Visitation of Our Lady
PARISH NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Inside
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Godparents are For Life
NEWSLETTER
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VOL School 50th Anniversary
Masses During Lent
Outdoor Stations of the Cross
Holiday
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Shaping Healthy Kids
Winning Cajun Fest T-Shirt Design
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Coming Soon: CAJUN FEST
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Teaching Faith Through Technology
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Imagine What a Nun’s Life is Like
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Catholic Counseling Available
3500 AMES BLVD., MARRERO, LA 70072 504.347.2203 VOL..ORG
Sometimes, Good Stewards Don’t Feel Close to God,
But That’s OKAY
I can’t tell you how
many times someone has come
into my confessional and said
something like the following,
“Bless me Father for I have
sinned. I feel like I’m losing
my faith.” I generally respond
by asking, “How have you
changed the way you’re living?”
The penitent’s response is
generally similar to this: “I haven’t changed how
I’m living, but I don’t feel close to God any longer.
It just seems like He has abandoned me. I used to
feel like God was right by my side, but now I feel
like I’m all alone.” I then say, “Well, that probably
is not sinful. Faith is not a FEELING, it’s an
ACTION. Faith is doing God’s will despite our
feelings, positive or negative. Feelings are morally
neutral. They are not good or bad, sinful or not
sinful. They’re just feelings. If feelings were
sinful, the typical woman would be significantly
more sinful than the typical man is, because God
has given the typical woman a
deeper and wider emotional life
than He has given to the typical
man. But, based on my life
experience, women are certainly
not more sinful than men.” Then, I
add: “So, if you are continuing to
try hard to live the Ten
Commandments, the Beatitudes
and the Great Commandments of
Love and Forgiveness, you have strong faith, despite
your negative feelings.”
Many of the holiest people felt emotionally
abandoned by God. Our beloved Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, felt that
way for years. The great mystic, St. Teresa of Avila,
figuratively screamed about how distant she
sometimes felt from God. St. John of the Cross had
similar bouts of emotional depression. He referred to
them as his “dark nights of the soul.” Those holy
people sometimes FELT no faith, but they LIVED
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