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ethereality
Guest
I don’t know what to do any more.
What should you do when you want to hear from / experience God?
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G
Greenfields
Guest
Hi, pray before our Lord in the tabernacle?
A thought that came to mind was once a long time ago I did some missionary work O/S and the thanks from patients ,and me thanking them …there was Our Lords presence also
A thought that came to mind was once a long time ago I did some missionary work O/S and the thanks from patients ,and me thanking them …there was Our Lords presence also
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
Not a thing.
Don’t chase after mystical experiences or spiritual “highs”.
Read the Bible because that is His word.
Receive the Sacraments because that is His Church.
Peace
Am joining my
ray:t2:ray:t2:ray:t2: with yours right now.
Don’t chase after mystical experiences or spiritual “highs”.
Read the Bible because that is His word.
Receive the Sacraments because that is His Church.
Peace
Am joining my
ray:t2:ray:t2:ray:t2: with yours right now.
M
Mary888
Guest
Pray inside a church? When there are no service hours I mean. In front of the altar you kneel and pray. Because the altar has been filled with the Holy Spirit many times in a Church and chances to feel His presence are higher there.
K
Kei
Guest
First, get rid of your desire to feel such. It may be an obstacle.
Want simply to serve God.
Live a good Catholic life in Righteousness.
Want simply to serve God.
Live a good Catholic life in Righteousness.
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ethereality
Guest
It sounds like you are conceiving of the Holy Spirit as like a gas … God is supposed to be everywhere, and particularly dwelling with the Baptized personally. I think the argument for praying at Church is rather that Jesus is sacramentally present in the Tabernacle. The Holy Spirit coming down upon the altar simply means that the altar is holy.
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ethereality
Guest
Thanks, but I’m not seeking a ‘spiritual high’: I’m just suffering and wanting to interact with my Father. Instead I feel and appear to be alone and abandoned (only human beings who sometimes help me).
P
PJM
Guest
- In HUMILITY turn to Him and seek His Help
- Pray very much
- Sincerely turn your LIFE over to GOD; let HIM be in charge
- Understand that ALL prayers ARE answered that are a TRUE BENEFIT to Us
God can say NO
'God can say right now
And know please that even when the answer IS YES; it many not be in the form requested or exoected
God Loves US and will do what is BEST for us. Amen
May God Guide your path,
Patrick
C
Crocus
Guest
I’d go to my church library and flip through the Saints section until I found one to journey with me through the suffering and feelings of abandonment.
First that comes to mind is Mother Teresa (for me that is, could be a different one for you). She suffered many years feeling alone. Her response was to serve the poorest of the poor and the abandoned, with great love. Her smile radiated the love of Jesus.
Pray. Pray. Pray.
K
Kei
Guest
Religious devotion, public or private, for the duration of 9 days to gain special graces, is called a Novena. Those who perform it with a lively hope of having their request granted, and with perfect resignation should it be refused, may be assured that Christ will grant some grace or blessing, though in His Infinite Wisdom and Mercy He may refuse the particular favor which they implore.
The practice of saying the Rosary nine times in the form of a Novena in petition or thanksgiving is one example.
The 54 day Novena Devotion which originated in 1884 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, consists of the daily recitation of five decades of the Rosary for twenty seven days in petition and an aditional twenty seven days of saying 5 decades of the Rosary in thanksgiving. In reality this is 3 Novenas in petition for a particular favor and 3 Novenas in thanksgiving for a particular favor.
1st day say the 5 joyful mysteries
2nd day say the 5 sorrowful mysteries
3rd day say the 5 glorious mysteries.
And cycle through repeatedly.
To take from Pray the Rosary
Perhaps for your petition do so, in the state of Grace.
Ask others to do the same with you.
The practice of saying the Rosary nine times in the form of a Novena in petition or thanksgiving is one example.
The 54 day Novena Devotion which originated in 1884 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, consists of the daily recitation of five decades of the Rosary for twenty seven days in petition and an aditional twenty seven days of saying 5 decades of the Rosary in thanksgiving. In reality this is 3 Novenas in petition for a particular favor and 3 Novenas in thanksgiving for a particular favor.
