Trying to strengthen faith and spirituality

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Dugtrio1

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Hello everyone. I’m new to the Catholic Answers forums. I would like to extend a prayer to all of you faithful Catholics - but first, a bit of background.

I am being pulled in two directions spiritually. In one direction is my Catholic faith. I believe I have a soul that I can use to animate my body, perform good works, inspire others, and be judged after death. At a deep level, I love Jesus, and I love Catholicism.

In the other direction is my anxiety. I have an unhealthy desire to know the truth. The very existence of naturalists and atheists scares me, because they “might be right,” since they are often considered authority in schools. The existence of other religions also makes me doubt my own. The implications of being without a soul are, to me, terrifying. I have had existential anxiety for years, since I was a teenager. I describe this lightly; I have days when my anxiety prevents me from carrying out normal routine. It comes down to weak faith. I feel that God has never abandoned me, and yet I do not have the strength to simply maintain by belief without scrutinizing it constantly against counter-beliefs. It also saddens me to perceive a reduction in the numbers of our faithful over time.

I feel that I have all the potential to be an excellent Catholic, but I let God down with my constant doubt. Books by C.S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft, among many other authors, are great, but ultimately I need to accept it. Alternative views will always exist.

My prayer goes out to all of you Catholics out there. Be strong. Keep your faith. Don’t be weak like me. I write this should I lose my way one day. Maintain family values. Go to Mass. Have children, if you can. Live through example. Let people see Christ based on how you conduct your lives. Let Catholicism thrive. Do what I have been so far too weak to do. And if you don’t mind, please pray for me, so I may become as strong and devoted as you.
 
You don’t need to worry about truth, or fear the consequences of reasoning. God is Truth, and he created Reason as a tool for us to come to know him, and it will not lead you astray. The reasons some people aren’t Catholic varies, but it is never that someone has objectively assessed all the evidence and rationally concluded that the Catholic faith is wrong.

Either they didn’t research what the Church teaches well enough, or they are motivated by some other factor, like pride or convenience or pragmatism. Continue seeking the Truth, if you can strengthen your faith that way, but you should find someone knowledgeable in theology to talk to when you can’t find the answers yourself.
 
You need to strengthen your faith. Read some books by the Saints maybe The Stoy of a Soul by St. Therese. Stay close to Jesus and the sacraments. Pray, pray, pray!
 
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First, welcome to CAF! Second, I could have written your post myself. I am routinely in a state of flux regarding my faith and its strength is never stable. I’ve spent years grappling with the same concerns you’ve registered. The more I’ve permitted myself to have these feelings without judgment, however, the less that appear and the shorter their appearance. It helps me tremendously to 1) know that people like my devoted Catholic aunt, a Dominican nun herself, questioned her faith. She didn’t leave it when questioning but instead committed to struggle through it. I now commit to do the same. 2) Have children, who need me to teach them the faith. And 3) read works by people like Mother Teresa, who went through looooong periods of spiritual absence and doubt. I think you’d like her honest style.
 
Lack of faith may be your weakness. Those of us who were blessed with strong faith have other weaknesses. I myself lack charity and am too attached to worldly stuff.

Remember that St. Thomas had doubt and yet he became a successful apostle.

I did note that some days “your anxiety prevents you from carrying out your normal routine”. That to me suggests that maybe there is something medical going on here, rather than just doubt. If this happens frequently, please consider checking with a mental health professional.

God bless.
 
I think you may be misunderstanding what faith, hope, and love, the theological virtues, are all about.

The other virtues, the virtues even pagans know and practice, have a balance or limit, and this is dictated by reason: you cannot eat too much or too little; you cannot be too afraid or too reckless; you cannot be too angry nor be too unaffected by injustice; and so on.

Not so with the theological virtues: they have as their object God, and God has no limits. Therefore faith, hope, and love all have no limits, and consequently they necessarily have to go beyond your limits, beyond what your reason is telling you.

Having questions and doubts about your beliefs? That is natural with having faith, because you have to believe beyond what your reason and understanding can handle.

Having fears and anxieties in spite of being a Christian? That is natural for “hoping against all hope” (Romans 4:14).

Having feelings of weakness and inadequacy in loving God and men? Of course you are supposed to feel that, how can feel strong if in loving “with all your strength” (Luke 10:27), you left so little for yourself?

When God tells us not to be fearful or anxious, I do not think He meant to not feel them. After all, St Peter told us to “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) and we cannot do that if we cannot be anxious at all. Rather, I think that we must not let our anxieties, fears, and even doubts control us, but let God handle them and move beyond them, indeed, move beyond ourselves.

So do not worry, you are being faithful, being hopeful, and being loving, not in spite of what you are feeling, but because of them. Or rather, it is these feelings that confirm that you are practicing the theological virtues.

Plus Ultra.
 
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Faith is an act of the intellect, aided by grace. Don’t try to explain everything to yourself, but pray and trust in God and the Holy Spirit will bring you faith and confidence.
 
Lee Strobel has a good book called ‘The Case for Christ’. He examines the Gospels by asking all kinds of questions to the top Bible scholars and authors. Strobel is just like you; he used to be a journalist and his job forced him to examine all different kinds of viewpoints. He wants to know how something works, not just that it does work. I think you’ll like it. I haven’t finished the book, but I’m loving it so far.
 
Thank you for all of the wonderful replies so far. It is inspiring to know that I can improve. I am especially grateful that you gave me particular instruction on how to pursue these changes.
 
What you said is common to most of us as well. I am a Catholic committed to its faith and practice but I cannot say that my faith is one hundred percent.

But that’s alright. We just need a little faith, the rest we leave to the Lord to help us to believe. Our role is to make a decision to believe.

My private pet desire is wanting to see what happens after we die. However, I know that will not happen.

Do we die or just expire? Do we have souls that never die or are we just very sophisticated computers left behind by our makers that are able to generate ourselves? Are our bodies simply machines made up of different components? Are food that we eat just batteries and fuel, and that with wear and tear, we simply expire thus mark the end of our useful life span?

Does universe has boundaries? What goes beyond it? Where is heaven?

I would love to know the answers to those questions which we unfortunately do not have now. We will get to know it later surely.

In the meantime, believing in God and that we have souls which do not die but in different dimension from us. That one day we will get the answers to our curiosity.

Have a blessed day.
 
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