What do you do when you loose your faith?

Question

I am a devout catholic and have been for many years recently I seem to have lost my faith, I have not gone to church in over two years and for some reason I feel god is out to get me. Anything I can do to restore my faith?

Answer 1

I am so sorry to hear this. In our spiritual lives we have rich and wonderful and fertile periods. We also have dry desert periods and dark nights of the soul.

The truth is that all things are paired. We cannot know joy without sorrow. We cannot know richness of faith without the desert. It's OK and it is normal. And we can always come home.

Try this. Once a day, light a candle, any candle and think "may the light of Christ illuminate my soul." Then think "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." Blow out the candle when it feels right and go on about your life. You will be OK.

Answer 2

Shoo, trolls!
That said, I think you have a really interesting question. I feel like its my life's campaign to encourage everyone to do internet searches, go to the library, TALK, READ, LISTEN, and above all research every issue you come across until you find a deep resonant truth that makes sense to you!!!
I guess I could say that I also "lost faith." In truth I don't think I have ever restored it. I was faced with this huge dilemma of how to feel spirtually whole and connected, but I knew that I didn't buy into Christianity (I was a Catholic also, and after giving up on Catholisism, I walked through many other churches such as Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist) so I eventually turned to "alternative" religions, aka Wicca *laugh*. Honestly, though it made me feel spiritually connected, I didn't buy it either. I spent several years as a Unitarian Universalist- aka "agnostic" and then eventually ended up as an atheist for a while (I have been through it ALL!) .
One day I kind of realized that to me, all of humanity is really special. We have these wonderfully evolved gifts of intellegence and strategy, but we also have this gift rarely used of being connected to all the other beautiful life in the world. I realized to me, religion is not about getting on my knees before the big white guy in the sky, its about getting spiritually connected to my community of fellow humans and protecting the world around me. So to me, in the end, all religion has become one interpretation of that idea. I hope my journey speaks to you a little bit, if you are open minded and interested I highly suggest the UU church, its a wonderful place full of supportive people to help you while you try to figure out what religion means to you and how to find that divine wonder in your own life. : )
http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml
http://www.uunashua.org/100q/c1.shtml#q1
Good luck on your journey. : )
Blessed be.

Answer 3

I don't mean to be critical just offering some advice. First your Catholic faith may have never been genuine so it may have not been there to loose. Second you may just be going through doubts that many people have and you will bounce back. Third maybe it is time to venture out of the catholic faith and try something else.

Answer 4

I think there are programs at most churches that you can join to become more devout in your faith. Good luck returning to the Church! It really is amazing once you know enough about it.

Answer 5

Read the Universal Theology of the New Jerusalem by Emanuel Swedenborg and find out why the New Jerusalem is ignored by most. After all, who wants to talk of God being a marriage of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom and God being only one instead of three. Most people just walk over the information and never look back.

Answer 6

God is out to get you, but not in the way that you think. He loves you. I would suggest listening to the teachings on
http://www.americaslastdays.com/ This guy lost his Catholic faith years ago and has now found God. He has a great testimoney. You'll love it.

Answer 7

This is a heart exsperance so you need to have a heart to heart talk with Jesus because he said nothing can separate us from that love we have from him or for him, faith is the substance of things hope for with the evidence of things not seen. Christ is an exspeance we have like haveing a child you will love it regardless of what happens.

Answer 8

It helped me to explore other religious systems. Buddhism especially helps put things in perspective because it focuses on the day to day spiritual life and doesn't affirm or refute "God"

By the way -- this exploration did lead me back to Catholic practice because that is what I grew up with. But now I'm able to appreciate it in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Answer 9

God back and see where you got separated from God. Sit down and have a talk with God. Tell Him your heart, tell Him you love Him and want to have a relationship with Him. Tell Him you know you have messed up but you are sorry and want to be back with HIM. He will be so happy to see you again.

Answer 10

I saw an ad not too long ago, a catholic church outreach campaign to lapsed catholics. I think you should just wander back and check it out. I am not religious, but if it meant something to you in the past, I don't think the door is closed for you.