Posted on 07/29/2020 8:43:26 PM PDT by ebb tide
Francis continued his phone apostolate last Sunday when he called Cinzia Desiati in Rome, Garbatella, who lost her only son Fabrizio Di Bitetto, 21, in October 2019 when a Chevrolet Matiz with Fabrizio and four friends inside overturned several times.
“I've been getting this call with suppressed number for days, but I never answered in time,” Desiati told InTerris.it (July 28). She had written to Francis some time ago.
First, she thought it was a joke. "Everybody thinks it's a joke when I call," Francis replied.
Cinzia told Francis that her husband had lost his faith after the accident, to which Francis replied, “I understand. It's normal for that to happen."
He (Francis) repeated more times that he understood the attitude of her husband and justified his attitude with the severe pain he felt.
I lost my son to leukemia... sat beside him as life left him.. the only way to get through that kind of loss is to rely on the Lord... rely on that faith... to leave it and suffer alone leads to a deep depression of pain.. it hurts more than a person can bear... trust.. every day and every minute trust. the waves of pain come ... trust... there is no other way to survive the loss... trust..
Thank you for sharing that. I will pray for the repose of your son's soul and that you, him, and your whole family will all someday be reunited in heaven with God forever.
It’s the only hope there is, that one day, we will all be together again, in joy and happiness, forever and ever, with our Lord.
I will keep you and your son in my prayers.
Yep. My daughter died in January, 2004. Then, in May, 2006, my brother was found dead by his tractor. Then, in July, my husband died of liver cancer. Two weeks later, my sister’s husband died. My mom died in January, 2007. My mom, dad and grandfather died on January 6 in different years. My family says if we survive January, we have it made. The answer is God.
i lost my husband suddenly, just before my son was diagnosed. you have learned to trust.. to lean on the everlasting Arms... and it is a moment by moment trust... but the quiet calm is there as we ask for help when the hurt would overwhelm us.
God’s blessings to you.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Benedict, but given the performance put on by Francis it may be time to restore him as the Holy See. I don’t care if he has Alzheimer’s coupled with dementia, the Church needs to replace Francis before he damages the Catholic brand more than he already has.
After Benedict passes they can then select a more appropriate Holy See... For instance... A Holy See that actually believes in Catholicism, rather than loathing it.
Lose one faith? Define please.
Does this mean you are mad at God so you punish him by refusing to believe in him?
Or are you like Job, angry at God but rejecting easy answers from your friends why God did this to you? And maybe your friends then tell you you lost your faith so you believe them?
Does this mean you are emotionally numb and deprsses so you don’t feel the fuzzy feeling when you pray, aka the dark night of the soul, and so you think you lost your faith when actually God is with you, as He was with Jesus in the agony of the garden?
I dislike Pope Francis, but wonder if this is bad reporting
With all the bad that has happened in history and happens still every day, I can’t fathom how someone can personalize tragedy to the degree that they think that God suddenly is not in His Heaven.
I have a friend who was a Believer. Then she worked for two lesbians whom she loved. She lost her faith due to the way the Bible deals with homosexuality. She has been diagnosed with cancer now. I sent her a copy of Jesus Calling. She said most of the days’ scriptures go over he head, but she will read it. I pray for her health and salvation. I’m not sure she will ‘come back’ but I sure hope she does.
Without exception, a Catholic who loses the faith stops adhering to the precepts of the Church, gravely sins in the process, and thereby falls out of a state of grace.
Not good.
The Six Precepts
1. Attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation, and rest from servile labor.
Commentary: Weekly Sunday Mass (as distinguished from the reception of the Eucharist, which is not required here) is obligatory for all Roman Catholics (1983 CIC 1247; some Eastern Catholics have a slightly different discipline). There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as a “dispensation” from the Sunday obligation. There are instead some factors that might excuse Sunday Mass attendance. One thinks of personal illness or serious infirmity, or the need to take care of someone suffering from same, significant travel situations, or certain jobs affecting public safety or welfare. Saturday evening Mass (regardless of the “type” of Mass—say, a wedding Mass—it is) satisfies the Sunday obligation (1983 CIC 1248). Watching televised Masses or joining in other prayer or Communion services do not satisfy the precept, however praiseworthy one’s participation in such optional activities might be (1983 CIC 1248).
