Catholic Cysters Corner Part II

[BloomingTulips]

Hello from a newbie! I posted my intro on the newbie board, so I won't repeat it here. I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

[hoping4miracles]

I have had my dx for about 10 years and have had a really crappy few years and have been REALLY struggling with my faith or even believing that there is a caring and loving God. The older I get the harder it gets to have faith.

I hope things get better for your family and good luck with the weight loss, right there with ya!

[BloomingTulips]

I have had my dx for about 10 years and have had a really crappy few years and have been REALLY struggling with my faith or even believing that there is a caring and loving God. The older I get the harder it gets to have faith.

I hope things get better for your family and good luck with the weight loss, right there with ya!

I'm so sorry that you've been struggling with your faith.

Have you read the book of Job?
http://usccb.org/nab/bible/job/intro.htm
Or the apostolic letter on The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering?
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/jo...oloris_en.html

I'll pray for you to have understanding, faith, and peace. If there's anything else that would help, please feel free to let me know.

[hoping4miracles]

Tulips,
Job yes, the letter of suffering, no, but I will. I love the idea of being able to believe again BUT, actually going to the Vatican really put a new perspective of hypocracy on religion for me and here I am planning to get pregnant, and go back to church so I can get my child/children into a Catholic school because I do emphatically believe it is a much better enviroment than the public schools. I went to both public and catholic and I prefer the moral codes that students are upheld to in a Catholic school, but yet again, makes me just as much of a hypcrite as those early popes who were only worried about $ and not the faith.

I just get soooo mad when I think of a child being abused or murdered and think to myself how could there POSSIBLY be a loving God the father, because NO loving Father would EVER allow such atrocities to be inflicted on anyone especially and innocent child.

[BloomingTulips]

but yet again, makes me just as much of a hypcrite as those early popes who were only worried about $ and not the faith.

Which do you mean?

I just get soooo mad when I think of a child being abused or murdered and think to myself how could there POSSIBLY be a loving God the father, because NO loving Father would EVER allow such atrocities to be inflicted on anyone especially and innocent child.

Is it the parents' fault every time a child is murdered or abused? If you dropped your child off at a fully licensed day care and then returned to find that she'd been abused, would it be your fault? If you and she were at home and someone forced his way in and at gunpoint abused you both, would it be your fault because you were there and knew about it? What if the abuser was your child whom you'd loved and given a perfect upbringing, but who chose to become a criminal once he'd left home? Would it be your fault then?

No, it would be even more heartbreaking to you. But just as you can't be a parent by micromanaging every move your child makes in his life, nor can you shelter your child from every evil, neither can our Heavenly Father do so without turning us all into a massive set of pawns, unable to think or act for ourselves. That doesn't mean He's unloving. He weeps with you and me at the pain people choose to inflict on themselves and others. The church cries out in revolt against the hurts done to children, the elderly, women, the poor, and many more, especially when done in the name of God and under the guise of the Church herself. The sins cause heaven and earth to cry out, and it is worrisome to me how many in our society do not, but can shrug it off and go on about their day.

He's established an order, given people the way, and shown them the truth. He suffered Himself and sacrificed His only Son, and yet people still don't believe. It is soul-wrenching and makes me realize how important it is that I commit my life to not being like those who leave the path for what feels good or gets them temporarily ahead.

Go to church! You aren't a hypocrite! You're a searcher, like all of us. Where else should you be? You have more of a right to be there than the pharisees you are sure to encounter in the pews who act as if they are paying God a favor by their presence. Thankfully, most of the people there are just sinners like you and me, trying to find our way through. Our feelings help us sometimes to do what is right. They guilt us into doing what we ought to or they help us to plow ahead when we must, but sometimes our feelings drag us down. We get weary, overburdened, selfish, fearful, depressed, lost, angry, jealous, or a myriad of other emotions that we have to fight to overcome.

But God isn't looking for you to be the perfect, dimple-faced, smiley teenybopper who doesn't have a care in the world. He's looking only for you to keep struggling through this tragedy and to keep overcoming it and keep heading towards Him one step at a time. If only those who felt like abusing others would heed the same call as you are. It takes SO much strength to keep doing what is right when we don't feel like it. I admire your strength and your honesty.

When you go back to church, ask around to find out which priest is a compassionate confessor. You can ask anonymously here: http://forums.catholic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19 With a good confessor, you can lay it all out on the table. You don't need to sugar-coat your doubts or feel like everything is fine and dandy. Confession isn't for people who are practically saints already. It is precisely when we are lost, struggling, searching, fighting, and angry, that the healing and grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation is so powerful and where we can truly wrestle with these issues with God.

[BloomingTulips]

PS I love your name, Carina! It is on our short list should we have a daughter.

[hoping4miracles]

Oy vay ok now I am crying, you are right. It is so easy to whole heartedly believe when you are young. And for me it just gets harder with each passing hardship. I have really had a lot of difficulites and everyone is always, how are you so happy. I am on the outside, and inside I feel like a little piece dies. I cannot watch the news, it is too upsetting.

I am thinking it is just easier to be angry and have someone to blame. Or think of how can someone love you, have the ability to change a course and not. Just sit there and watch, to me that is not benevolent but cruel. But that is becasue I look thru my eyes. I am the person who catches the bugs and lets them go outside to live their buggie lives.

