Just like working at a job, our faith can grow stale and lifeless. It appears like our prayers are never answered. We attend mass each Sunday and see the same people with the same unending problems and annoyances. During the liturgy, memorized prayers and habitual kneeling make it easy for our minds to drift to thoughts other than God. We think about our "To Do Lists" without listening to one word of the priest's homily! After we consume the Eucharist, we want to sneak out of Church as quickly as possible. No time for the closing prayers or final hymn. We've completed our Sunday obligation, and now it's time to move on with our lives.
When it comes to the Church's unwavering position against contraception, abortion, and gay marriage, we may begin to question if we are in the right religion at all! Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters appear to be more accepting of societal trends whereas the Church won't budge one inch in its teachings. The world is rapidly changing all around us; yet, the church appears to be decades behind. It becomes frustrating, even "burnout inducing", to see very little signs of adaptability. The Church doesn't mind being Arch Enemy #1 among people who disagree with her teachings. The constant tug of war between what Christ desires and what Society prefers is exhausting!
We have to be careful when a bad case of faith burnout arises. We may decide to quit going to Mass for just a few weeks. We may decide to stop praying just for a few more weeks. We may even consider visiting the non-denominational church a friend attends with the hopes that we may feel more welcomed and loved. No more need for confession because we no longer have to feel guilty for sex out of marriage or contraception. No more rigid "Catholic" rules to follow that only keeps us habitually stressed out and criticized by others who don't "think" the same way the Catholic Church thinks.
I've battled burnout in terms of religion for the past few months. I decided to visit an Episcopalian Church with the idea that it's as close to Catholicism as one can get. I'd check it out to see if it's a right fit for me. Then I thought about it further.... I wouldn't be able to take the Eucharist in the Episcopalian Church. What about Mary and the rosary? Those are so special to me; however, none of the Protestant faiths take it as seriously. It looked like the uptown Episcopalian Church would be fun with tons of social activities and a demographic of young people my age. Certainly families with 4,5 + kids wouldn't be the norm and the elderly wouldn't be the majority in attendance. Boy, was I thinking totally off-kilter......
The Catholic Church is where I'm supposed to be! Just because I'm a little burnout with the same liturgy, the same people, and the same volunteer activities doesn't mean I should just quit Catholicism completely. I need to pray to our Lord for the strength to pull me out of this blahness, seeing the faith from a new perspective. I've spent 16 years of my life devoted to Catholicism. I try to imagine myself anything but Catholic and just can't do it.
I think the Devil loves to tempt us away from faith. He wants boredom and annoyance to take over our minds and hearts so we will quit going to Church. Jump on the modern society bandwagon where everything goes. Not so fast! In times of faith burnout, we must creatively find ways to get through it. Attend a retreat. Volunteer for a new ministry. Pray a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Read scriptures on faith in general. I find every time I pray the rosary, holding those beautiful rosary beads in my hand, I'm drawn back into the arms of Christ. The thoughts of leaving the Catholic Church vanish.
We all experience "faith burnout" in one way or another. Through fervent prayer it can be overcome. Don't give up on the Catholic Church!
-J.
When it comes to the Church's unwavering position against contraception, abortion, and gay marriage, we may begin to question if we are in the right religion at all! Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters appear to be more accepting of societal trends whereas the Church won't budge one inch in its teachings. The world is rapidly changing all around us; yet, the church appears to be decades behind. It becomes frustrating, even "burnout inducing", to see very little signs of adaptability. The Church doesn't mind being Arch Enemy #1 among people who disagree with her teachings. The constant tug of war between what Christ desires and what Society prefers is exhausting!
We have to be careful when a bad case of faith burnout arises. We may decide to quit going to Mass for just a few weeks. We may decide to stop praying just for a few more weeks. We may even consider visiting the non-denominational church a friend attends with the hopes that we may feel more welcomed and loved. No more need for confession because we no longer have to feel guilty for sex out of marriage or contraception. No more rigid "Catholic" rules to follow that only keeps us habitually stressed out and criticized by others who don't "think" the same way the Catholic Church thinks.