Servile labor, which may be thought of as work primarily oriented to sustaining our earthly existence or occupation, is today probably better understood not so much in terms of the physical exertion required, but rather in terms of the orientation of the work. An accountant, for example, might find digging in the garden or cutting the grass (traditionally reckoned servile activities) to be recreational, whereas doing tax returns on Sunday could be servile work for such a person, and should be avoided. For a cashier, playing the guitar is likely recreational, while for a professional musician, practicing on Sunday is probably a work to be avoided.
2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
Commentary: Catholics above the age of discretion, generally held to be about seven years of age, are required to confess their grave sins to a priest, even one of a different rite, at least once per year, at any time during the year (1983 CIC 989, 991). Strictly speaking, persons free of grave sin are not required to make an annual confession, but all Catholics are strongly encouraged to bring even their venial sins to confession (1983 CIC 988). Certainly persons conscious of having committed grave sins should not delay in seeking absolution notwithstanding the annual nature of the precept. A well-executed “penance service” is a wholesome activity for Christians, but it is not sacramental confession and does not satisfy this requirement. “General absolution”, even if, as is often the case, it is celebrated illicitly, does satisfy the precept, but persons receiving same are still required to confess their grave sins later in individual confession (1983 CIC 962).
3. Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
Commentary: This reception of the Eucharist can take place within or outside of Mass. For Catholics in the United States, the period for satisfying this precept has been extended beyond what, liturgically speaking, is the Easter season, to run from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday (after Pentecost). By canon law, though, any just cause allows the precept to be fulfilled at any time of the year (1983 CIC 920).
4. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
Commentary: The Church’s laws of fast and abstinence have probably never been lighter. Most Fridays throughout the year and the season of Lent are penitential times (1983 CIC 1250), but since shortly after the Second Vatican Council, the external discipline of abstaining from meat on Fridays has been abrogated in favor of the recommendation to perform some other self-imposed penance (1983 CIC 1253). Only on Fridays in Lent are Catholics, aged 14 and older, bound to abstain from meat. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, moreover, Catholics aged 18 to 59 inclusive, are also bound to fast, by which discipline, however, they may still take one full meal during that day, and two smaller meals (1983 CIC 1252).
5. Help provide for the needs of the Church.
Commentary: While the Church has the innate right to require from the faithful whatever is necessary to support its legitimate temporal activities (1983 CIC 1260), in fact it rarely exercises this authority. Rather, it leaves to individual Catholics the right to determine precisely when and how they will assist with the temporal needs of the Church (1983 CIC 222, 1261, 1262, 1266). The obvious lack of specificity in these canons, however, should not be taken as a sign that they may be, for all practical purposes, ignored. Sunday collections, annual appeals, spontaneous offerings, bequests and wills, and so on are all ways that Catholics have to satisfy this precept of support. Note that offerings given for a specific purpose can be used by Church authorities only for that purpose (1983 CIC 1267).
6. Observe the Church’s laws on marriage.
Commentary: Most adult Catholics live in the married state. While the canons regulating marriage are many and complex (1983 CIC 1055-1165), the first thing to keep in mind about them is that Catholics are not free to pick and choose which aspects of Church discipline on marriage they will observe and which ones they won’t. Even if a Catholic is not married to another Catholic, canon law still regulates the marriage (1983 CIC 1059). Moreover, the laws on marriage are not limited to those rules leading up to the wedding, but they also impact on the conduct of the marriage and on such things as the care and raising of children (1983 CIC 226, 1134-1136).
That is so true. After my daughter died, her sister and I were in Hobby Lobby. There were a bunch of the punching figures that kids punch and they pop right back up by the check out lanes. I told her that was me. I can get life’s punches but I pop right back up. It has not been easy but I am a survivor. The answer is God. God bless.
This son was the kindest and most thoughtful ... he was the one who called and said “just checkin in”... he went to NY with his music and his dream.. met tony bongiovi and tony took that dream. After 4 years, he came home disappointed in God... He did not give him what he wanted. He married and some years passed... my son knew the Bible... and thought it was “written by man” so it was not to be relied on...
