And that's the key, right? We do not have enough strength in us to overcome sin. It's only when we abandon ourselves and trust in God that it is possible. It's why I find it so funny (and I do this too) when people refuse to go to confession or mass or pray because they feel like they're too much of a sinner. You're denying yourself the way out of sin!
Wow 🎉🎉😄congratulations I know so many that have tried to justify this hopefully you write a book on secular society and your journey it would probably help a lot of people who struggle. I was debating with my one friend who says he felt he lived a double life since one side he was a church going choir singing youth group leader and the other side followed the secular way of dating, I said its because he hasn't prayed and prayer is our faiths daily breath he didnt believe me said it was a "guy thing" and that i dont know what I am talking about, but he said he feels this guilt. Your book or experience just like "The confessions of St Augustine" will probably touch souls like my friend! You dont have to but I will buy it!😃 Thank you for sharing that 😁 Our God is an awesome God!
I suspect such an opinion lacks much of an understanding of what sin is. When we accept that the world has a purpose, that God has created everything for a reason and that our actions have an effect on achieving that purpose, then we see that anything can be a sin if it is abused, kept for ourselves, used to dominate others, or exercised in a way that goes against the will of God's creation. Sexual activity carries with it great power, which means that it can be used to do great harm; to deny that it can be sinful is kind of foolish.
@@ismypartygirl7511 -You might want to read the Gospels. Jesus condemns all impurity, fornication & sexual immorality. According to Him, sexual sin is most certainly a "thing". With a name like "Partygirl", I wouldn't expect you to understand or agree.
posting this for anyone who it may help: When struggling against sexual sin; cry out to our lady! She will absolutely pray for you and help you! In temptation, if you feel you're on the edge of a bad decision, don't move and pray until the temptation passes or a way out comes by. I know this first hand. She will help you!
I tried to stop masturbation and porn for 1 month, I prayed every day four times a day with each time from 20 to 30 mins. I fell to sin and now feel horrible. I wish I will never do this again. Please pray for me that I may stop myself every time I get tempted. Allow my love for God to be stronger in each and every day.
I'm an Evangelical christian...and i cant help to binge watch your videos. May God bless you and man! you make even a man who has been a born again for more than half his life wish he could pick up a habit. ( im the only evangelical christian in my Catholic family) you destroy my negative biases. Thank you
I neded this thank you so much for saying this because this is exactly what i needed to hear. I have struggled and i am struggling every week, i make a resolution then bam i sin, and when i went to confession my preist said even that the reasoning was clouded when i chose to do it. I actually did more of the beating up then my preist said next time just pray first so i dont do that action, but sometimes there are factors because we are all weak he said, "in our human flesh there are hormones and the reactions to them are out of our control sometimes its all framed in the perfect mixture for this to happen so dont beat yourself up". But thats exactly my mentality that tweet is my way of thinking and in prayer yesterday i was saying sorry to God that i dont prove my love good enough to Him by over coming my temptations i begged Him for help to expand my love. Brother its so hard how does one run this race in the mud and not get dirty? Is it possible in the end that God Himself will tell me? I just dont get it why such failures why does God allow us to fall? Im trying my best and its still happening....thank you again for your time it means a lot that you made this video.