1st day say the 5 joyful mysteries
2nd day say the 5 sorrowful mysteries
3rd day say the 5 glorious mysteries.
And cycle through repeatedly.
To take from Pray the Rosary
Perhaps for your petition do so, in the state of Grace.
Ask others to do the same with you.
C
ColleenEH
Guest
If you haven’t been recently- go to Confession!
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ethereality
Guest
Praying the Rosary appears to be a waste of time. For a period I would pray the Rosary every day, and add my intentions at the end (mostly for others), and after a month or two it seemed to me nothing was changing, nor was I benefiting, and it was just costing me time. (I wasn’t rushing through it, was trying to meditate on the mysteries, etc.) Time spent praying the Rosary is time not spent helping others in a visible way. I quit praying the Liturgy of the Hours for the same reasons.
K
Kei
Guest
Oh dear, no wonder you feel like you do now.
The spring of grace should not be left to dry!
The Rosary brings one so many graces, I don’t understand.
But, I am not saying simply to pray the Rosary but to do a certain style of novena for your particular intention with others. Prayer is powerful, regardless of if you see it. It keeps me away from mortal sin, for instance.
Also offer your intentions before praying instead of after.
The time it took you to write that comment was time taken from visibly helping others. I highly doubt you spend all your time visibly helping others to where you don’t have 20 minutes in a day to pray.
But if you wonder why you are not getting anywhere currently it is probably because you are not praying when you need to the most.
The spring of grace should not be left to dry!
The Rosary brings one so many graces, I don’t understand.
But, I am not saying simply to pray the Rosary but to do a certain style of novena for your particular intention with others. Prayer is powerful, regardless of if you see it. It keeps me away from mortal sin, for instance.
Also offer your intentions before praying instead of after.
The time it took you to write that comment was time taken from visibly helping others. I highly doubt you spend all your time visibly helping others to where you don’t have 20 minutes in a day to pray.
But if you wonder why you are not getting anywhere currently it is probably because you are not praying when you need to the most.
E
ethereality
Guest
The ‘turning point’ appears to be whether you interpret certain feelings, brain states, as “actually experiencing God” or as self-induced. From a skeptical perspective, the Rosary’s “power” is self-hypnosis, or else sheer hazing (the magnitude of time spent wasted forces the person psychologically to think it was time well spent).
Perhaps you, or others, should keep a log of petitions granted and not granted, together with praying the Rosary, to see what difference it makes. I noticed with great dismay, when I lived in the United States, the prayer book of petitions and favors granted, how much longer the petitions were than the list of favors granted. I noticed the same on the Fr Michael J McGivney guild website (they record petitions and favors granted hoping to see miracles that will count towards his canonization).
Ultimately it seems “interacting with God” depends on how you choose to interpret your experience, and I have so much suffering (and see others suffering) that I have great difficulty in declaring the Church to be correct and supporting legislation to that effect (e.g. preventing homosexuals from adopting children). One question that I stumble over is, “How do you discern whether an idea is what you want to be true or if God’s telling you it’s true?” I see sometimes people try to “act on what the Holy Spirit is telling them”; most recently on Reddit’s Christianity forum, someone posted, “Does the phrase ______ (I forget what it was) mean anything to you?” and the person said “No.” This person was trying to have faith that ideas coming to mind were “from God” rather than their own imagination. The same problem occurs when praying before the Tabernacle hoping for some response from God or an angel (“your guardian angel” as some declare everyone has).
Perhaps you, or others, should keep a log of petitions granted and not granted, together with praying the Rosary, to see what difference it makes. I noticed with great dismay, when I lived in the United States, the prayer book of petitions and favors granted, how much longer the petitions were than the list of favors granted. I noticed the same on the Fr Michael J McGivney guild website (they record petitions and favors granted hoping to see miracles that will count towards his canonization).
