Christians on CS!

[.:ｒａｉｎｙ ａｖｅｎｕｅ:.]

I have also felt like my faith was slipping. I began to not go to Church on Sundays or even bother praying. I felt like what's the point? And then something happened; I went to confession and after that I promised myself that every Sunday I would go Mass and I would pray for God's help and forgiveness. I feel like my life has been changed for the good. I'm more faithful and more thankful for God. Anyway, yesterday was one of the best Easters. Except for the church being crowded, it was so hard to find a seat (; but I think it was nice to see some many Catholics come together to celebrate Jesus' Resurrection.

[~Raining Fire~]

for me i feel when j go to the church my mother makes me go to with her ...i feel diffrent like im not worshiping God ......since when do churches have rock and roll bands and songs? the people dont even bring a Bible! !!! for the church my grandparents took me too since i could remember we have used painos sang from the book and brought a Bible ... All my friends go to Victory and i want to too .......my grandparents taught me to go where God leads me and their church is where i feel at home

[wolverine♥]

I went to my usual Catholic Mass this morning but ended up having to walk out. This is the third time I've heard this chaplain give a sermon on the importance of coming to church. Hell, man. It is Easter morning. How about you mix it up and talk about something... Easter-ish? Not about how we're going to hell if we accidentally sleep in? I'm a college student and have a full time job on top of it!

I can totally relate to this. Thankfully my church isn't like this, and my pastors and the rest of the church family totally understands that we all have super busy lives. xD It can be annoying though, to have to sit through an entire sermon of getting almost scolded for not going every week.

[Phoenix's Rebirth]

I'll pray for you all as well.

[PhantomHawk]

please add me to the list!
Raised Christian Catholic, but personally the details don't bother me, I believe in Jesus and God and it don't get much better than that!

[Nimble Awesomeness]

please add me to the list! :)
Raised Christian Catholic, but personally the details don't bother me, I believe in Jesus and God and it don't get much better than that!

Amen to that!

[Kazza.]

I went to my usual Catholic Mass this morning but ended up having to walk out. This is the third time I've heard this chaplain give a sermon on the importance of coming to church. Hell, man. It is Easter morning. How about you mix it up and talk about something... Easter-ish? Not about how we're going to hell if we accidentally sleep in? I'm a college student and have a full time job on top of it!

I can totally relate to this. Thankfully my church isn't like this, and my pastors and the rest of the church family totally understands that we all have super busy lives. xD It can be annoying though, to have to sit through an entire sermon of getting almost scolded for not going every week.

Augh, I hate those sermons. We've had them a few times and it's just like: This is not about wether or not we physically go to church. You should be preaching to us about why we are here NOW, not that we haven't been lately. The sermon should be about GOD and our LOVE for him and his SACRIFICES and his son's SACRIFICES FOR US! Not about our church attendence. I go every week, I don't want to get preached at for something I didn't do. And those who DON'T go, sometimes I don't want to go either; like now, WHEN YOU'RE PREACHING ABOUT GOING TO CHURCH, might not go because when they do, they get nothing from your sermons about us attending church! *growl* I find them so annoying and pointless. Some people (like you guys; and I am not yelling at you now, I totally understand what you're talking about) don't have the time to go. We need food and such and you can only buy that with money that you have to make sometime. We need an education to get a job and a job to get the basic necessities of life around here, thank you. Please stop with these annoying sermons preachers everywhere...Gah, they bug me.

[VeritatisSplendor]

I went to my usual Catholic Mass this morning but ended up having to walk out. This is the third time I've heard this chaplain give a sermon on the importance of coming to church. Hell, man. It is Easter morning. How about you mix it up and talk about something... Easter-ish? Not about how we're going to hell if we accidentally sleep in? I'm a college student and have a full time job on top of it!

I can totally relate to this. Thankfully my church isn't like this, and my pastors and the rest of the church family totally understands that we all have super busy lives. xD It can be annoying though, to have to sit through an entire sermon of getting almost scolded for not going every week.

Augh, I hate those sermons. We've had them a few times and it's just like: This is not about wether or not we physically go to church. You should be preaching to us about why we are here NOW, not that we haven't been lately. The sermon should be about GOD and our LOVE for him and his SACRIFICES and his son's SACRIFICES FOR US! Not about our church attendence. I go every week, I don't want to get preached at for something I didn't do. And those who DON'T go, sometimes I don't want to go either; like now, WHEN YOU'RE PREACHING ABOUT GOING TO CHURCH, might not go because when they do, they get nothing from your sermons about us attending church! *growl* I find them so annoying and pointless. Some people (like you guys; and I am not yelling at you now, I totally understand what you're talking about) don't have the time to go. We need food and such and you can only buy that with money that you have to make sometime. We need an education to get a job and a job to get the basic necessities of life around here, thank you. Please stop with these annoying sermons preachers everywhere...Gah, they bug me.