I had a crisis with this kind of sin too, so I can offer some advice: TRUST your confessor. If he says your sin is venial because you were not in total control, then believe it unless you're able to swear by God that it wasn't venial. You're obsessed: he isn't. Stop thinking about it: if you're not thinking about it, temptation will have less opportunities. Save your strenght only for the exact moment of temptation. You can even use code words for it in prayer, so you don't recall the problem so clearly. Don't forget about your others sins. Sometimes we get obsessed in some sin so much that we forget about the rest of Christian life. You don't want to be perfect in one aspect just to discover you forgot about other virtues, often more important. Don't be afraid to be dirty. Christianity is not about being strong by ourselves, but about abandoning ourselves to Christ's grace. This is not a matter of will, saint Paul said it: "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin. What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate." (Rom 7,14-15) He doesn't ask you to solve this alone, that would be pelagianism, an heresy that says we can reach salvation only with our strenght. Instead He want you to do what you can and trust his grace. My experience is the more I tried to do it right by myself, the more He let me sink. Until I understood that I was inclined to sin, as we all are, and I needed Him to heal me and support me. "For without Me you can do nothing" (Jn 15,5). Give yourself more intimate moments with Eucharistic Christ: daily mass, adoration, something extra that you don't do so much now. Focus on Him in prayer, go to the sacraments, and He will sustain you when you learn to let go and trust Him. And remember He will never get tired to forgive you, so don't get tired of asking for forgiveness. Never. Once I felt so humilliated and convinced I could never do it, that I was tempted to think I couldn't be saved. I came out of the confessional row, thank God I came back! That's a terrible lie. Jesus came for the sinners and can help you out of thd mud, even if it takes you a while or you feel you're getting worse. He let me fail so I could learn this, learn humility and get a fuller relationship and trust with Him. Don't be discouraged.
Natalia Marcondes keep praying and don't ever give up your faith in God! He believes in you and I believe you will find the strength you need through His Grace! God's Peace, -b
Thank you Rev. Deacon Casey. That really helped me. I have been struggling with habitual sins for a long time now. Bad habits die hard. And even when i am in religious formation i still fall. I have heard this before from other confessors and my spiritual directors but when i repeatedly fall i find it hard to believe that i truly want to love God with my whole heart. I feel guilty and would refuse to pray for a few days after falling, like a kid afraid to approach his father. I feel guilty everytime i take Communion with these sins without Confession, having to wait for the next opportunity. I say the Confiteor but i still feel nothing makes me worthy except confession. I have to go every week because my habits repeat every week...it has been so frustrating. Im glad to hear this from you, and from of your followers. I am in the process of healing and i just need to trust entirely in God's grace and his abounding love and mercy. May God bless your apostolate.
The interesting thing is, whenever I watch your videos, I get this feeling of the love and pressence of God. Truly, you spread the Holy Spirit among God's children. God bless you and everyone who is watching this channel.
Thank you very much, Br. Casey, you helped me a lot with my spiritual struggle against sin. I always remember St. Paul's quote that you said and it together with Psalm 5o comforts me
My gosh! Thanks for this message. ...another topic on which many of us could keep reflecting! We want more! ;) And yes , that affirmation is discouraging for so many!
Makes me think of St Augustine: "Make celibate, Lord, but not yet." And I think God keeps some people broken to get them where they truly realise they are at God's mercy. A very humbling journey.
I view sin as a element of being mortal. We as humans are imperfect we strive to obtain holiness, however being imperfect we sin either by the things we do, or the things we fail to do. It is a journey throughout our lifetime that each day we can become better Christians thereby being closer to God. It also reaffirms the existence of God‘s infinite love & capacity for forgiveness. I really enjoy and listen to the message on these videos. It is helping me day by day to be getting better & better! One day at a time. One step at a time. I know I will have a misstep at Some point. And the Holy Spirit will be there to help me stand up and take the next step is to continue on.
Well stated Brother! Yes, as humans, we are complex machines! When we realize that we have sinned, we need to be mindful of it so that we refrain from the situation. And, of course, ask God for forgiveness and the will to refrain from that sin and other sin.☺
As someone who has struggled with such a long-term spiritual disease. I must say that your words are exactly right and will undoubtedly help many. That being said, to anyone currently struggling with a habitual sin, there may be a voice that tells you to lean fully on this advice and attempts to ease you into or deceive you into using this to say your actions are not that bad and what you are doing surely can not offend the Lord all that much. DO NOT BELIEVE IT, following that will only prolong and make you struggle more painful when you realize it's falsehood. God loves us and outside influences do affect our capacity for choice, but we are culpable for what we can do and how we handle them. Christ did not die the death and come back from the dead because sin has no effects, but because it is so vile and traps us. Take responsibility for your actions and admit them, your fears, your struggles and your progress to God. The confessional will become a relief as you go if you truly want this freedom. I recommend also the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Also, if you can, look over the Shroud of Turin and really look at what Our Lord endured for you, so you could be with Him as you walk the path of the Passion through the Sorrowful Myzteries. And finally, trust in Him and consider the Divine Mercy devotion and remember always that Christ loves you and is with you in every struggle. And don't be afraid to ask for help and prayers, we don't have to walk the road of the Cross alone. May God bless you and give you all you need for your journey to and with Him. Through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen
Our God is a merciful God so I deeply pray not to fall into sin to further offend God for I know that He is far to much offended for all our sins. Thank you Bro. Casey for this video, please pray for me.
