Feeling unworthy

[MaryBethany]

Thank you, TheresaThoma, Maar and BarbaraTherese!

TheresaThoma, thank you for your advice! I will use it in prayer.

Maar, that is actually quite helpful, I suppose your SD is completely right! good to meey a fellow noob.

[gloriana35]

I hope this is not too cynical for general consumption.  Not only in my own convent life, but in over 30 years of working for an archdiocese, I did meet many good people - but cannot say that I noticed that priests and religious (I am not referring to criminals!) are not generally candidates for canonisation. Most are not any holier than anyone else - the sort of wisdom, compassion, insight, and virtue that one finds in some books about religious life is close to being the stuff of a fairy tale. (There are rare exceptions.)

In my youth, when many girls entered very young, even the most innocent of them feared they were 'unworthy.' It is a very common distraction, especially when some Sisters speak of ideals (without mentioning that they themselves hardly are perfect in their own virtues.) 

Don't let a fear of unworthiness stop you from pursuing your vocation. It is a common part of the package.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, gloriana35 said:

Don't let a fear of unworthiness stop you from pursuing your vocation. It is a common part of the package.

[dominicansoul]

Be really really really honest with yourself... are u feeling unworthy because you are attached to a sin?  Are you able to stop habitual sinning as is demanded in religious life?  These are good things to figure out before trying religious life.  If u find yourself addicted to a sin, you need a spiritual director to help you overcome it.   Also a spiritual director will help you discern if you are fit for religious life .

We are all unworthy as we struggle to stop committing venial sins throughout the day...but if you can’t stop mortal sinning...that’s a serious problem and one that needs to be taken care of before you enter.  It’s not impossible.  

Also those holy nuns you meet, I guarantee they aren’t so holy!  We are all humans and carry weaknesses.  I was in religious life for a few years and I saw firsthand how human we all are!  I used to wear a habit and people would come up to me and treat me like I was something special, and it always made me self-aware of just how sinful a person I was!  It kept me very humble, as I knew the full truth about myself.  

Prayers for your discernment!  

 

[Miss Hepburn]

Unworthy? Don't feel you could be holy enough?

Well, my sister, you couldn't be more worthy. God Himself has placed this desire in your heart. To top that off you are His beloved daughter...doesn't matter if you've made mistakes, procrastinating, pride, envy...can't imagine you've done much else, hahaha.

Would you stop adoring your niece or God child because they kept sneaking to the cookie jar  when it was forbidden? You'd smile, shake your head maybe, cuz she has a strong sweet tooth ...but would she not be worthy of even more of your love and attention?

We are are all worthy...worthy of all the love and gifts and wisdom God has to offer us as His Children...it is the enemy that makes us feel unworthiness or shame to keep us from the joy of our Father's Love.

Holy? God's Divine Love will take care of any transformation in your heart and soul that is needed to bring you closer to Him.

Focus on our Heavenly Father every minute of the day, until you have forgotten yourself completely.

No need to ask for anything else ever...all else will come.

Miss Hepburn, dropped in after 8 years on other forums

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Miss Hepburn
tipos :)

[Guest]

Welcome back to the Pham Phamily, Miss Hepburn  

[MaryBethany]

On 8/4/2018 at 3:31 PM, gloriana35 said:

I hope this is not too cynical for general consumption.  Not only in my own convent life, but in over 30 years of working for an archdiocese, I did meet many good people - but cannot say that I noticed that priests and religious (I am not referring to criminals!) are not generally candidates for canonisation. Most are not any holier than anyone else - the sort of wisdom, compassion, insight, and virtue that one finds in some books about religious life is close to being the stuff of a fairy tale. (There are rare exceptions.)

In my youth, when many girls entered very young, even the most innocent of them feared they were 'unworthy.' It is a very common distraction, especially when some Sisters speak of ideals (without mentioning that they themselves hardly are perfect in their own virtues.) 

Don't let a fear of unworthiness stop you from pursuing your vocation. It is a common part of the package.

Thank you for your kind words!

On 8/20/2018 at 8:31 AM, dominicansoul said:

Be really really really honest with yourself... are u feeling unworthy because you are attached to a sin?  Are you able to stop habitual sinning as is demanded in religious life?  These are good things to figure out before trying religious life.  If u find yourself addicted to a sin, you need a spiritual director to help you overcome it.   Also a spiritual director will help you discern if you are fit for religious life .

We are all unworthy as we struggle to stop committing venial sins throughout the day...but if you can’t stop mortal sinning...that’s a serious problem and one that needs to be taken care of before you enter.  It’s not impossible.  

Also those holy nuns you meet, I guarantee they aren’t so holy!  We are all humans and carry weaknesses.  I was in religious life for a few years and I saw firsthand how human we all are!  I used to wear a habit and people would come up to me and treat me like I was something special, and it always made me self-aware of just how sinful a person I was!  It kept me very humble, as I knew the full truth about myself.  

Prayers for your discernment!  

