SisterAli Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 My prayers, my prayers, my prayers. A rosary said for you today. One little note....if you are in a time of DESOLATION don't make a decision. That comes from St. Ignatius.....Don't make a huge change if you are in spiritual desolation for it can sometimes be a very bad thing to do. May God Bless you and Mary watch over you. Allie
Jennifer Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 I can only endorse the wise advice given by CA and Lauren. Hang in there Belinda........you are not the first person whose faith has been tested. I will continue to pray for you. God Bless you.
Piamaria Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Dear Belinda, I ampraying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for you and tucking you deep in His great Sacred Heart. He who knew Gethsemane is with you now. Piamaria
stlmom Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Unfortunately, Catholics are just as prone as everyone else to meanspiritedness, shallow and poor behavior towards our own kind. I don't know all the particulars of your recent experiences, sorry, but I can imagine.... If I had a dollar for every time I encountered these people in different parishes over my life, I could retire now very comfortably. I have had to learn to love the Church for the good and the beauty that does exist, rather than walk away from it because of the many sins and failures of its members. My experience with other Christian churches (my husband is Presbyterian) is that they all have their share of difficult people too; in other words, sinners are everywhere, and some of the most offensive will be right there next to you no matter if the pew is Catholic, Anglican, Methodist,or New Age tree-hugger in the woods, etc., you get my point. If you can learn to practice forgiveness in the spirit of "Forgive them, they know not what they do", you may still be able to love the Church for what it struggles to become, and not what it sadly is at times. God bless you, and we all pray for you.
stlmom Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Unfortunately, Catholics are just as prone as everyone else to meanspiritedness, shallow and poor behavior towards our own kind. I don't know all the particulars of your recent experiences, sorry, but I can imagine.... If I had a dollar for every time I encountered these people in different parishes over my life, I could retire now very comfortably. I have had to learn to love the Church for the good and the beauty that does exist, rather than walk away from it because of the many sins and failures of its members. My experience with other Christian churches (my husband is Presbyterian) is that they all have their share of difficult people too; in other words, sinners are everywhere, and some of the most offensive will be right there next to you no matter if the pew is Catholic, Anglican, Methodist,or New Age tree-hugger in the woods, etc., you get my point. If you can learn to practice forgiveness in the spirit of "Forgive them, they know not what they do", you may still be able to love the Church for what it struggles to become, and not what it sadly is at times. God bless you, and we all pray for you.
bmb144 Posted March 4, 2007 Author Posted March 4, 2007 What I am about to say is very difficult and please don't think its not. Also before posting this I have let one of the mods know this already. I have the greatest respect for the church and her members and remain supportive to all here and will hold all of you in my prayers and continue to come here if I may. I have made a choice and I am not Catholic anymore.... I need to be open about this so I am posting here. Belinda
Nunsense Posted March 4, 2007 Posted March 4, 2007 My prayers are with you to feel God's love and to know that He cares about your pain. Annie
Jennifer Posted March 4, 2007 Posted March 4, 2007 God Bless you Belinda...............you have my prayers . LOL
Starets Posted March 4, 2007 Posted March 4, 2007 [quote name='In His Light' post='1207517' date='Mar 3 2007, 10:36 PM']What I am about to say is very difficult and please don't think its not. Also before posting this I have let one of the mods know this already. I have the greatest respect for the church and her members and remain supportive to all here and will hold all of you in my prayers and continue to come here if I may. I have made a choice and I am not Catholic anymore.... I need to be open about this so I am posting here. Belinda[/quote] I am sad that you have made this decision, but, I respect it. Maybe one day your heart will be healed and you will come home. I pray that it will.
viking Posted March 4, 2007 Posted March 4, 2007 Praying for you. Even though I don't know you, I think this is said news. I hope you some day will come back
angelusdomini Posted March 4, 2007 Posted March 4, 2007 (edited) I will keep you in my prayers. Our merciful Lord wills that none may be lost but that all may be saved. Be thankful at the very least that we have an eternal, omnipotent God who is not bound by the difficulties we encounter or by our own or the iniquities of others around us. He is the ONLY ONE who can BRING GOOD out of EVIL. No one else not even those whom we love the most. In His will, I believe that for you He will most certainly bring you to the end for which He created you. Just remember, He created you and died for you and will never abandon you even if it feels otherwise. Also, THIS IS A BATTLE. The devil is not at all pleased with your orientation towards the Lord. This is true for all of us. The devil wills for us all to be lost and to be under his dominion. So when you turn towards the Lord- as you did by submitting yourself to the tue church and as you are struggling to do even now- the devil will do all he can to derail and make you feel like a fool. He will even use your very nature and tendencies against you- your relationships, job, even the very people in the church for indeed none of us is immune to his influence. All this is to get you to turn back around and say like he did I DO NOT BELIEVE, I WILL NOT SERVE. He will do anything to convince you that this is the only realistic option to take. And so in this time when you are in so much turmoil I would say, pray to your guardian angel and to St. Michael for indeed God has not abandoned you and will hear the supplications given for you. 'For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' (Ps 90: 11-12) One more thing (and I don't mean to be inappropriate), just remember that God is Love and God is truth; and the Catholic Church is His Church. Not that this is particularly appealing to you at the moment. But this is not for now, this is for that day (which I do believe and Hope in God will come) after the winds and the storms swirling around you have ceased and when our Lord reaches out to pull you as he did with St. Peter from the water, that you will remember this then. Where He wills you to find Him is in His Church. God loves you Belinda. Anne Pax et Bonum Edited March 4, 2007 by Angelus_Domini
cathoholic_anonymous Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 I second Staretz. I pray for you now with great love touched with sadness. I hope that one day I will pray for you again with great love touched with joy at your return home. God bless you for the journey.