Brother Casey, I would really appreciate your take on my first impression of the statement “we choose sin over God”. I value your opinion highly. I absolutely agree with the message you are sending out in this video (a message of compassion, forgiveness, and encouragement; a message that is well-tailored to counter the kind of self-hatred and shame that comes with a pelagianistic view of sin that overemphesizes moral responsibility and underemphesizes grace), though I do think that there is something invaluable in the statement that we choose sin over God (although clearly, it requires elaboration that is not possible on twitter perhaps, as you suggested). In addition to what you elaborated about the truth of the statement in the first part of the video, I feel that the statement invites us to realize that sin is, in many ways, the distortion of desires that properly belong to God. In other words, sin is when we mistakenly seek to satisfy our desire for God with anything other than God. If we understand that, it can also help us view our sin as a matter of misplaced desire rather than simply “I’m such a horrible person who can’t stop doing what I hate”. In light of the reality of fallenness and the struggle that you emphasized, by realizing that we can find in God what we are attempting to find and ultimately failing to find in sin, we can try to fight our tendency to sin by attempting to realign our desires with the proper Source that can fulfill them. The statement can be understood as an invitation to greater fulfillment in God (rather than a simple condemnation). I guess I’m saying that it’s important to tell people that it’s not just that what they are doing is “bad”; it’s also a form of “getting full on the appetizer and leaving no room for the main course”. We choose breadsticks over the six meal course that has been prepared for us. (I recognize many shortcomings in this metaphor, starting with the qualitative differences between sinning and seeking God, but I hope you get my point). When I find myself sinning (which I always do, and always will on this side, like you said), I usually ask God for the grace of courage, obedience, humility, or whatever grace corresponds to that sin. When that fails (which it often does), I take it a step further and ask Our Lord to grace me with the desire to find fulfillment in Him rather than sin: “Lord, give me a desire for You that overpowers every other desire. Give me the desire to choose You. Help me come to know You more intimately, help me find my peace and fulfillment more intensely in You.” When the problem is that we don’t want Him enough, we can ask for the grace to want Him more. Sin is maintained by unfulfilled needs and distorted beliefs that things other than God will fulfill us. Only a greater discovery of the fact that we are choosing sin, a well that leaves us thirsty again, over God, a source that will quench us eternally, can lift us out of our fruitless patterns.
When the devil gives a friendly reminder that whenever we give in to sin we are saying I want this more than God tell him: God does not lead you in temptation!
Thanks for helping me understand that my efforts to not sin are about making my best effort, with God's help and that my failures, when they happen, are not because I don't love God.
Yes I agree with you sin can be an addiction to some people because people don’t want to do,that sin but they are forced to do so by there own addiction. But some people sin deliberately and which needs looking at a bit more
You are so right! Thank you. As Christians I believe we are called to rise above our nature, but not to deny it. We are called to be the best version of ourselves-- but we are still ourselves. Are we as Christians condemned to be at war with ourselves, locked in self-conflict , because we love God while at the same time still.subject to.our human drives?
So....so true. I tried my best to stay away from sin. Sometimes I do it so well but, then I failed. God is the most important thing in my life I pray to God to help me to stay away from any type of sin. I am praying for the conversion of my daughter, my son, and now my husband. God bless you all, and help us all to stay away from sin. WE ARE ALL SINNNERS one way or another.
Very interesting video blog , but human mankind has to understand that apostacy , doesn't come , with a get out of free jail card and they won't have consequences on the long run , especially when the Lord said that he would come knocking on your door at anytime , so be vigilant & be prepared , keep the faith . God Bless .