 

Thank you for your response! It's not habitual sinning that I'm struggling with so much, it's mainly the past and, I don't know, my general personality maybe. I've always struggled with this, and discernment has definitely not made it any easier!

On 8/21/2018 at 12:58 PM, Miss Hepburn said:

Unworthy? Don't feel you could be holy enough?

Well, my sister, you couldn't be more worthy. God Himself has placed this desire in your heart. To top that off you are His beloved daughter...doesn't matter if you've made mistakes, procrastinating, pride, envy...can't imagine you've done much else, hahaha.

Would you stop adoring your niece or God child because they kept sneaking to the cookie jar  when it was forbidden? You'd smile, shake your head maybe, cuz she has a strong sweet tooth ...but would she not be worthy of even more of your love and attention?

We are are all worthy...worthy of all the love and gifts and wisdom God has to offer us as His Children...it is the enemy that makes us feel unworthiness or shame to keep us from the joy of our Father's Love.

Holy? God's Divine Love will take care of any transformation in your heart and soul that is needed to bring you closer to Him.

Focus on our Heavenly Father every minute of the day, until you have forgotten yourself completely.

No need to ask for anything else ever...all else will come.

Miss Hepburn, dropped in after 8 years on other forums

 

Thank you for your words of encouragement!

 

I've found a community that I feel very, very strongly drawn to... I hope that God will allow me to enter if it is what He wants and that He will give me the grace of being completely His. It will probably take me my whole life or longer to forget about myself. 

[Miss Hepburn]

1 hour ago, MaryBethany said:

 It will probably take me my whole life or longer to forget about myself. 

Hi!

Just a reminder, I always find helpful if I think about anything as hard and could take a long time:

It took no time at all for a really bad guy, the criminal to Jesus' right, to be completely forgiven and offered a place in Paradise, sis. Imagine!

"Nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37

(Thing is, it doesn't say 10% of everything could be impossible with God...it says, nothing.)

Always an imp reminder.

[MaryBethany]

Thank you, Miss Hepburn! The verse about the repentant criminal has always been my favourite verse. 

I read the replies to this topic all the time. Thank God for all of you.

[InHisLove]

Certainly you are not alone.  But the Lord is more generous and we are His creatures, meaning, He created us to love Him (some discover later than sooner.. but still He is God of Saints who once were sinners on earth).  He died on the cross for all of us to cleanse us from our sins (if there's only one person on earth, He would do the same.  No love by any man can surpass how much He love us the way He did.  We should see the light in this realization, that God perhaps is nudging you for a more meaningful life with Him (you might discover through discernment).

The Scripture said "My grace is sufficient for you for power is make perfect in weakness." Cor. 12:9

Jesus Christ came down from heaven to give Himself for us because no one is worthy.  Jesus Christ is the reason for calling. He is not calling because of our worthiness.   He calls you for a reason that you might discover later.   We should humble ourselves before the Lord and accept His Mercy and Love.  We are purified by accepting our weakness and asking God for the grace for Him in us to handle them by learning and living in God's Will.

A confessor quoted this from the Holy Bible talking about unworthiness, "No one sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God" Luke 9:62  God's promise is in the future and not in the past.  At present, you are discerning.  God be praised.  

Spiritual life is an act of continuous conversion.  Be strengthened by the Sacraments to help you strong in your journey.  If God is with you, who can be against you.  

Prayers for your discernment.. Pray for me too...

[chrysostom]

Trust entirely in the merciful goodness of Jesus. “I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you friends.” Prayers for you, please pray for me too in my vocational journey.

[Starets]

congrats on finding a community you feel drawn to. Feeling unworthy is normal. We are all unworthy, as several others have stated on this thread. Pursue it anyway. There are many venal nincompoops in religious life. Trust me. but God calls them too. And if they persevere, they may have indeed had a genuine religious vocation. It is not about being worthy it is about being called.

[Miss Hepburn]

 I would have to counter from another perspective. Feeling unworthy is one of the tricks in the toolbox of the 'enemy'.  We are heirs in Christ. We are the blessed, beloved children of our Father, a King with a Kingdom...we are all princesses and princes and rightfully deserve all of His Love and Wisdom and joys because that is what this whole thing is about...realizing who we are...not victims or less than or unworthy ...those are limitations of the ego to keep us from our inheritance of Freedom.

Not always a popular perspective. Be free and open to the joy the Father wants us to share in!

 

[Guest]

We are totally unworthy of all God's Gifts, but to get stuck in our unworthiness is not good spiritually at all. It is not the end of the story.   Rather recognising our unworthiness should ideally lead to praise and thanksgiving to God for His Gratuitous Generosity and Care and to take great delight and Joy - and celebration in and for Him.  The Good God has blinkers on - when He sees us, He sees the Face of His Son.

Feeling unworthy in my book is the truth of matters, to get stuck in unworthiness and set up camp there is indeed a tool of Satan.  One is not seeing the whole picture - can't see the wood for the trees.