Just wanted to mention that I absolutely adore your blogs! They’re the highlight of my day :) I love the no nonsense approach, sound Catholic info, and how similar you are to me in a lot of aspects. The shame one was a recap of my 7th grade, including cute boys pretending.
This one struck a cord though because it’s a question I grapple with a lot. I’m a wimp at suffering. Probably more so than anyone else, as my tolerance to pain and discomfort is to the left of zero. My “mild” autism and OCD doesn’t help either. I’ve never offered to suffer for anyone else because like you, who knows what Jesus will throw in my direction (and I’m already burned out enough as is with the regular amount of crud thrown at me generally from just living).
Not only that, my own personal rap sheet is longer than I care for it to be, and my exit interview with Jesus won’t be pretty. So any and all suffering I ask to be applied towards whatever time in purgatory I’ve so far accumulated for myself. Kind of like a get out of jail free card, or reduce my sentence card. So there’s my question I grapple with: Why would I suffer for others when I have enough to atone for for my own self?
Maybe it’s also what I’ve learned from life in general, that people are ungrateful and forget anything and everything you’ve done for them in less than 5 minutes. And non Catholics (which seems to be most of the world these days) would never ever ever think about suffering for another, let alone for me, if I needed it. I don’t know, just a thought about “working out your own salvation” first….
I’d love your thoughts! (Can’t get enough of them to be honest, and no I’m not kissing your behind, I genuinely love your work).
Hi Valery, thank you so much for loving my blog! Readers like you make it all worthwhile. :) One thing I didn't mention in the blog post (and should probably add): I had a lot of traumatic things happen to me in my childhood and young-adulthood, and one day I said to God, "Man, I wish you had told me about this 'offering up' thing earlier. I could have used all that stuff." He said, "Remember the Eternal Now? You can still offer it up retroactively." Which is HUGE.
Also, you're saying, "people are ungrateful and forget anything and everything you've done for them in less than 5 minutes." Maybe I should have clarified this, but I never TOLD the couple I was doing this for them. I also anonymously paid bills for a few people who needed it. The Bible says that we should not let our left hand know what the right is doing, and that once we get our rewards in the form of praise from men, we won't get rewarded by God. So the best thing is to keep charitable acts on the down-low. And you ARE working out your own salvation by doing things for others; e.g., offering up your suffering for the holy souls in Purgatory will be counted towards your own salvation. ;)
Just wanted to mention that I absolutely adore your blogs! They’re the highlight of my day :) I love the no nonsense approach, sound Catholic info, and how similar you are to me in a lot of aspects. The shame one was a recap of my 7th grade, including cute boys pretending.
This one struck a cord though because it’s a question I grapple with a lot. I’m a wimp at suffering. Probably more so than anyone else, as my tolerance to pain and discomfort is to the left of zero. My “mild” autism and OCD doesn’t help either. I’ve never offered to suffer for anyone else because like you, who knows what Jesus will throw in my direction (and I’m already burned out enough as is with the regular amount of crud thrown at me generally from just living).
Not only that, my own personal rap sheet is longer than I care for it to be, and my exit interview with Jesus won’t be pretty. So any and all suffering I ask to be applied towards whatever time in purgatory I’ve so far accumulated for myself. Kind of like a get out of jail free card, or reduce my sentence card. So there’s my question I grapple with: Why would I suffer for others when I have enough to atone for for my own self?
Maybe it’s also what I’ve learned from life in general, that people are ungrateful and forget anything and everything you’ve done for them in less than 5 minutes. And non Catholics (which seems to be most of the world these days) would never ever ever think about suffering for another, let alone for me, if I needed it. I don’t know, just a thought about “working out your own salvation” first….
I’d love your thoughts! (Can’t get enough of them to be honest, and no I’m not kissing your behind, I genuinely love your work).
By the way, I just added some pieces to the post, thanks to your input. :)
Hi Valery, thank you so much for loving my blog! Readers like you make it all worthwhile. :) One thing I didn't mention in the blog post (and should probably add): I had a lot of traumatic things happen to me in my childhood and young-adulthood, and one day I said to God, "Man, I wish you had told me about this 'offering up' thing earlier. I could have used all that stuff." He said, "Remember the Eternal Now? You can still offer it up retroactively." Which is HUGE.
Also, you're saying, "people are ungrateful and forget anything and everything you've done for them in less than 5 minutes." Maybe I should have clarified this, but I never TOLD the couple I was doing this for them. I also anonymously paid bills for a few people who needed it. The Bible says that we should not let our left hand know what the right is doing, and that once we get our rewards in the form of praise from men, we won't get rewarded by God. So the best thing is to keep charitable acts on the down-low. And you ARE working out your own salvation by doing things for others; e.g., offering up your suffering for the holy souls in Purgatory will be counted towards your own salvation. ;)
good point!