I think I can understand the priest trying to get people to come more than just once a year. If you're Catholic it's kind of bad if you don't go to Sunday mass because it's like, a mortal sin as a violation of the third commandment. Unless the priest was like "you HAVE TO COME TO MASS EVERY SUNDAY OR ELSEEEE" and was more like a homily one of my parish priests gave in Christmas mass where he said that "We really miss you here, and would really like to see you here every Sunday instead of just every once in a while" then I don't see it as that terrible. Trying to talk to people while he can to get them to mass every Sunday (avoiding mortal sin) sounds like a noble homily to me. Even if he was a jerk (which may be likely) it shouldn't be that shocking.

And seriously, about not having enough time, I have seven, no, eight siblings and one mom who makes us dinner, gets the groceries, keeps the house running, makes us clean it to keep it from falling to pieces, etc etc etc. You may think that your life is full but let me tell you, you have not experienced insanity until you have lived in a big family! Just getting into the car takes forty five minutes, and yet we never miss Sunday mass. (Even though with the little ones it is something along the lines of torture because they misbehave so much!) Compared to getting a herd of siblings dressed, teeth and hair brushed, shoes on, in the car, and keeping them alive all during Mass, just having to get yourself to mass sounds like heaven.

And one hour a week? If you don't have one hour a week for Christ then I think you should at least think over where you're priorities are. Not having enough time for mass Sunday after Sunday can be a sign of a deeper, more urgent spiritual issue. Because if you are really so busy that making it to a short, one hour worship service dedicated to God is "impossible" then your entire spiritual life maybe in a bit of disrepair.

Before anyone calls me out for "preaching about going to church" and "telling people how to live their life," so far I have only said that Catholics really should go to mass. Seeing as it actually is part of their religion that they claim to hold and if they believe in something then they live it, right? I don't think any fellow Catholics are going to get mad at me for telling them about Mass requirements because that is basic knowledge that shouldn't be a shocker to anyone. If you try, then you usually find that your schedule works around it. And masses aren't just in the morning usually, here we have a five thirty evening mass as well as a noon one. So even if you want to sleep in, then you can still make it. If God Himself appeared to you in his glory and commanded you to go to mass every Sunday, would you be able to make it then?

Just some thoughts. I could say a lot more and be my usual incredibly long-winded self but this is good for now.

[June Bug]

^ Having been raised in a strictly Catholic family in a very Catholic area, I'm very comfortable telling you that it's quite annoying to hear someone tell you you aren't going to mass enough. :P
Religion is a personal thing. If someone does not feel comfortable going to mass, they do not have to. Prayer and worship can be done alone or with family/friends outside of a formal mass setting. Many of my friends and their families only attend mass on Christmas and Easter. It doesn't make them any less Catholic than my aunt who attends twice a week.

[VeritatisSplendor]

It's not me talking.

The Sunday obligation

2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass...
2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God's holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (emphasis mine)
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c1a3.htm

So yes, you do have to go to mass as a Catholic. Unless you pick and choose which doctrines you are and aren't comfortable with, in which case you aren't really a fully believing Catholic. And yes, the details of faith do matter. Not because the Church is an evil, micromanaging institution which bosses you around but because it is how Christ wants Catholics to live. I am not repeating a new idea, this has been around since the beginning of the Church. The fact that it is annoying to you that people tell you that you aren't going to mass enough doesn't change the fact that it is the Truth of their faith.

The farther you are from God's plan (God wanting you to go to Mass as proclaimed by His Church), the less human you are by default of not acting as a human being should. Philosophy 101: Beings are the most happy when they live in perfect accordance to their nature. Sin is a degradation, a corruption, of human nature and living a good life is really just being human (I am quoting my theology book here!). So really, not living in accordance to God's plan and not going to mass only hurts yourself. And I am going to guarantee you that the person who goes to mass twice a week, in almost every case, is going to be closer to God than the person who cares so little for Him that they don't even bother going to visit Him in the form of Mass. Again, this isn't me talking just my Church, whose doctrines come from Christ.

There are many considerations and clarifications that I would love to elaborate on as they will probably cause confusion, but I'll just answer any questions as they come along I suppose...

Peace of Christ to all.