I want to be excited and comforted by God again...

[Sinful Hypocrite]

I'm Catholic but the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I am with our church. It's almost as if you're on a tight rope and one misstep could end in a tragic death. I have all but lost any joy or enthusiasm I once may have had for mass and it's been replaced by anxiety and indifference. For example, when I would go to confession in the past, I'd come out feeling renewed and comforted. Now, I don't feel that anymore but rather that I simply fulfilled an obligation. there is no comfort, no relief.

Right now, I feel like I have to be mister goody, goody every waking moment. And, in a way, I feel this is eating away at any chance to experience life to its fullest.

I can't imagine God would want this.

I'm even to the point that I'm considering other religions, specifically non-creedal or non-dogma based groups. I want to feel happy and excited about God and wonder if that can only be found elsewhere.

I'm going as far as considering hypnotherapy to try to more or less shut off certain parts of my brain so that I don't feel that living a basic human life is a terrible thing.

If you can offer any insight, I'd really appreciate it.

Hi pghguy,
I'm new here and this question made me think of something that I was talking about for a completely different reason to someone else at a different site.

There is a story I read a couple of years ago about Mother Teresa ,The famous nun who helped the poor in India. There were letters she wrote to her Bishops about how she suffered with what seemed to be depression soon after starting her mission at a young age in India.

They also spoke with some of the priests and Bishops she was close to and they all said she had nothing to cause these feelings in her life as she was pleased with her life's work and had the recognition of all the world . But she was continually writing about her emptiness and her feeling that she was abandoned by God shortly after starting her missionary work in India. She seemed to have felt different before she started and thought that God was somehow displeased or that she could do more to please him.

Mother Teresa is most likely going to be canonized as a saint as the process has already been started to do so. She never lost faith in her trials and she remained a servant of God until the end.

This is all meant to show us that we cannot expect to feel good about what we are asked to do or that we will enjoy our missions in life any more than St. Peter when he was Crucified in the end .Jesus spoke of sacrifice, that the lowest servant of everyone would receive the biggest throne in heaven. He certainly did not say anything about that life being easy or fun.We should be happy that we are not happy if that makes sense as a Christian. He said that those who hate their lives in this world will have eternal life in heaven.

So cheer up as I hope and pray we are last here on earth so we may be first in heaven.

Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on us.

 

[horiturk]

catholicism is so far from what jesus was trying to do it's ridiculous. i grew up going to catholic churches because half the family is RC. after studying the bible,and everything else,i came to find that catholicism just isn't what i think "christianity" is.

 

[pghguy]

catholicism is so far from what jesus was trying to do it's ridiculous. i grew up going to catholic churches because half the family is RC. after studying the bible,and everything else,i came to find that catholicism just isn't what i think "christianity" is.

Please expalin a little. I'd like to hear your take on things.