For the demons that live among us to torture and ruin our lives and faith, just drives me crazy. There just have been so many times I have wanted to leave this place (earth). I am also so afraid of miscarriages that I just may want to go with that baby more than stay here. I know that is wrong and not the plan but cannot help how I feel. And I know I cannot leave as my mom had a stroke 7 mos ago and I take care of her. Life just gets overwhelming for me and my emotions get to raw and stirred up.

For clairification, when I went to the Vatican and learned of how terribly the early church was established thu such immoral behaviors it made me crazy.

RE; my name - it is Italian and means "dear one". It was a commonly used term of enderment during the rennisance and was used the same as we use sweetheart. My mom had a miscarriage at 6 mos along and a still born at 8 1/2 mos. Hence why I am so dear to her heart.

I really appreciate your thoughts and help.

[BloomingTulips]

I know exactly how you feel! I'm also the sole caregiver for an elderly relative. It is extremely exhausting and doesn't leave me with much of an emotional store to deal with any other problems in life.

I don't watch the news. I don't watch TV at all. It is overload for me. When I feel up to it, I read the headlines on Google News. That's usually enough to remind me why I don't watch the news.

If you are so scared of miscarrying, the anxiety can't be good for you, your husband, your mother, or any little one you might conceive. Just an idea: how about seeing what benefits are available for mom (is she eligible for medicaid or medicare? If so, they'll send nurses and home helpers out to help her.) Ask your husband to do the research and get it lined up, then arrange a week break. Turn off the phone. Buy some massage oil. Stop TTC for 2 months. You've been putting so much pressure on yourself for at least 5 years. Just take a break to breath and re-claim your life, your faith, your purpose. Then you can return recharged and renewed and able to be the daughter, the wife, the caregiver, the hopeful mother, the everything to everyone. We have to take time to be "me" independent of all the titles before we can be any of it for others.

It is really hard for me to do that. It is nice to know that there are others out there who care so much as well!

[hoping4miracles]

She is on Medicare, they will not cover home health services and rehab at the same time. So I take her back and forth to therapy 3x/wk, juggle my work schedule and my DH is gone a LOT for work, so when he is home it is pretty much packed with all the to dos. Going next week to for her to be tested to possibly get a device to talk for her. Hope it works. Everytime she wants to tell me something it is a is a 15-30 min guessing game. BUT I am proud of me and YOU TOO that we choose to take care of our family instead of dumping them in some home and let strangers care or not care for them.

[BloomingTulips]

Good for you! I think I'm happier for you that you're proud of yourself than that you're doing something you should be proud of. I often forget to give myself credit where it is due so it is nice to have a reminder. Thank you for brightening my day!

[sbelle07]

Hi Catholic cysters!

Is there a patron saint for PCOS? I know St. Gerard is for TTC and Motherhood, but has anyone heard of a particular saint for intercession with female issues like PCOS? DH and I are asking St. Rita's intercession for twins to make up for lost time

In pace Christi,
Charlotte

twoheartscatholic

.com

[BloomingTulips]

Hi Catholic cysters!

Is there a patron saint for PCOS?

Charlotte,

Good question! You made me wonder.

This says there is no one in particular for Diabetes (which would seem to have an overlapping interest with PCOS) and refers to the patrons of sick people: against diabetes, but I found several references to Saint Josemaria Escriva for diabetes. While stomach, arms, throat, heart, lungs, and many other body parts are covered, I couldn't find anything in my short search on gynecology or reproductive organs or on endocrinology.

I would say St. Michael the Archangel (defend us in battle!) and edited to add (duh!) Saint Veronica. You probably recognize her from the Stations of the Cross--the woman who is gifted with a linen bearing Christ's image after she uses it to wipe his brow. She's often identified as the woman in Matthew 9:20 who had the issue of blood healed after touching Christ's hem.

Here are some others that might be related:
against blight
against depression
against inflammatory diseases
against pain; cures from pain; pain relief
against vanity
women
spiritual help
difficult situations

And for those hoping to be mothers:
against sterility or barreness; conception difficulties; women who cannot conceive; for conception; to conceive
pregnant women
against miscarriages
women who wish to become mothers
adoption

Hope it helps!

[oldhousegirl]

Charlotte -- I'm there isn't a patron for PCOS, but my grandmother was very devoted to St. Rita, especially after her devotion to her during my mother's battle with infertility (and 3 stillbirths) and then ultimately my birth. She wanted them to name me Rita (which I'm glad they didn't, but I did choose it as my confirmation name).

I'm really a "cultural" Catholic -- I don't believe much of what the Church has to say, but it is my heritage, and I just try to be a good person. I consider myself spiritual and find my own inner peace my own way. I do find it very difficult to have faith. My favorite spiritual writer is Rabbi Harold Kushner (best know for his wonderful book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," written after the death of his young son).

[Ashleystar]

Hello,

Just wanted to drop in. I'm not yet Catholic but I'm seriously considering taking an RCIA course in the next year or so. I do attend church and find it so uplifting, singing and being part of the community, especially when my health is bad. I find that praying and talking to Jesus and Mary really has helped me, particularly when no medical intervention has!

I wish I had found the church sooner. I know it would have helped me.

I am trying to reform the way I think of things. I am researching and reading.

In the past I have asked certain angels to help me and I know they have guided and protected me through bad or uncertain times.

I just felt like sharing that.

Really hope I can join this thread, since I find it so interesting.

God bless,

Ashleystar xx

[JackieofVirginia]

Hi I am new to this site but a life long Catholic. I just wanted to stop by and say hello. As for patron saints for PCOS I always liked St Elizabeth (John the Baptist Mom)