The Challenge

[_Shannon_]

What is it in Scripture that you find the hardest to live out, to put in action in your life?

And do you have any counsel for others to help them?

I think for me, I struggle deeply, being gentle...you know the whole "Let your gentleness be known to everyone"...thing. I'll start out okay oftentimes- but then get peeved when I get frustrated.

[JasonV]

I find this one especially difficult:

"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (St. Matthew 19:21. KJV)

[Rebekka]

You do far better in being gentle than I, Shannon. :)

Loving my enemies is the hardest. I have difficulty forgiving others who hurt me - not so much when they apologize or ask me for forgiveness (that has worked so far), but when they don't feel sorry. That is my biggest struggle. I'm afraid that I sometimes focus on other people's mistakes more than on my own - I mean, my hardness of heart lies in not forgiving them, while I should.

(And that other thing that makes me a cafetaria catholic - but that's not in Scripture. ;) - BTW it has a lot to do with the above - long story though.)

[Cosmic Charlie]

To look at the poor, one on one with love and compassion an not distain.

Do this count as confession ? Because I feel a little better now.

[Rochir]

Wastefulness. I watse a lot of things.... not good!

[_Shannon_]

To look at the poor, one on one with love and compassion an not distain.

Do this count as confession ? Because I feel a little better now.
that is difficult for me, too...

and (how obnoxious is this) it's true about really obese people, too.:blush:

[_Shannon_]

I find this one especially difficult:

"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (St. Matthew 19:21. KJV)
LOL! God took care of that one for me :)

But seriously I have always wondered- do you think that means literally that we must not have any posessions- or rather that we are not to have an attatchment to our material things- like that we are ready to part with them if someone asks or if someone is in need??

I started several years ago (mostly out of financial reasons) giving away as gifts things that had the most meaning to me. Mostly just sentimental value- but that has really helped me to look at everything as just stuff. That and having freakin' toys everywhere.:mad:

[JasonV]

Rosaoflima,

I know there have been Christians throughout the centuries who have taken this statement very literally. Consider the great monastics in the Church who have left all and remain without any personal possessions to speak of.

When I read this, I want to see it symbolically, but I feel like it's a literal injunction. I want to see it like it's meant only for someone who is single, or old, or whatever......but I feel like it's meant for all who follow Him.

Sometimes it drives me crazy.

[MikeK]

To look at the poor, one on one with love and compassion an not distain.


that is difficult for me, too...
and (how obnoxious is this) it's true about really obese people, too.

I struggle with this too. I have no difficulty lending a hand to annonomous people I've never met - but I hessitate once I find out that they're - well - kinda gross. I know that's not how God sees them - gotta work on that.

[Lel]

On the internet, nobody knows I'm gross. ^_^

[_Shannon_]

Rosaoflima,

I know there have been Christians throughout the centuries who have taken this statement very literally. Consider the great monastics in the Church who have left all and remain without any personal possessions to speak of.

When I read this, I want to see it symbolically, but I feel like it's a literal injunction. I want to see it like it's meant only for someone who is single, or old, or whatever......but I feel like it's meant for all who follow Him.

Sometimes it drives me crazy.
It drives me to mania when I think of "My yoke is easy and my burden light"...there ain't been nuthin' easy about my life- and I often feel crushed under it's weight.

[Loki]

Loving God.

[Cosmic Charlie]

Oh, Jesus, Co-Creator of the universe, I thank you this thread isn't about masterbation.


Amen.

[MikeK]

I thank you this thread isn't about masterbation. Did you immagine it would be about abstaining ala Seinfeld or a contest to see who could be the most monkey-like?

[Cosmic Charlie]

Did you immagine it would be about abstaining ala Seinfeld or a contest to see who could be the most monkey-like?
How many "My biggest issue with getting close to God is my sexuality" threads have we had to slog through ?

Go to it and have fun.

Especially if it gets your mind on yourself and on the poor, the sick and meek.

[Cosmic Charlie]

Loving God.

It's tough.I alway thought of myself and his good servant rather than his child.

[Loki]

It's tough.I alway thought of myself and his good servant rather than his child.
One of the homilies by my favorite priest at my parish had a line something like:

"As Christians, we are fortunate to be children of God, whereas Muslims are slaves of God."

I don't fully agree with his interpretation of the word, but it's a point that is worth remembering, and apparently difficult to understand for others than just me.

[Filia Mariae]

It drives me to mania when I think of "My yoke is easy and my burden light"...there ain't been nuthin' easy about my life- and I often feel crushed under it's weight.

The Gospel today.:)

You know, I tend to agree with you, I have always struggled with this one because I feel like life is harder since having a conversion but the priest this morning was talking about it and he told this story about how when he was in novitiate, they had to work on a farm. The one guy's job was to bring in the eggs. For a long time they had been bringing them in by hand and the guy one day made a yoke and put a bucket of eggs on each end to bring in. Basically, the point was that with the yoke he was able to carry a burden he could not otherwise. Father was saying how in some ways Christ is the yoke allowing us to bear what we could not otherwise because He bears the weight of it. I don't know- it made a lot more sense when he was talking, I'm not doing a very good job explaining.

[tashiseisei]

I find it almost impossible to believe that God loves me.

[JasonV]

I find it almost impossible to believe that God loves me.

Why is that?

[_Shannon_]

Loving God.

