t want to blaspheme the Lord” but yet, I already had, and what bothers me most is I felt like I didn’t care–like “what’s the use” almost. I just went to Confession less than 3 days ago, and I feel like if I tell the priest (it’s going to have to be a different one this time b/c of different churches/confession times) that I just went to confession 3 days ago and tell him what I just wrote above, that he may think I am nuts. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that “I just didn’t care” when I thought those words. I’ve been a bit scrupulous at times in the past, but I’ve also been praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit, which asks that I would not offend the Lord in the least manner. And now I think my prayer is being answered. Would you go to Confession again if you were in my shoes?

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Yes, I would. I don’t think you are being scrupulous at all.

 

[littlenothing]

Yes I would, and I would go to the same priest too! Hue wont think you’re nuts. This is something I have read in the forums before (curse words coming into your mind), have heard people say, and I have confessed it myself!

I am currently reading a book called Consoling The Heart of Jesus, which is about the Divine Mercy. In the book, some of Sr Faustina’s diary is in the notes. She had times when she had bad thoughts, and her confessor told her that God was allowing this to make her stronger, and that she received merit for not consenting to the bad thoughts.

The book explains it better than I do.

Bottom line, if such thoughts trouble you, reject them and confess them.

 

[Veronica97]

Okay, I can go tomorrow. At first I wasn’t really sure if I consented or not because I had just told my son, “You need to stop swearing because then I get the words in MY mind.” And it was almost like the devil grabbed hold of that and DID put the words in my mind. If they had just popped into my mind I woudn’t have thought so much, but it was the tired, “I don’t care/I might as well” feeling that bothered me. Sometimes I don’t even know for sure if I’ve sinned and so I don’t want to make a “bad” confession by saying I sinned if I didn’t. But on the other hand, if I don’t go to confession and it was a mortal sin, I’m sunk. And so of course I’ve gone over this in my mind over and over again, and may have “resinned” in the process.

 

[littlenothing]

No, no. This was in no way a mortal sin, nor could it be, really. It doesn’t fulfill the three criteria for a sin to be mortal.

I do actually think it was a demonic influence due to your quitting cursing, your recent confession, and your just correction of your son. The devil wants to trip you up as well as see you become despairing or scrupulous about it.

Sr Faustina talks about times when she found even hearing talk of God distasteful. What is important is how your will reacts to these feelings. These are just the lows in our spiritual lives, not sins. Being faithful and avoiding sin despite this desolation brings us closer to God.

 

[In_Training]

What respect you’ve shown your son by speaking to him like an adult. My mom has adopted my priest’s tendency to hit me with a Bible. :nunchuk:

Three days isn’t bad at all. My priest advised I come in for confession every 17 minutes. He exaggerates. npatrol: Your “what’s the use” feeling is probably coming from disappointment over the fact that your son is saying “what’s the use.” It’s obvious that you don’t feel that way yourself.

I do actually think it was a demonic influence due to your quitting cursing, your recent confession, and your just correction of your son. The devil wants to trip you up as well as see you become despairing or scrupulous about it.

I don’t see the devil here. Just an outlet for frustration, but not a demonic influence.

 

[Veronica97]

The thing is I do remember thinking, “Oh well, I don’t even care anymore.” and then thinking the words. Even afterwards when I said, “No, I don’t want to blaspheme the Lord” I still couldn’t shake that apathetic feeling. Even now, I am sorry that I felt that way and I want to get right with God. Like I said, I started the 9 day Novena to the Holy Spirit for Pentecost, and the same night I started I had a dream about someone giving me Barbie dolls that were possessed and then evil spirits were breaking the windows in order to scare me (in the dream) and I hadn’t had a bad dream in quite awhile b/c I always use Holy water and pray to St. Michael before going to sleep. And then ALL WEEK (maybe it hasn’t been ALL week but it sure feels like it when you’re fighting bad thoughts!) I have been deluged by temptations of impure thought (which I know I have either not consented to or only partially consented to). I keep praying for help, and now tonight I have this “helpless/hopeless” feeling and the swearing in my head. I do feel I at least partially consented to the swearing and possibly even fully consented. So I probably should go to Confession and tell the priest these things and ask him how to “put my armor on” so to speak.

 

[littlenothing]

What respect you’ve shown your son by speaking to him like an adult. My mom has adopted my priest’s tendency to hit me with a Bible. :nunchuk:

Three days isn’t bad at all. My priest advised I come in for confession every 17 minutes. He exaggerates. npatrol: Your “what’s the use” feeling is probably coming from disappointment over the fact that your son is saying “what’s the use.” It’s obvious that you don’t feel that way yourself.

I don’t see the devil here. Just an outlet for frustration, but not a demonic influence.

I mean it in the sense of the ordinary way the devil works, not some kind of possession type level of demonic influence. He is, in fact, “prowling about the world seeking the ruin of souls”. St Ignatius spoke of desolation, when our prayer life suffers, or rather we suffer thorough it, and bad thoughts put themselves in our minds. Its not outlandish to say, but the word “demonic” might connote extraordinary activity. I didn’t mean to convey that.