Frankcdnj Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Hello Father, I want to know why when I pray more, attend mass more frequently, have masses/novenas offered for my intentions, my temptations increase dramatically and my luck goes from bad to worse. Ex. I go to confession, mass and novena services at shrine. Within 12 hours I am tempted by sins of the flesh and possibly committed mortal sin with my imagination. Why is this? Does not the Lord give a person the benefit to at least keep the degree of temptation the same? Just wondering? Yours in Christ, Frank The devil is angered and tries to thwart everything you do. God's part in this is to give you courage and strength to do the right thing. The devil will try to thwart this, perhaps even getting you to think God does not care about you----or maybe that He is being unfair. The situation here is not God's fault. The devil is at work here. Because you are trying to do things in a moral way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5 Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Yeah it's true. I think the Devil pounces on you right after confession. So you gotta be courageous and get used to turning away from him and then it just gets easier the more you do it. Virtue and vice are both habit forming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankcdnj Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 I have been going to monthly confession for over 15 years. I do not think it gets easier every time you do it. Many saints the more devout they became the greater their suffering. The key is to perservere and also to be vigilante. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willguy Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 I agree with the Father. The devil doesn't care about lukewarm Christians because they aren't a threat. The kind of behavior you described is deafinitly a threat to the devil, so he's gonna do everything he can to get you away from it. Stay strong. God will help you through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foundsheep Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 I wish I could confess Daily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetarplayer Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 You know, another something we have to deal with is scrupulousness. The priest I went to confession with told me about this on Wednesday. The devil makea us think that we have sinned, when in reality we haven't really fallen far away from God. In thinking that we have sinned, we think we are so far away from God. And that is a horrible trick the devil really uses against us. -Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 You need to distinguish between something that feels bad and actual sin. They are not always the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankcdnj Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 Mark, you are exactly right. That is why Satan has the title of the great deceiver. He is our adversary through life and is not going to help us, though he may as an Angel of Light. And we all know what that is, just bad news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodsThespianChic Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 So basically, you are being persued by satan more often when you get more into your faith, because he considers you more of an adversary. Congratulations- you're making him worry!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankcdnj Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 (edited) I really believe that discouragement is worse than temptation. Lately I have been so discouraged with everything. And the double whammy is discouragement has you doubt your ability to resist temptation. When I see myself single and wondering if I will ever meet the virtuous woman I am seeking it becomes depressing. I am all most afraid to continue looking because I am worried it may be even bleaker than I had previously thought. (I am old) Since I really believe they are very few in number regardless of what many have said on this forum. When that priest told me it is an exceptional rarity to find a virgin woman, I took his response as gospel. Essentially he was telling me not to get my hopes up. But yet he told me that fornication shows a persons ability to be faithful in marriage is by far lower. And I am not judging anyone for their indiscretions. It just has me wonder why people can not control their urges and stop doing as everyone else does. And even worse I am looked upon by many Catholics as a geek or nerd for being so nieve in my understanding of the Catholic religion. Many Catholics have told me that the Lord put us on this earth to live and love; and sex is a beautiful expression of love if married or single. But I still see it as sinful unless married. Edited December 14, 2003 by Frankcdnj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Old is a state of mind. So even though my children tell me I am older than dirt. I AM NOT OLD! I am going outside to build a :snowman: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 I really believe that discouragement is worse than temptation. Lately I have been so discouraged with everything. And the double whammy is discouragement has you doubt your ability to resist temptation. When I see myself single and wondering if I will ever meet the virtuous woman I am seeking it becomes depressing. I am all most afraid to continue looking because I am worried it may be even bleaker than I had previously thought. (I am old) Since I really believe they are very few in number regardless of what many have said on this forum. When that priest told me it is an exceptional rarity to find a virgin woman, I took his response as gospel. Essentially he was telling me not to get my hopes up. But yet he told me that fornication shows a persons ability to be faithful in marriage is by far lower. And I am not judging anyone for their indiscretions. It just has me wonder why people can not control their urges and stop doing as everyone else does. And even worse I am looked upon by many Catholics as a geek or nerd for being so nieve in my understanding of the Catholic religion. Many Catholics have told me that the Lord put us on this earth to live and love; and sex is a beautiful expression of love if married or single. But I still see it as sinful unless married. Sex is sinful unless your married, no matter what your friends tell you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetarplayer Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Let's look at the statistics. There are about 6 billion people in the world. A little more than half of those people are women. That's 3 billion. There are 1 billion Catholics worldwide. Following the "half of the population are women" trend, that's an estimated 500 million Catholic women. In the United States of America, there are about 26 million Catholics. If half of those women are Catholic, that's 13 million. From a survey of 3,000 engaged couples, 4% of women (and 1% of men) are still virgins on their wedding night. Apply this to the 500 million Catholic women worldwide, and you get an estimated 20,000,000 (twenty million) Catholic virgin women in the world. Of the 13 million American Catholic women, you get an estimated 520,000 (five hundred twenty thousand) American Catholic virgin women. And that's not including age groups and things like that. Now it may not seem like a lot of people, but if you put 520,000 all in one place at once, you realize that it is a lot of people. The point is this: All religion and nationality and sexual orientation aside, have you even met 520,000 women yet? It's a bigger world than you might imagine. What I like to think about is that God made everyone atleast one perfectly compatable soulmate. But I also want to let you know that more often than not, you can't go looking for love. Love will find you. -Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeraMaria Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 amesome, Mark. That was great! :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankcdnj Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 Mark, think about what you are saying. 1 in 25, 4% are virgin brides. I would not take a chance in a raffle with better odds. Who has the time and drive to meet, befriend and date all those women to find the virtuous one? I know I don't. Plus, you have to realize the competition for those women. Not only virgin men want a virgin woman, men who have fornicated with 50 women are seeking her too. And even more so most virgin women do not want a virgin groom. They want a man who has notches in his headboard. I am serious, they want an experienced man. No, I see the forecast as dark and gloomy. But you are an optimist, I am not I see the glass as half empty. Ex. Those Catholic women posting online for a man. Look at all of them and then I have to pick the virgin out of all those profiles. Plus, what if the majority of virgins live in St. Paul, MN. That is 1400 miles from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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