I was worried about his health... and knew if I lost him, there would be no heaven. I could not imagine my living on with him gone and lost.. I prayed for a long time. I finally said “God, this is no longer a request..it’s a demand” and I pointed out His promises.. within a few weeks, he called and said he was diagnosed. I thought he can be healed...prayers went up all over the country.. he was known by many and there were prayers.. my life went into limbo with him...
one night he half woke up and said he was dying.. he felt life leave.... and then he saw his dad who had died a few months before. He saw my mother who died when I was 4. he saw my grandmother who raised me and who my son adored. he saw his wife’s family who had gone on. they all talked to him... he saw many in the distance... and he saw the open hands of Jesus.... he was allowed to come back.. his wife found him sitting and crying... he told her and he prayed with her... and he called me and told me.
He did not get well..the cancer took him... I sat with him...the son .. so dear...so caring...and God took him. If I could, I would have begged God to leave him here. His wife took such good care of him.. they were happy together.. he had plans.. he wrote..did many things. Lord take me and leave my son..but the Lord took him home. I know where he is..I know he probably has a baby grand piano playing it... I know there were many there he went back to... every day it’s another day I don’t get the call “just checkin in”...
I do not know my future and I do not know what my son’s future would have been...and I trust God knew more than I... and I know He knows best.. He did come and had a meeting with my son.. and it changed his mind ..in a second. He answered that..and I am grateful... trust...that is what we have to do... the lost do not understand that..it’s given ..they don’t quite get the way it works...
blessings to you.. you sound like you know where your help is and you are okay.. God bless....
I was trying to define what various lay folk call loosing one’s faith.
You are describing what I noted in my first definition, rejecting God because they are angry at God.
Tell me it’s possible to find on earth at least one confirmed Catholic said to have lost his or her faith who nevertheless (during pre-COVID times at least) diligently went to Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days of Obligation as defined by their local ordinary.
Then tell me deliberately missing Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation in one’s diocese is not always a mortal sin.
You won’t be able to find the animal referred to in the first sentence. It doesn’t exist in the wild.
You can’t affirm the second statement. Doing what is mentioned is always a mortal sin.
Catholics who’ve “lost their faith” slip into a life of sin within a week and typically rationalize whatever it is they do to keep themselves busy while they would probably do better by seeking out reading materials describing why and how Christ’s Sacred Heart is wounded grievously by every single human sin. While the “lost my faith” crowd continues looking, looking, looking... As if. They’re no longer looking. Their sitting around, waiting the Church to come to them, hat in hand, to beg forgiveness of them. Here’s a clue: The faithful are obliged to continuously seek the truth. To look in the obvious right places is to find the truth. Pre-Vatican II is not a bad place to start. Vatican I and before, maybe even better. Eventually as you march back in time, the water gets deep and calm and you begin to realize: I’ve cured myself of the horrible, no good catechesis/faith instruction I received as a child, and/or of the huge gaps in my knowledge of the One True Faith attributable to my parents and childhood priests dropping the most important ball with a giant thud and not even noticing.
Do you agree that a confirmed Catholic who goes to Mass, say, only occasionally, maybe an A&P Catholic (Ashes and Palms—the “giveaway” days), or an Easter/Christmas Catholic, is allowing his or her very intellect to decay? You’ll know the decay has really taken its toll if they are bold enough to go up to the altar to receive the Eucharist. Unworthily, that is. Sacrilegiously. Foolishly eating and drinking their own damnation because they fail to discern their Lord and their God.
The cure for this condition is to return to a state of grace via the Confessional and then do what it takes (and, of course, don’t do what it doesn’t take!) to stay in that state.
Think that’s impossible in modern America? It’s not, of course. But it may involve a healthy dose of suffering.
Which non-faith-losing Catholics eventually figure out is a good thing.
Those in today’s society who describe themselves as having lost their faith—dollars to donuts they never got to the point at which they thought:
“The bishop is telling us to receive the Hidden Jesus while standing and in the hand? What kind of reverence is that? We’re lucky God is so clearly satisfied with us receiving him while kneeling and on the tongue. Otherwise we would probably need to start crawling to the altar on our hands and knees out of utter humiliation and prostrating ourselves until further notice from Our Lady!”
If that’s the way you think, you’ll never lose your faith.
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