Ultimately it seems “interacting with God” depends on how you choose to interpret your experience, and I have so much suffering (and see others suffering) that I have great difficulty in declaring the Church to be correct and supporting legislation to that effect (e.g. preventing homosexuals from adopting children). One question that I stumble over is, “How do you discern whether an idea is what you want to be true or if God’s telling you it’s true?” I see sometimes people try to “act on what the Holy Spirit is telling them”; most recently on Reddit’s Christianity forum, someone posted, “Does the phrase ______ (I forget what it was) mean anything to you?” and the person said “No.” This person was trying to have faith that ideas coming to mind were “from God” rather than their own imagination. The same problem occurs when praying before the Tabernacle hoping for some response from God or an angel (“your guardian angel” as some declare everyone has).
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guanophore
Guest
It is a good thing that you want to hear from and experience God. This is a desire that will help form you in holiness.
There have been many good responses here, including reading the Scriptures. Using a method like Lectio Divina helps you to apply them to your life in a practical manner. If you are not willing/able to hear what He has already said to you in His Word, why would He give you more?
I find listening to Catholic radio is very helpful in focusing my thoughts on Him. As was suggested here, prayer in front of the tabernacle is a good practice. Think about it this way; how would you “experience” another person with whom you wanted to be close and have a meaningful relationship? You would spend time together, right? Share what is important to you? Be open to what the other person is saying?
K
Kei
Guest
You see, we see with eyes.
The eyes then, in order to make out anything, send these things to the brain.
The brain interacts with the outside world so that you too may have some understanding of what is going on, to interpret reality.
The mind similarly must react during prayer if we hope to know what we are doing!
I personally can feel my brain interacting, taking in what is happening. There’s a difference if I am praying to God or praying to a saint or the Blessed Virgin (who is a saint).
It’s not a self induced hypnosis, I’ve gone through “hypnosis” and conditioning, it’s nothing like that, and I can tell you it’s completely different. Of course, I never felt like the hypnosis stuff would work for anything except for putting triggers in my head.
You have to trust God at least a little bit.
The purpose for prayer isn’t really to have prayers answered, though that’s part of it. Look at the Our Father, the perfect prayer. What is prayed for? Daily bread? This day? To be kept from temptation? It has gratitude in daily life.
In truth, prayer is for establishing a relationship.
One should work at having the faith the size of a mustard seed, but this even can take much fasting and prayer. The power of a prayer depends on many different factors such as faith, righteousness, need, intention, etc.
One who is of little faith may get little in return.
My petitions are things that would be gradual,sometimes things that may take hundreds of years. To give you an idea, it’s mainly about conversion and strengthening of faith in others and myself.
I have been praying for my friend (w the rosary and at mass) who has been in a bad situation monetarily for a long time, and lo and behold it looks as though this big company is interested in him after his not being active in his field for so long.
I say a prayer for the general helping of the world’s problems, but I understand that this will not fully happen until the second coming.
In general I’d say the prayer success ratio is fairly good for that which I can tell. I didn’t come across a ton of money to help me go to college, but ultimately it seems like usually things work out. When they don’t go as you want them to, they still work out, probably for the better.
In terms of what didn’t get “answered” would be for instance a health issue that didn’t get healed immediately but did get healed still. Really feel like most of the stuff that didn’t get a yes answer sounds a tad ridiculous to even ask for, looking back. I am having difficulty thinking of much of what I have prayed for though.
I think for most people, if you get out of the present, and really look at your life without bias, it seems that there is some sort of beneficial bias throughout most of it, even if we don’t see it when stuck in the present.
Of course, suffering is incredibly important. If people realized how important it is, I think we would be putting ourselves through much mortification.
I tend to stay away from other forms of Christianity, they can get really weird ideas. How do you know what God is saying? Well, silence is important. I am still trying to figure out as well! Sometimes we are supposed to wait!
The eyes then, in order to make out anything, send these things to the brain.
The brain interacts with the outside world so that you too may have some understanding of what is going on, to interpret reality.
The mind similarly must react during prayer if we hope to know what we are doing!
I personally can feel my brain interacting, taking in what is happening. There’s a difference if I am praying to God or praying to a saint or the Blessed Virgin (who is a saint).
It’s not a self induced hypnosis, I’ve gone through “hypnosis” and conditioning, it’s nothing like that, and I can tell you it’s completely different. Of course, I never felt like the hypnosis stuff would work for anything except for putting triggers in my head.
You have to trust God at least a little bit.
