Young Catholic here

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A few weeks ago I almost lost my faith to the teachings of prominent atheists (Dawkins, Hitchens notably.) and only recently I realized a large part of it was due to how securalized/un-Catholic I’ve been for so many years. As of now I continue to struggle with masturbation, putting others down, pride, lying about myself, swearing, indulging in violence (videogames) among many, many other sins so I can safely say I’m not a great Catholic.😦

However, another thing that troubles me is the spiritual state of my fellow classmates. Most, if not all, happily indulge themselves in things that go against the bible’s teachings, and before you point out that I haven’t really explained the full-extent of “the log in my eye”, I am simply hoping for prayers and tips to guide me to a more Catholic life and in turn help a classmate here and there to a more Catholic life (not that I’m great at that by default). God blessed me by helping me discover Catholic Answers, I am eager to see what else he will bless me with through this forum.
 
Continuously pray to God for guidance. Please, never lose faith in prayer. The marvelous power of constant and honest communication with God is invaluable. He will pull you through absolutely anything if you never stop seeking Him. There ought to exist no doubt about this immensely beautiful reality in your mind. No matter if you fall once, twice, ten times, or one thousand times, NEVER stop seeking God. He WILL pull you out of that hole, no matter how deep you think you may have fallen into it. Once you have undergone the transformation that only He can provide you with, you will exemplify a living testimony of God’s love more precisely, and thus you will be able to share this experience with your friends.
Now that you have read Dawkins and Hitchens, take the time to also read the magnificent works of Aquinas, and if you would like more contemporary works, you can also try Alvin Plantinga or John Lennox. The latter actually has debates posted on YouTube with both Hitchens and Dawkins. It would be worthwhile for you to observe and contemplate those videos.

God bless you always. You have entered my prayers.
 
Praying to the Holy Spirit to give you guidance, direction, strength, wisdom & fortitude in your time of need.
 
Find out what social and spiritual activities are available at your parish church, or a nearby parish that is specifically for young people like yourself. That is a good place to meet peers who are mindful of their faith and want to grow in it.

If you are a college student who is away, there usually is a nearby Catholic Church that has a ministry specifically for the college students that consists of both social and spiritual events.

Pray for the grace that you need to get on track with your faith, and prayer and the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist can transform your life.

May our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother lead and guide you to where you should be.

All our Catholic youth can make a big impact on the Church! Allow the Lord to use you! The world needs that so badly.
 
Jesus is calling to you or you would not be asking yourself questions and desiring to become closer to Jesus. Let Him into your life. Invite Him in. You are special to Jesus and He has a plan for your life. Sure, we all make mistakes and do sinful things, but eventually we realize it and try to be good. Go to confession. Jesus instituted that sacrament for us.
I’ll be praying for you. Try to find out more about your faith. When I was in college years ago the students I ran around with did lots of things… on occasion they would ask me about being a Catholic and I was so ill prepared to answer them I just told them to quit asking… and that’s after 12 years of Catholic school… to my dismay, I wish I had been able to talk to them about Jesus. They wanted to know and I didn’t have the answers then…

:knight2:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
And do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the Power of God,
Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits,
Who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
 
I was once a fallen away Catholic and bought into the secular mumbo jumbo for many years. I too struggle with sexual sin.

I will give the following advise (you don’t have to start doing it all at once).
  1. if you are not already, go to Mass every Sunday (or Saturday evening). Don’t make excuses, just go.
  2. go to confession regularly. When I returned to the Faith, I went to confession (totally nervous) and said “Bless me Father for I have sinned. It’s been over 20 years since my last confession.” The priest was very kind and I cried as I felt my sins washing away. I try to explain it, but I can’t. It was one of the best experiences. I now attend confession on average twice a month (and right away whenever I commit a sexual sin)
  3. visit Catholic.com several times a week, if not every day.
  4. listen to Catholic Answers Live radio shows (current and past shows), especially when Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, Jimmy Akin are the guests. Also there are other guests who are awesome too.
  5. Try to attend Adoration and/or Daily Mass at least once a week. Or if you can’t, at least attempt to walk in a Church and just sit in the pew for a while with the Tabernacle and meditate in prayer.
  6. attend a rosary prayer groups session at a Catholic Church or pray the Rosary at home.
  7. buy the “Truth and Life” audio Bible and listen to it on your iPhone, Droid, tablet and/computer — it’s voiced by Hollywood movie stars and is based on the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition Bible. truthandlifebible.com
  8. get the following apps for you smart phone or tablet (most are free)
    – Laudate (free)
    – Any or all apps from divine-office.com
    – EWTN app (free)
    – Mea Culpa confession app (free)
    – Lighthouse media app from Ignatius Press (free)
    – Salt and Light Media app (free)
    – CatholicTV app (free) CatholicTV.com
    – Verbum app (free)
    – any and all other Catholic Radio apps you want (free)
  9. watch EWTN when you can, esp Mass or EWTN News.
  10. watch Catholic TV when you can. If you don’t have the channel, you can watch live via the App. Same with Salt & Light.
  11. read the Catechism and the Bible with either a Catholic Bible study or with Catholic help to understand the Bible from the Catholic and correct point of view (this should really be higher, but I personally became more interested the Bible, etc after I had been doing everything else.)
  12. Buy books from Catholic.com or a Catholic bookstore. Avoid buying books from secular book stores or Amazon.com unless you know the book is sold by Catholic.com or other Faithful Catholic bookstores.
  13. speak to your priest or call Catholic Answers, apologist line when you have questions. You can also post stuff here.
  14. finally, whenever you have the urge to masturbate, start praying multiple Hail Marys until the urge disappears. This really works.
May The Lord bless you and guide you in your return the the Faith.
 
On and I almost forgot…
  1. make an appointment to have an one on one sit down with a priest to chat about your life. This is very helpful
 
Thank you all so much for the prayers and support. :hug1: :hug1:

God Bless you all!
 
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