I'm thankful for you and this topic. I'm struggling to know God, to have faith in Him, to "feel" Him. Fighting with demons, principalities, the darkness...demonic attachment. Don't know what to do as I ask Jesus that He might help me to find Him as I repent of my sins, pray, read the bible more...I don't know..it's not that simple..I can't just accept, believe, how much is me, how much is the devil...
I think that people sometimes think sexual sin is the only sin so that if they do not struggle with it than they are perfect. I convinced myself of this for a long time and it only brought me farther from Him because I was prideful and felt what I thought was righteous anger towards those I loved that I knew were struggling with sexual sin. However, it is important to remember that all sin is sin. Sloth is evil, gluttony is evil and just because you are sexually pure does not make you worthy. It took encountering Gods goodness to realize how awful I was despite sexual purity. I still think pride gets in the way of me and God sometimes, that and gluttony. If you take anything from this comment let it be that we all struggle so do not allow to enemy to convince you that you are better than other people because pride is the opposite of love and this will only divide you from those you love, especially God who is love. (If this is not theologically correct please comment, I do not want to deceive; I just want to help other people that are going through what went through and still struggle with)
Before I realize it i have already said something terrible especially when I am angry. The last time I almost felt like I was out of my body. It scared me.
Ecclesiastes calls you the All-powerful; the Maccabees call you the Creator; the Epistle to the Ephesians calls you liberty; Baruch calls you Immensity; the Psalms call you Wisdom and Truth; John calls you Light; the Books of Kings call you Lord; Exodus calls you Providence; Leviticus, Sanctity; Esdras, Justice; the creation calls you God; man calls you Father; but Solomon calls you Compassion, and that is the most beautiful of all your names. Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
My primordial sin is lust. But that sinful thought isn't just because of pleasure, is more like wishing having something I never had, so I relay on vanilla "h" to make me feel a little bit better, but at the end of the day, I always lose.
God can give us help to avoid committing sin when we devote ourselves to prayer, do acts of penance for our sins, and being charitable towards our neighbors. What happens people will repent but they will be tempted and cave into the temptation because they walk in Christ's footsteps in which Christ encountered people to pray, do penance, and to be charitable towards your neighbors.
Jesus came to remove our shame. Freedom from shame and a conscience of sin was the point. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrew church ; 'If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. Hebrews 10:2, 10, 14, 17-18 NLT This is what needs to be emphasised. As Paul said to the church in Corinthians; 'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' II Corinthians 5:21 NKJV
Thanks Fr. Casey! I am a seminarian and I am struggling, I don’t even know if I am worthy to be a priest. For sure even if I become a priest I still have a tendency to commit sin. How can I be strong to fight sin?
Bernard Moises Ramos Jr. my family and I will pray for you. Also my advice to you is spend time in adoration often. Talk to him about your concerns. And here’s an awesome novena to surrender to Jesus called the surrender novena. Here’s the link fullofgraceusa.com/products/new-for-2017-the-surrender-novena-large-trifold-holy-cards if you scroll further down on the page you’ll get to the actual novena of what Christ said to Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo. It’s powerful and changed my life!!! Also offer your communion with Christ and ask him to mold you into the man and priest he wants you to be!!! Trust that he will! God bless you! Jesus I surrender to you take care of everything!!!! ✝️📿
Struggling yourself and trying to overcome it maybe it can help you with your work later, when you see others that are struggling like you. I'll pray that you'll be able to overcome it. I'm also fighting now please pray for me too 😊🙏🏻
if you are still struggling with sin...give yourself time to grow maybe..and put the priest thing on pause...when you gained more strength then maybe consider becoming a priest. When you become a priest it may just become harder and harder.. The church needs experienced strong men....not men with no intellect or expereience.