The purpose for prayer isn’t really to have prayers answered, though that’s part of it. Look at the Our Father, the perfect prayer. What is prayed for? Daily bread? This day? To be kept from temptation? It has gratitude in daily life.
In truth, prayer is for establishing a relationship.
One should work at having the faith the size of a mustard seed, but this even can take much fasting and prayer. The power of a prayer depends on many different factors such as faith, righteousness, need, intention, etc.
One who is of little faith may get little in return.
My petitions are things that would be gradual,sometimes things that may take hundreds of years. To give you an idea, it’s mainly about conversion and strengthening of faith in others and myself.
I have been praying for my friend (w the rosary and at mass) who has been in a bad situation monetarily for a long time, and lo and behold it looks as though this big company is interested in him after his not being active in his field for so long.
I say a prayer for the general helping of the world’s problems, but I understand that this will not fully happen until the second coming.
In general I’d say the prayer success ratio is fairly good for that which I can tell. I didn’t come across a ton of money to help me go to college, but ultimately it seems like usually things work out. When they don’t go as you want them to, they still work out, probably for the better.
In terms of what didn’t get “answered” would be for instance a health issue that didn’t get healed immediately but did get healed still. Really feel like most of the stuff that didn’t get a yes answer sounds a tad ridiculous to even ask for, looking back. I am having difficulty thinking of much of what I have prayed for though.
I think for most people, if you get out of the present, and really look at your life without bias, it seems that there is some sort of beneficial bias throughout most of it, even if we don’t see it when stuck in the present.
Of course, suffering is incredibly important. If people realized how important it is, I think we would be putting ourselves through much mortification.
I tend to stay away from other forms of Christianity, they can get really weird ideas. How do you know what God is saying? Well, silence is important. I am still trying to figure out as well! Sometimes we are supposed to wait!
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Reuben_J
Guest
_Psalm 3:4 _
I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
_Psalm 18:6 _
_ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears._
Call out to the Lord, seek Him, in your prayer and in your being.
_Jeremiah 33:3 _
’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'
I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
_Psalm 18:6 _
_ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears._
Call out to the Lord, seek Him, in your prayer and in your being.
_Jeremiah 33:3 _
’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'
E
ethereality
Guest
God is everywhere, the Church teaches. It seems then that, rather than spend 45 minutes traveling to sit in the same room with the Tabernacle, I should pray and meditate in my bedroom. (cf. Matthew 6:6)
Tis_Bearself
Patron
Pray regularly, and visit our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
For praying, you can
And don’t give up on God if he “doesn’t answer”. That usually just means you have to try harder or in a different way to “hear” him.
For praying, you can
- read Scripture (recommended that you do it for at least a half hour)
- say a Rosary or other chaplet prayer of your choice
- say a daily Novena of your choice (they are supposed to run for 9 days but there are some I say continuously every day) or another daily prayer like Morning Offering or the St. Bridget 12 Year prayers. You could even just say a few daily Our Fathers, it’s a start.
- meditate on one or more Holy Mysteries, or other events in Jesus’ life, or an event in the Old Testament that relates to God
- Or even make up your own free-form prayer as long as you set aside a couple of times each day to talk to God for at least 5 or 10 minutes or talk to Him several times throughout the day for a couple minutes.
- You can also do the Stations of the Cross wherever they are installed, or visit any Church-approved shrine to Jesus, Mary or saints.
- go to Mass, especially on days when it’s not an obligation
- go to Adoration (recommended that you do it for at least a half hour)
- drop in for 5 minutes to pray in any open church or chapel, even if they aren’t formally having Adoration (I note this can be more difficult in this day and age than it used to be because churches are now often locked outside of scheduled Mass or Adoration times, whereas they used to stand open so you could “make a visit” as you passed by)
And don’t give up on God if he “doesn’t answer”. That usually just means you have to try harder or in a different way to “hear” him.
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guanophore
Guest
Indeed yes! Unless I could listen to relevant radio on the way! I even heard one of the priests on there say this the other day. Better to spend the quality time you can grab.
The point is that when you want to experience a person more fully, you spend more time with them, especially alone time. This is how intimacy develops.
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