Troubled

[MarcusAndreas]

I need to bring this up.

I have an intense worry that no matter how devoutly I live my life, no matter how much I hear Mass, no matter how much I pray, no matter if I’m a layman or a priest (and Heaven help me if I’m the latter, knowing what St. John Chrysostom had to say about them), no matter how much I do to love others, etc. It will never be enough and even if I die with the sacraments I’ll be off to Hell. But I still push and try to be a good Catholic through all of it.

What’s wrong with me? Am I too scrupulous or is having a sense like this normal? Are there any saints whose lives are relevant here? Somebody help me.

 

[ChildOfTheLight]

You are very blessed to feel the push to live such a holy life. God will bring great things to your life through these emotions.

First, you’re right. It is never enough. God created you and the world in which you live. You really think you’ll be able to pay Him back for that let alone everything else He does? The Good News is that thanks to Jesus, it doesn’t have to be enough. We can’t earn Heaven because an infinite fall cannot be reclimbed by a finite person. You need to follow and love Christ as best you can, and trust that He will want you to be with Him.

It’s not a resume of the good things we’ve done. All you need is one thing.

Jesus.

Hope this helps. A divine mercy chaplet may help you as welll.

CotL

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I recommend you read the autobiography of Saint Faustina Divine Mercy in My Soul. Jesus chose her to bring the world the message that mercy is His greatest attribute and that when we turn to Him with trust in His mercy He will not turn His back on us. He delights in helping those who trust in His mercy.

 

[MarcusAndreas]

Can I be saintly and have very intense devotions to the Eucharist and Mary while still being a layman who will likely be married when I’m of age or is this kind of thing restricted to the religious?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

Can I be saintly and have very intense devotions to the Eucharist and Mary while still being a layman who will likely be married when I’m of age or is this kind of thing restricted to the religious?

Yes, of course you can and should. Read about the parents of St. Therese. We are all called to love God with our whole being.

 

[JM3]

This may help.

copiosa.org/suffering/suffering_scars.htm

 

[fred_conty]

I need to bring this up.

I have an intense worry that no matter how devoutly I live my life, no matter how much I hear Mass, no matter how much I pray, no matter if I’m a layman or a priest (and Heaven help me if I’m the latter, knowing what St. John Chrysostom had to say about them), no matter how much I do to love others, etc. It will never be enough and even if I die with the sacraments I’ll be off to Hell. But I still push and try to be a good Catholic through all of it.

What’s wrong with me? Am I too scrupulous or is having a sense like this normal? Are there any saints whose lives are relevant here? Somebody help me.

Hi Marcus,
You sound pretty normal to me. If we do one thing, then the thought might appear and say that maybe we should have done the other thing.

One of the hardest temptations to beat is discouragement. That’s the devils favorite one.
He will do this to us all the time if we let him. We beat up on ourselves.

If you want a saint saying, I don’t know who said it but I remember it well.
"If I can’t be with him in heaven, at least I can serve him on earth.’ He was willing to take anything that Jesus would give him and be happy with that.

Someone once said that they were more interested in the glorious resurrected Christ than the suffering Christ, and that is who they were going to follow. Mother Teresa said that
we have all eternity to be with the glorious Christ, but only have a short time to be with the suffering Christ on earth.

But the nice thing is that we can be happy in our trials and sufferings He sends us because we can offer them to Him with our love which makes it sweet.
Once we learn to bless him when we hit our head, that’s progress.
Thanking Him for the flat tire is trusting Him.

They spit and slapped Him in the face and He offered it up.
They beat Him and made fun of Him and he was silent.
Yet He was innocent and did nothing because he was thinking of us.

Hitting our head and having a flat tire, we too are innocent, but what do we do with that?

Lots will say "you fool.’
Others will say “your all wet”.

What others say dosen’t matter. It is what we say.