I find it almost impossible to believe that God loves me.
Oh yes... this is actually where I think there is the deepest poverty in the West- the epidemic of people who feel unable to live out the fundamental vocation to give love and be loved. I think so many of us are so broken and deeply wounded- that coming to terms with some Infinite Being who is Love --is just inconceivable.

One of the greatest struggles of my spiritual life has been not feeling that I have to work for God's love. One of the most important things I ever heard was someone who said "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less. God's love is infinite. We might be more or less open to receiving that love- but His love never changes." That blew my mind and it's something I have to think about often.

I also have been deeply moved by Mother Teresa's "I thirst" idea--the I Thirst prayer from the Missionary of Charity Fathers blows me away each and everytime I read it. I'll have to hunt it down and post it.

[_Shannon_]

I Thirst for You

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock… (Rev. 3, 20)

http://www.mcpriests.com/03spirituality/images/pic1.jpg

It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter.
And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come – always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension – a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father ("As much as the Father has loved me, I have loved you…" (Jn. 15:10) I come - longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind all your wounds. I bring you My light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I might carry you and all your burdens; with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life; and My peace I give to still your soul.
I know you through and through. I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven’t done – I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own image. It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed My Blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life, and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.
I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations, I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? "Come to Me all you who thirst…" (Jn. 7: 37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I Thirst for You. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you. I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart.
Don’t you realize that My Father already has a perfect plan to transform your life, beginning from this moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and take charge of your life. – and I will. I promise you before My Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why would I do this? Because I THIRST FOR YOU. All I ask of you is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will do all the rest.
Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home. Sin can never satisfy you, or bring the peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When you give Me your sins, you gave Me the joy of being your Savior. There is nothing I cannot forgive and heal; so come now, and unburden your soul.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life; there is one thing I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change. I THIRST FOR YOU – just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at My Heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: "I THIRST…"(Jn 19: 28). Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the psalm – verse I was praying says of Me: "I looked for love, and I found none…" (Ps. 69: 20). All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love you and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before.
Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit. "No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to Me, for I THIRST FOR YOU…"
"Jesus is God, therefore His love, His Thirst, is infinite. He the creator of the universe,
asked for the love of His creatures.
He thirst for our love… These words:
‘I Thirst’ –
Do they echo in our souls?”
Mother Teresa

http://www.mcpriests.com/03_I_thirst_PrayerEN.htm

[CrusaderKing]

I think I can sum it all up in one word and that word is patience.

[Fish and Bread]

I Thirst for You

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock… (Rev. 3, 20)

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/4175/churchsignhn6.jpg

[_Shannon_]

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/4175/churchsignhn6.jpg
:confused:

[Fish and Bread]

:confused:

I posted this here in this particular format because I thought it might be amusing, kind of a joke. :)

Having said that, I would legitimately consider converting (actually reverting) to Roman Catholicism for a young lady who wanted to marry me if she was clear from the onset that that was what she wanted and then we determined after an appropriate period of courtship that we indeed both wanted to marry. I've always dreamed of marriage and, since a variety of factors make marriage virtually impossible, if indeed I found a potential spouse under those circumstances and who from the onset made such a request, I would both be willing to make the additional sacrifice and commitment of a conversion and also take the marriage itself as somewhat of a miracle to which I owed God some credit in performing (Both because of it's extremely unlikely nature and also because of someone making such a request). Of course, that added to the fact that I find Roman Catholicism theologically plausible, if something I have some issues with.

[tashiseisei]

Why is that?

My family told me numerous times that God hated me. Because of various things I am, important people in the church told me that God could not possibly ever approve of me, and the closest I ever came to be accepted was the tired line of, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." That's a bit difficult to swallow when I can't put aside my "sin" without putting aside the people that I love and integral parts of myself.

My grandmother told me that I suffer from mental illness and chronic disease because I was a sinner. So, in my grandmother's line of thought, I wake up in pain every day because I am against God, even though I try my best to fulfill what Jesus said was most important: I work hard to be kind and compassionate toward, and if not that, then at least accepting of all other people, and I love God in my own, apparently horrifyingly sinful, way.

I was also refused by the Catholic church because I would not repent of my sexual identity, and still will not, but I am here in your forum because I have never stopped wanting to be a part of it, but have been made to feel so unbelievably unwelcome by it.


I have a migraine; please excuse the horrible grammar and typing in this post.

[JasonV]

My brother,

While I cannot speak for our Roman Catholic friends, my Church and my beliefs would never consider making you feel as you have been told.

God loves you, and you are who you are for a reason in His grand work. Be the best you can be, that's all that is required.

Peace to you my friend.

My family told me numerous times that God hated me. Because of various things I am, important people in the church told me that God could not possibly ever approve of me, and the closest I ever came to be accepted was the tired line of, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." That's a bit difficult to swallow when I can't put aside my "sin" without putting aside the people that I love and integral parts of myself.

My grandmother told me that I suffer from mental illness and chronic disease because I was a sinner. So, in my grandmother's line of thought, I wake up in pain every day because I am against God, even though I try my best to fulfill what Jesus said was most important: I work hard to be kind and compassionate toward, and if not that, then at least accepting of all other people, and I love God in my own, apparently horrifyingly sinful, way.

I was also refused by the Catholic church because I would not repent of my sexual identity, and still will not, but I am here in your forum because I have never stopped wanting to be a part of it, but have been made to feel so unbelievably unwelcome by it.


I have a migraine; please excuse the horrible grammar and typing in this post.