Bernard Moises Ramos Jr. ...it is the struggle itself that strengthens you. Consider also this: the only person in the world who expects you to know everything is YOU. It is impossible, so toss that idea away. Be comfortable in what you Do Not Know; and when asked tell the person you dont know, but will find out or will take them to someone who may know. As you progress you will discover what you do know and when that happens and you give the answers without hesitation, all those who know you will believe you - because you were able to say I Dont Know when you did not know. Seminary is the beginning of formation, not its conclusion. It is meant to provide you with the certain universal catholic foundation upon which to build as you enter the transitional diaconate, then the priesthood and forward into your assignment. Dont put your complete focus on ‘overcoming’ these situations youre struggling with...focus on ‘working through them’ so that they eventually become a core strength of purpose and commitment to your vocation. You are in Seminary because God called and you answered. When you have periods of doubt and uncertainty (and you will as we all do [and did]) offer that up in your hand, hold it up to the light of God’s Belief In You and I think you will find that Divine Confidence will dissolve away the human doubt and uncertainty. In closing I suggest as one said above Adoration Adoration Adoration, Reconciliation, ad infinitum ... Marian Adoration would also be helpful: Mother Knows Best (humor)... trust your fellow seminarians, they are also struggling - team up! Trust your Confessor, be absolutely honest with him - trust me there isn’t ANYTHING he hasn’t heard. You Are Not Alone - God Bless You and keep you safe, Fr. Timothy G. Wilkins OCAC
Although, Fr. Mike Schmitz has said in his video about sin. "Ultimately what sin is is saying "God, I know what you want. Ii don't care. I want what I want. At the end of the day that's what sin is."
@@BreakingInTheHabit No problem! I agree that it's not a 1:1 "God I don't love you" statement in comparison. Your video was done very well. It's a good reminder, afterall, our decision to sin is many times just a deception within our minds and we legitimately regret doing something immediately because we remind ourselves how much we love God and ask for forgiveness! And we might lie to ourselves to say, "you know, it wasn't really that bad." Safe to say, we're complex and weak at the same time.
@@BreakingInTheHabit Again I'm not sure where you're getting "more of the story" from, but all sins are culpable with full knowledge or not. You must distinguish between mortal and venial sins
This thing is that Casey is required by his providence to be compassionate , humble and merciful but God loves a humble and contrite heart and I believe we have to encourage repentance to the person who is truly sorry for the sin they commit. If we show a lot of lovey dovey , that is called emotions and not mercy. That doesn’t encourage a change of heart but the person will just continue to commit the same sin over and over.
I think that the truth lies somewhere in between. The Catholic Church is not a black and white club for saints institution, but a hospitals of sinners. However, we do sometimes need strong voices, or need to read some medieval document to remind us about the seriousness of sin. I know the tone of the church changes according to times, but the teaching is still the same. It's whether you become proud of your pious life, or a compulsive sinner in despair, the church is the in the middle showing the way.
Question: How far will God go to get us back? I messed up and don’t feel like I used to. Will He put us in time out? How long does it take for Him to restore us? How can one tell He isn’t mad at them?
I wish I could talk to you irl. I'm not Catholic but wondering if I should be. I'm the one who doesn't want to sin but can't stop. It makes me feel like I'm a vessel created for dishonor. It makes me wonder if Christianity is actually bad news for me.
Can i ask something would it be alright if you made a video about scrupulousity and also what would be sinning in the mind i suffer with both these things and i get so confused when it is to take the eucharist.
When sin is present the Holy spirit convicts.but sometimes people play very dangerous games when they think they can assume the powers of God and attack a person without his or her knowledge.the apostle Paul said to not be busy in a person's life.earn your own keep and mind your own business.this video seems to makes its way through my RU-vid videos far to often.people like playing games especially in the part of the world I live in.when our God convicts it produces righteousness.but when man tries to do something only God can do it produces strife.most of us don't have the Holy spirit.but some of us do.i love you brother through Christ and enjoy your videos
The Church teaches us that if someone dies in mortal sin and go to hell, this one will be hating God forever, right? A person in mortal sin is in state of enmity with God That is what the Church teaches, isn’t it?
what is the best way to get control of temptation and take control of thoughts that might not be from God? How can I be free from my grieving knowing my friend is in a better place , not sick or suffering anymore knowing that’s what my friend would want for me yo do? How can I stop blaming myself for my friends passing knowing I didn’t do anything wrong but keep having the guilt of not being there for him the last few months of his life? It’s been almost three years. I’m stuck but I want to be free.
