Where is happiness in life now that I am Catholic?

[jimmy]

You need to watch falling into the Jansenist point of view. The Jansenists were puritans and they thought that all pleasure was sinfull. That has been condemned by the Catholic Church as a heresy. I can see how it can cause someone to be deppresed. God created everything good, as long as you do it within moderation. You are allowed to have pleasure here on earth. It just can’t be your soul goal in life.

I hope you find joy, I will pray for you.

 

[robertaf]

SocaliCatholic:

… Don’t get me wrong I am friendly with lots of people at Church but that is mostly at mass and I hardly know any Catholics around 26 years of age to hang out with. The ones I know don’t take their faith very seriously and are out rebelling. I guess the solution would be to volunteer for a Church ministry and try to network from there.

Hi Socali,
Hey, I was a convert down in Los Angeles, too. I understand how you can feel alone and depressed at a time like this.

Maybe I can help. The Fruits of the Holy Spirit are, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Do you see depression or lonliness on that list? Me either. Joy is there and peace is there. No depression.

So what to do? I would like to suggest you contact someone in one of the most wonderful ministries in Los Angeles. These are truly Catholic Holy Spirit led folks who are very friendly and come in all age groups. They were my lifeline when I felt like you.
Check out their website.

By the way, be sure to look at Calendar of Events because they have a Young Adult Day coming up this month. You would meet lots of folks your age there.

scrc.org/

 

[Stephen-Maguire]

SocaliCatholic:

Ironically now that I am Catholic this Easter I am more depressed than I ever have been before, and doing anything in this world feels so pointless. I go to Church every Sunday and confession once a week. Before I converted and had Truth life didn’t make sense but it was more fun. Now I have Truth and life makes sense but it is depressing as all heck.

I see no value in doing anything anymore eating, sex, breathing, watching or playing sports, reading, making money. All for what? Pleasure comes and pleasure goes. Okay so we were not created to be happy here on earth. Does this mean that the rest of my life is going to feel this pointless and all I am supposed to do is evangelize other people to become Catholic also so they can be depressed Catholics just like me?

Where are happy non-cafeteria Catholics my age in this God forsaken city Los Angeles. What does it mean to be a happy Catholic?

Is this normal for new Catholics or is it just me.

Its not easy to be a Christian and definately for some it’s not easy to be a Catholic, in Confirmation we are soildiers of Christ.
So like on the battle field a real soildier goes true some really bad times, they see comrades killed, but we must soildier on.
Sometimes i’m tired of being good, and want to throw my hands up in the air and say Oh ! what the heck.
Jesus said if we are not with Him, we are against Him, so even though I fall, I know that nothing is more important in this life than preparing for the next life.
Because forever is a pretty long time, anyway keep praying and don’t give up, remember your a Christian soildier.

 

[caroljm36]

Me too. My pre-conversion life was wild and hectic, and I had extreme highs and lows, but I thought I was happy. When I was younger there tended to be a little too much drama going on, and it seemed the same for other non-believers as well. Booze, drugs, violence, abortion and all that sort of chaos.

Also I am disappointed I haven’t made new friends in the church, and the priests seem distant and I am suspicious of them, wondering if they’re molesters, or heretics, liberals who don’t really believe in the Magisterium. I am trying to get more active but I meet other parishoners then never see them again. I’m headed for another ministry right now so we’ll see.