FATHER JOE: No, not you guys!

I wasn’t being judgmental or malicious.
I realize that if we have a human nature we’re all inclined to sin. My spiritual director labels it concupiscence

My point was that everyone, MYSELF INCLUDED, has the tendency to live by false emotion and not by truth. The old man has influence over our emotions IF WE ALLOW HIM TO. I’m married to a beautiful woman inside and out. I notice other beautiful women too BUT, I would never think to cheat on my wife. She is God’s gift to me and a guide to Heaven.

For the people who do cheat, and those who leave religious life for the wrong reasons, I have to say this:

YOU’LL NEVER KNOW WHAT GOD HAD PLANNED FOR YOU, AND YOU’VE MISSED OUT ON SO MUCH.

That applies to this life and in the life to come.

When all else fails, there’s God mercy for the contrite and repentant. He never wrote anyone off because he sent Jesus to save us from sin. It’s up to us to accept His mercy and love.

Laudetur Jesus Christus!

I think you should pray like St. Monica. But I also think that as long as she is in your house, your rules apply. You go to church as a family. My parents enforced this rule, and I think it was vital to my wellbeing. Having the sacraments gives us grace, even if we are not appreciative of it at a young age. I don’t think I understood the importance when I was younger, but if my parents had just said, oh well, she doesn’t want to go to church so we won’t make her, then I probably would have turned out a lot different. As parents, we set the example. If your 17 year old wants to drive, have a cell phone, etc, then a few things should be expected to her, and thanking God every week for all of her many blessings is one of those things. Church provides, community, stability, & grace. I would not preach to her, but I would lead by example and church should be a priority.

It’s too bad that ignorant people hide behind their emotions then write off the Ten Commandments and everything else that God teaches through His Catholic church. He gave these laws in order to protect us and others from harm. If you have eyes and ears you can see that our country is in the mess that it’s in because people don’t listen to God or to the Pope. A person should never presume on the mercy of God by making bad decisions, living like the devil, and expecting to get to heaven.

God doesn’t send anyone to hell. THEY SEND THEMSELVES THERE! We were all given a conscience which tells us what’s right and what isn’t right. God has already placed that in our souls (natural law). St. Paul told us, as well as thousands of others throughout history, that the flesh and the spirit militate against each other.

NO, God won’t send anyone to hell because they “fell in love with the wrong person.”

They will go to hell as a result of sins committed from being in a bad and forbidden relationship.

PEACE YOURSELF

If you are referring to the previous post to yours, I don’t think his comments were written with any true malicious or judgemental intent on his part. Rather, he is only pointing out how all of us, including himself, still have to deal with a fallen and sinful nature and can easily be misled by our emotions into situations than can ultimately risk our souls.

I have been there and felt defensive at first too ( if you have read earlier posts of mine). The truth hurts! This is a sadness that will most probably stay with me for a lifetime, it had such a profound affect on me.

One may not think that loving another human being can be a selfish act, because love is supposed to be caring for the welfare of the other. But if we come to love someone who is committed to another person or to God, then we must respect that and let them go. We cannot interfere with the promises they made or lead them into breaking that promise. We have to love them enough to want what is best for their welfare and happiness. If that means sacrificing ever seeing them again or even talking to them again, then that is how it must be. Although it truly rips your heart apart -God wants it that way for good reasons which we can only fully understand in the next life.

Any one of us, lay people and priests and religous, can become innocently entwined in emotional attachments that can only lead to pain for all involved. I still pray fervently for God’s healing and guidance and I fully believe with all my heart that one day I will stand before Him and He can wipe away every single tear I shed over this and embrace me with the most perfect love of all.

God bless,

Janine

Once again you have hit the nail right on the head - now if we can only pound it into the heads of our youth today.

I am going to cut and paste your comments, change the fonts to make it bolder and larger and paste it on my daughter’s dresser mirror.

She is 17 and has a mouth like a sewer, and so do all of her friends. It is bad enough to hear it from the boys, but from young girls yet - it is just plain awful and disgusting. They think nothing of it at all. She knows it is offensive to me, but it has become such a habit she does not even realize she says it. All of her friends talk this way, it is a normal part of their everyday conversation.

Of course the fact that I am divorced hasn’t helped, but I am done blaming myself for the way she has turned out. I have witnessed and heard about other teens who come from intact families, both parents active Catholics –they also use foul language, drink, smoke, etc. Sometimes despite parent’s best efforts, their behavior is still out of our hands. I’ve done all I can, I can only pray that God’s angels work overtime to keep her safe.

I have talked to more than one priest and was simply told to pray as St. Monica did and not to force her to go to church or preach. What do you think of this advice?

–John

For all the evil that’s been committed, there’s always a greater good at hand IF we accept it and move forward. We can pray the rosary daily or as St. Pio called it ” The weapon”

Jesus chose Judas knowing all along that he would be the one to betray Him. He chose him anyway to teach us that we will always have to deal with scandals in the church, hence the topic of this blog. We can’t discount the lay people who also betray their vocations as well. They do.

The big mistake is forgetting about the infinite mercy of God no matter how hard the fall.
His mercy is for all who repent with a sincere heart.