Why is this bugging me?

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kayla

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Last Sunday I left church right after Communion, I went up and received the Eucharist and then instead of going back to my pew and praying I walked out of Church…I had a house full of company for the week-end and so I felt like I needed to get back and fix breakfast.
On my way out I quickly diped my fingers in Holy water and blessed myself, there was about a half dozen people also leaving, I have never done this before but by the time I got down the steps from the Church I froze…for a moment I almost turned around and walked back in, then I got to my car and sat down and said to myself, what are you doing? go back in until mass is over, but I turned the key and drove away…Now it’s been bugging me ever since I did this, whats going on? is the Holy Spirit trying to tell me something? or is it just ol’ fashion Catholic guilt working overtime?😦
 
is the Holy Spirit trying to tell me something? or is it just ol’ fashion Catholic guilt working overtime?
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Sounds like both! It also sounds like you have a good conscience and gardian angel. You’re not supposed to leave mass before it’s over. There’s a great little question that makes it all so clear. Please don’t think that I’m throwing stones at you here. This little example has existed long before you but actually makes such a good illustration for all…Can you remember who the first person who left mass early was? Judas! :eek:
 

Amazingly I found this article in my old e-mails. I had sent it to my pastor because he’s quite fond of telling people they shouldn’t be leaving early. I can’t remember where I got it. Once again, I’m not saying you don’t believe in the Real Presence. If you’re like me you’re imperfect at this belief though! That’s why I love the little pray: Lord I believe, help my unbelief!​

Would you ever go to a good friends home for dinner and after eating get up from the table and abruptly leave without thanking your host ? The overwhelming majority of people would answer absolutely not because it would be extremely rude. The question arises; why do people leave the House of God right after receiving the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion? Is it that these people want to avoid the traffic after Mass or perhaps they have more important business to do than to thank God for His Holy Sacrifice? Both assumptions maybe true, but the real reason these people leave Mass early is they don’t believe Christ is present in the Eucharist.

Can you guess who was the infamous person that left the first Mass early because he did not believe and followed Satan? If you answered Judas Iscariot you are correct! "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me… So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’ … So, after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out; and it was night.” (Jn 13:21-30) So the next time you see a person leaving Mass early just think about Judas shuffling off to betray Christ for thirty pieces of silver.
 
Dear kayla,

You bet! It WAS the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict us to bring us to repentance. It is new age nonsense to blame every torment of our conscience on the Devil. But the good news is you can go to confession to unburden yourself and the get healing in absolution. God bless.
 
part of the examination of conscience at my church is ‘do you arrive late or leave early from mass for no good reason?’

so… it does have sin value. sounds like you’ve got a good conscience!

God bless.
 
sounds like you have what is called a properly formed conscience hard at work. I am willing to bet that when you got home your company was just crawling out of bed or out doing their own thing and could care less if you had arrived a few minutes later. Your motive for leaving was hospitality, a good thing, just a momentary reversal of priorities, which your top notch concsience corrected for you immediately, you have nothing to worry about.
 
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jeffreedy789:
part of the examination of conscience at my church is ‘do you arrive late or leave early from mass for no good reason?’

so… it does have sin value. sounds like you’ve got a good conscience!

God bless.
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Kayla,

While it is good that you know this is not what you should do, don’t beat yourself up too much. At the time, you felt you had a good reason. You would not do this as a general rule. You certainly didn’t commit a sin, but if it bothers you, by all means discuss it with your confessor.

We must also be careful of becomming too scrupulous.
 
Dear Kayla,

When you first left, it sounds like you did so without much thought, and had justified it to yourself to leave early just this once. What seems more important to me in your story is that twice you stopped yourself but then didn’t go back in. It could be “good ol’ Catholic guilt,” the Holy Spirit, or a well-formed conscience that caused you to second-guess leaving and is bothering you now, or not. What I’m concerned about is that you “caught yourself in the act” and yet continued on, thus denying your conscience any power over you. It’s over and done with now, and I agree you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it (and I’m certainly not going to beat you up over it,) but for future reference you might want to make up your mind in advance whether, in such situations, you’re going to listen to your conscience in time to actually make a difference. It is doubtful you would be experiencing this guilt or even relaying this story if you had stopped and gone back in the first time you felt it might have been wrong.

Alan
 
When you mentioned a house full of company, it reminded me of a one of my dad’s “sermonettes”. He’d say if you have company visiting, get up and say “it is time to go to Church”. If they will not go to Church with you, you ask them all out on the front porch as you leave for Church. Smile, lock the door behind them and tell them what time to expect you back. He’d say if they won’t go to Church with you, you cannot trust them in to be unsupervised in your house 😉
 
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kage_ar:
When you mentioned a house full of company, it reminded me of a one of my dad’s “sermonettes”. He’d say if you have company visiting, get up and say “it is time to go to Church”. If they will not go to Church with you, you ask them all out on the front porch as you leave for Church. Smile, lock the door behind them and tell them what time to expect you back. He’d say if they won’t go to Church with you, you cannot trust them in to be unsupervised in your house 😉
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LOL:rotfl:
 
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kayla:
is the Holy Spirit trying to tell me something? or is it just ol’ fashion Catholic guilt working overtime?
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Why do you think there is a difference? A good consience is the work of the Holy Spirit.

God bless you.
 
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