bmb144 Posted March 5, 2007 Author Posted March 5, 2007 [quote]I DO NOT BELIEVE, I WILL NOT SERVE.[/quote] Look I'm sorry if this comes out the wrong way....but just because I am not an active Catholic anymore does not mean that I don't believe and I am not serving.... I dearly love my Father in Heaven and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Mother Mary and my patrons Sts Michael and Benedict....nothing has changed there.... But what has changed is I have allowed myself to come to terms with some problems in my spiritual life and right now I need to be in the church I am in now. They are the ones who held my hand and sent cyber hugs; Rev C spent many of his nights on AIM speaking to me WAY past his bedtime, midnight and beyond and he provided much needed help, life saving help!!!! To be quite blunt if it was not for him and Rev T who is the churches leader I would not be alive right now (and yes the situation was THAT serious and my life was in danger) and to be blunt they are 5000 miles away in the USA from me in Australia...., my parish is 5 minutes away by car.....what does that tell you And yes I am still very touchy.....I have much healing yet to go through, but I would ask that you don't judge me right now......you really have no idea of the pure hell I have been through.......
cathoholic_anonymous Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 [quote]To be quite blunt if it was not for him and Rev T who is the churches leader I would not be alive right now (and yes the situation was THAT serious and my life was in danger) and to be blunt they are 5000 miles away in the USA from me in Australia...., my parish is 5 minutes away by car.....what does that tell you[/quote]It tells me that the people in your parish are neither kind-hearted nor generous and it makes me really wish that you were a member of my church. But it doesn't say anything about the truth of Catholicism. Belinda, friend, there are lots of loving and generous Christians who aren't Catholics - but can even a comforting hug and the warmth and support of a late-night AIM conversation replace the treasure that is there 'for you and you alone' (St Therese of Lisieux) in the Tabernacle? I'm glad that you have these friends from another church. You need the support right now. I can well believe that you came close to death; I am heavily involved with a support group for adolescents with mental health problems and have seen some bad situations before. Last night I was up until two a.m. with a rosary in my hand as I tried to keep a badly frightened friend on MSN and away from her tablets. I am not saying that you are mentally ill, just that I know a little of how you feel from my own experiences. Only a little, mind. Hell is unique for everyone. [quote]I dearly love my Father in Heaven and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Mother Mary and my patrons Sts Michael and Benedict....nothing has changed there....[/quote] Good. Keep in regular contact with your friends in Heaven.
Starets Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 Belinda, whoever equated [b]that[/b] with what you are doing is a jerk, and I will happily say that to his/her face. I am not going to judge you. I wish someone from your parish would have been able to help you. From what you have said in other posts, your burden is indeed great. I do not denigrate or deny that. I have not been through that. I am glad that they at least were there for you. I praise and thank God for that. I will still pray for your healing and your return.
stlmom Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 [quote name='Staretz' post='1208466' date='Mar 5 2007, 07:22 AM']Belinda, whoever equated [b]that[/b] with what you are doing is a jerk, and I will happily say that to his/her face. I am not going to judge you. I wish someone from your parish would have been able to help you. From what you have said in other posts, your burden is indeed great. I do not denigrate or deny that. I have not been through that. I am glad that they at least were there for you. I praise and thank God for that. I will still pray for your healing and your return.[/quote] Staretz says it for me too, Belinda.
Piamaria Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 [quote name='Staretz' post='1207652' date='Mar 4 2007, 04:11 AM']I am sad that you have made this decision, but, I respect it. Maybe one day your heart will be healed and you will come home. I pray that it will.[/quote] Me too. Praying for you as you continue your journey.
angelusdomini Posted March 6, 2007 Posted March 6, 2007 In His Light, my deepest apologies for any offense I have caused you and if my comments were like salt to an open wound. I did not intend them that way. I was not even saying that that is what you did ( I do not know your soul or even the situation other than what's on PM), I was just saying that that is what the enemy intends to be our path- he'll throw everything including the proverbial 'kitchen sink' at us to get us there. I did not mean to seem insensitive to your pain and great suffering. I do not judge you. I apologise for making you feel like I was painting you into a corner. I do keep you in my deepest prayers. I am glad that there are people who have been a source of solace for you. Thanks be to God. I will continue to pray for you as well. May our Lady, comforter of the afflicted draw you into her heart. In Christ, Anne
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