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Contradictions, sickness, scruples, spiritual aridity, and all the inner and outward torments are the chisel with which God carves his statues for paradise. —St. Alphonsus Liguori
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 [RSV])
As a spiritual seeker, you surely have bumped into popular gurus who guarantee an end to all suffering if you embrace their teaching. “Make these four agreements,” says one, “and you will insulate yourself against adversity.” Another says, “Focus on the power of now and still the persistent, evil voice of your thoughts. Then, you will never again experience pain or hardship.” “Pray this arcane prayer religiously,” says a third, “and it will ensure your comfort.” The purveyors of these promises package their alluring messages attractively, and the books…
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Thank you so much for this article! I’ve suffered from scrupulosity for 27 years and it can be extremely crippling at times. You long to share the joy, hope, peace & beauty of God with others, but this illness can make you grouchy, irritable because you are plagued by fear and anxiety that you cannot shake. It is encouraging that St. Jane reminds us, however, never to let anything cause us to give up or embrace any doubts of God’s goodness & love...but to persevere in the trust that He IS as good & loving as our we know in our deepest being that He is! Just today I received great relief in prayer that some accusing guilt-laden thoughts which had been harrassing me for two weeks now were not in fact from God at all, even though they had conatined elements of truth. That’s how satan works & tricks us to pay attention to those “bees”. It’s really true that those of us who suffer this illness, must simply refuse to “touch those bees” - we have to stay still in those moments, simply focusing on God in all His goodness & kindness, not engaging the accusing thoughts at all, no matter how many elements of truth they contain, and after a bit they go away. they may come back, but they will go again if we ignore them. I’d be so grateful if The Word Among Us could write some articles on scrupulosity and how to practically cope with it, because I believe many Christians of all denominations are silently suffering what can only be described as torment, but are too embarrassed or confused to seek help....also I have found that most of our beloved priests have not been trained very much in how to guide such persons. Sometimes they and others say it is simply pride, but those who experience know it is a vicious, persistent, ravenous mental harrassment that cannot be willed away. We mustn’t despair, though, because there are tools for effectively coping with it - God would not allow this suffering if there were not - and He desires that all His followers live life joyfully & abundantly even while suffering. There’s a website, Scrupulous Anonymous that helps, and i also pray that St. Jane, St. Francis de Sales, & St. Alphonsus Liguori (he suffered scrupulosity) will lead some additional helps and guides to spring up throughout the Church so that we can be the bright bearers of God’s light that we long to be, filled w/ joy despite the struggle. :-) If anyone else struggles with this, or has advice to share, I’d love to hear from you through this forum! Let’s pray for each other!! :-)