I've battled burnout in terms of religion for the past few months. I decided to visit an Episcopalian Church with the idea that it's as close to Catholicism as one can get. I'd check it out to see if it's a right fit for me. Then I thought about it further.... I wouldn't be able to take the Eucharist in the Episcopalian Church. What about Mary and the rosary? Those are so special to me; however, none of the Protestant faiths take it as seriously. It looked like the uptown Episcopalian Church would be fun with tons of social activities and a demographic of young people my age. Certainly families with 4,5 + kids wouldn't be the norm and the elderly wouldn't be the majority in attendance. Boy, was I thinking totally off-kilter......
The Catholic Church is where I'm supposed to be! Just because I'm a little burnout with the same liturgy, the same people, and the same volunteer activities doesn't mean I should just quit Catholicism completely. I need to pray to our Lord for the strength to pull me out of this blahness, seeing the faith from a new perspective. I've spent 16 years of my life devoted to Catholicism. I try to imagine myself anything but Catholic and just can't do it.
I think the Devil loves to tempt us away from faith. He wants boredom and annoyance to take over our minds and hearts so we will quit going to Church. Jump on the modern society bandwagon where everything goes. Not so fast! In times of faith burnout, we must creatively find ways to get through it. Attend a retreat. Volunteer for a new ministry. Pray a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Read scriptures on faith in general. I find every time I pray the rosary, holding those beautiful rosary beads in my hand, I'm drawn back into the arms of Christ. The thoughts of leaving the Catholic Church vanish.
We all experience "faith burnout" in one way or another. Through fervent prayer it can be overcome. Don't give up on the Catholic Church!
-J.
I understand where you're coming from on this one (oddly enough, I'm *also* a Catholic single involved in liturgical ministries who's beginning formation with the Lay Dominicans, although my own theological studies have been mostly private work done in tandem with secular history/anthropology work). The comfort of Catholicism is often in our liturgy and the road walked before us by saints and martyrs. The problem with that, I think, over time, can be when life stays 'the same' (as with us singles heavily active in the church) and we're presented with those images of spiritual perfection -- we start to doubt our own progress (spiritually and pastorally), despite the aid which we've rendered to others without our even often realizing it.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, we need to either focus on the struggle & the crosses -- the default answer -- or (my personal favorite and maybe an original idea) find screw-up saints. I've taken to a devotion to Saint Peter, since I've realized that he's the original Sitcom Dad Apostle, who keeps (1) screwing up and pissing everyone off, (2) working his butt off to fix what he did wrong, and (3) ending up learning an important life lesson at the end of thirty minutes before doing it all again in the next chapter over something else. I think that the reason that HE'S the Rock the Church is built on is that we're all creatures of little faith who need to run back and make up for our denials (whether reuniting the back of fleeing apostles escaping Jerusalem or returning to Rome to face the music) -- if the Lord expected us to all be saints, he would have handed the keys to John.
Don't worry about having a tiny crisis of faith at your point in life: even Jesus had his Agony in the Garden and his Eloi Eloi cry. You're going about it the right way in how you're facing it, and frankly it looks to me that Holy Father Dominic started the whole order up for people like you (and honestly myself on a shockingly regular basis) who needed a renewed understanding of their faith.
Your point on the rosary in both beautiful and apt -- Our Mother knew what she was doing when she gave it to us. Have you joined the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Rosary? It was the first Dominican thing I did before my postulancy properly began, and the wonder of my private recitation being proper joined with others worldwide like that into officially a public recitation helps both in terms of "two or three gathered in my name" and in those moments of loneliness that someone in our position gets into...
God Bless and here's hoping that Saint Peter gets it sorted out by the next commercial break!
-Brian