Tired

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What do you do when prayer feels like its done in vain?

How must I carry on if God seems silent? Jesus felt abandoned on the cross for a brief moment. Does he really understand what we are going through, if we have experienced this abandonment feeling for many years?

It seems like God is more attentive and caring for people who don’t want Him.

I feel forgotten, completely.
 
Pilsen said:
What do you do when prayer feels like its done in vain?

How must I carry on if God seems silent? Jesus felt abandoned on the cross for a brief moment. Does he really understand what we are going through, if we have experienced this abandonment feeling for many years?

It seems like God is more attentive and caring for people who don’t want Him.

I feel forgotten, completely.
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The Lord could be testing you. (unless you have stopped praying regularly and have become apathetic.)

Carry on anyway! We need to learn to pray without feelings so that we exercise our faith, and become spiritually mature. Carry on and He will give you a deeper peace. He is not ignoring you, he loves you unconditionally.
 
Pilsen said:
What do you do when prayer feels like its done in vain?

How must I carry on if God seems silent? Jesus felt abandoned on the cross for a brief moment. Does he really understand what we are going through, if we have experienced this abandonment feeling for many years?

It seems like God is more attentive and caring for people who don’t want Him.

I feel forgotten, completely.
Click to expand...
May God bless you during this time of struggle. I’ve gone through periods like you’re describing, too. I’ve experienced “dryness” when praying the Rosary or even when going to Mass for long periods of time, like there was little or no purpose to it. It was very discouraging for me, indeed.

I have to ask, so please don’t take offense: could there be something God is asking you to do (or not do), to take a step closer to Him, but that you’ve been reluctant about? This has often caused me to feel as though God were withdrawing from me, even though it was me withdrawing myself from Him in the first place. My experience may have been much different than yours, though. But maybe this will help you reframe things a bit.

A spiritual director may help, if you can find one. You may also consider (at least in the meantime) reading Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living. This book really helped me understand the purpose of the darker times in my spiritual life.

You have my prayers. Know that God’s grace is sufficient for you to get through this, and that there is a divine, eternal purpose to your suffering. Don’t give up on God or yourself. Persevere. Be patient. Know that God is with you, even when you don’t feel Him near.

Thanks for reading. I hope this was a little helpful.

Yours in Jesus through Mary,

Tom

P.S. - try this prayer:

“Lord, help me to accept this period of spiritual dryness in my life. Help me to know that you love me and are near to me, even when I don’t feel your presence. Help me to entrust myself to you, knowing that you will reveal your purposes to me according to your most holy and perfect will. Help me to love you and abandon myself to you no matter the cost, in times of sorrow or emptiness, and in times of joy and peace. Jesus, enter into my heart and experience the emptiness here, which you felt in your Heart as you died on the Cross for me. Lord Jesus, I love you. Lord Jesus, I love you. Lord Jesus, I truly love you. Help me to truly trust in you. Amen.”
 
hazcompat said:
Do you have a spiritual director?

talk to your priest.

try this.

rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/04/25/aridity-and-progress-divine-intimacy-2

Peace
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that is what I did. I talked to my (anglican) priest I mean. I felt like God had gone and we had an hour long chat about things and totally changed the way I pray. I could never pray with words before anyway as it didn’t do it for me. He saved my faith that day and changed it direction too. I had been searching and other priests had tried to get me on that path but this present priest actually got me there.

But in essence when I felt all had failed, I talked to my priest. I took one huge deep breath, I had rang him up and said am rubbish on the phone and want to talk about God. I haven’t looked back 👍
 
Good thread.

I am going through a staleness where it feels, at times, i am going through the motions. I need to get past this point in my prayers. I hate to do things out of repetition. I want to say them with feelings and love.
 
ajecphotos said:
Good thread.

I am going through a staleness where it feels, at times, i am going through the motions. I need to get past this point in my prayers. I hate to do things out of repetition. I want to say them with feelings and love.
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We can’t force feelings. So, when you say the prayers, say them with an act of the will!
 
The most difficult part is seeing non-Catholics enjoy life and being more happier without God.

I also feel a great sense of lonliness. This period has gone on for awhile, so hope seems hard to hold.
 
I have felt great loneliness at times too. When I’m at home, it’s just me and the cat. If I don’t have enough to do, I get to brooding on that and get down. Maybe you could try a hobby or something else to fill the times when you are most lonely. Especially if it’s something dne for someone else. Me, I crochet and knit some. What I make I usually end up giving away because I have only so much room. If I tried to keep everything I made, my place would look like those of a hoarder. :o Anyway, take the suggestions (not just mine) and try them out. Find out what works for you. I really think it will work out in the end for you. :blessyou:
 
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