#tradcatholic

”Women, especially those aged 18 to 29 (prime marrying age), are fleeingorganized religion due in large part to its often regressive view on gender roles, experts say. Meanwhile, their male counterparts – brothers, friends, husbands – seem to be in the midst of a religious reawakening.”

Also on their website you can sign up for the Fasting Brothers as well, where six men pick a day to fast from their choice for one day a week (excluding Sunday and Solemnities), also for the sanctification of your parish priest or bishop. They are beautiful practices and I highly encourage you to start one up! It does not have a member fee, and the only reason to sign up is so that you get the monthly newsletter, you can in theory do it without signing up, but they provide the guidelines and prayers.

The fasting does not need to be from food, and can be anything the man wants, whether it's fasting from technology or anger or food. It is led by the Spirit what each man individually can do.

In a way, things like 'murder', are easier to justify to me- someone was forced to because they were protecting a loved one, or had a psychotic attack, or was enrolled in the army, etc etc. And a woman might abort because she didn't realise that it is a life already at that stage, and because her partner didn't want to take responsibility and she was fearful to end up destitute & alone and not be able to offer the child a good life. Or an alcoholic might've robbed a store in a drunken stupor due to addiction. But child molestation? Rape? None of those things can have any excuses.

I'm sorry if this is heavy material, but I'm up late thinking about this and I thought maybe it would help to get some advice. I'm on anonymous because I don't want to draw any hatemail as I often seem to get on this app.

Yes everything is forgivable by God. We are imperfect and so struggle to forgive, but that doesn't mean God has that same struggle.

In a perfectly just world, it would be unfair for those sins to be forgiven. And in a perfectly just world, they wouldn't be. However, God is not only Just, but also Merciful. Because He is those two things, He would not apply Divine Mercy in an unjust manner. It would be unjust for a merciful God to say 'that sin is not forgivable'.

God is the embodiment of Love, which we know from scripture amounts to mercy. Luke 10:25-37;

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

The man did not deserve mercy or love for what he did, two people passed him by because they thought he was unworthy based on his state. But God does not give mercy based on what we deserve, because none of us would ever come close to deserving it. See Romans 5;

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I hate to break it to you but even if you were in a relationship, you could (and there will definitely be moments when) be lonely still. Meaningful connections need to be made all the time in our human lives, some of those meaningful connections come from a significant other, but most of them don't. There is a large influence in our culture to only get emotional support, affection, and love from a significant other. But that's not what the human condition is and it's also not what St. Paul advises. When I was discerning religious life asking my priest for guidance he talked to me about how the life of a priest (or any celibate person) is not one of loneliness, there is rarely a moment where someone is not seeking his advice or wisdom or help in something. And he said it's the same in marriage, but that the primary person(s) who are seeking your guidance from is your family, rather than the Church at large. That even in marriage, a married couple, just as they did when they were single, had a duty to their parish to serve as they can. That service may change as they have children, but it is still necessary to have someone who can do those things which the priest cannot oversee. The more you volunteer at your church, the more people you will come into contact with, and form meaningful connections and moments with, and that isn't lonely. Even while in my own relationship, there are moments of loneliness, because I'm working and going through the monotony of life. I'm not alone, but on days when I don't have a meaningful conversation with a coworker or some other person, it bears down on me like a weight.

Visiting different communities for one, the summer/fall time is when a lot of orders have retreat days and come and see's.

If you're a woman (sorry I'm going to assume you are because I am), reading "Discerning Religious Life" by Mother Clare Matthiass. Doing regular prayers every day, like the rosary and an hour or two of the breviary, is also a very good practice. Other spiritual readings like "Practicing the Presence of God" or things written by St. Theresa of Avila, other saints that were monastics. Reading the Gospels. It all ends up amounting to growing closer to Christ and listening to what He has to say.

I'll keep you in mind when I pray for vocations, anon!

I think there is inherent flaws in thinking that you have any power over the universe that by thinking of something and wanting it and acting like it has already happened will make something happen. Theologically speaking this is the opposite of putting your trust in Christ, this is putting trust in your own powers. However, there is something to be said about the positivity that this brings to ones life; how meditating and focusing on the positives of your life brings about a better and more Christian character. Working on being able to know what you want in life without becoming melancholy that you don't have it in my opinion is a type of virtue.