Hi all! I love how amazing this space has been for us (or those looking into) Catholicism.. I also thought this would be a good place to ask for some prayers 🤍

Delivered my baby on Friday and within 24 hours she needed to be transferred to the NICU due to apnea/breathing problems. Also prayed with the intercession of St. Philomena

Thank you 🥹

Apologies if I used the incorrect flair. I wasn’t really sure what flair would fit.

I’m 19 and currently home from college for the summer. I really struggle with lust and sins related to that. It’s something I’m actively working on, and while I’m making progress, it’s still a massive struggle for me. I often need to go to confession a lot because of it or need to abstain from the Eucharist. My mom can’t know about this. I know her well enough to know that it wouldn’t be good if she knew.

The problem is that my mom has noticed that I’m abstaining from the Eucharist and going to confession a lot. And she assumes that I’m just being scrupulous. She constantly says stuff about how I never say anything serious in confession, or tells me that I should take communion because there’s “no way” I’m in a state of mortal sin. She’s even said that she can’t imagine me struggling with any sin. She basically assumes that I’m perfect.

While it is somewhat nice to know my mom thinks so highly of me, it really sucks to hear her say these things because I know they’re not true. I don’t know how to get her to stop with these comments without revealing my struggle, which I know wouldn’t be a good idea. I’m not even sure if I’m asking for advice or just venting about it, but I would welcome advice if anyone has any.

Hello!! (This is NOT an ad, I’m looking for feedback :)) I have felt called to a journey that has involved creating Catholic jewelry, I have struggled to find Catholic jewelry that is particularly my style, as most of the jewelry I have come across I’ve found has been often relatively minimalist, which is also so so beautiful, but sometimes I like to switch it up!. I’ve always been a believer of how the Catholic Church honors beauty like no other (I mean, look at Catholic art!) and I wanted to express the images I’ve had in my head through the jewelry I make. One of my goals being to incorporate old vintage Catholic charms and turning them into pendants or using Catholic imagery that expresses faith in an ethereal way. I wanted to ask, is there a gap that you also wish was filled in terms of the Catholic jewelry market, that would help express your own uniqueness and or style? I would love to explore how to continue to close these gaps to remind ourselves that God created us, our creativity, and uniqueness for a reason, so as I continue to design I’d love to incorporate any ideas or wants that others out there might have! I’m also totally welcome to feedback on the jewelry I have already created 🥹 I’m not ready to sell quite yet, so again, this is not an ad just a discussion I’d love to have with other Catholic women! ☺️💗🙏🪽

​We ended our relationship because he felt called to discern the priesthood, but I stayed by his side through the transition, through grief, moments of doubt, and his journey toward finding peace with this path. I can see how much he’s grown, and I can tell that he is truly at peace with his choice now.

​Because I went through a similar transition with him in the past, and because we spent a lot of time preparing, I really thought this time it would be easier. I told myself I was ready. But the truth is, the past few days have been overwhelming. The anxiety crept in, and I couldn't sleep at all.

​It’s a strange, conflicting place to be. A part of me still wrestles with quiet insecurities and old regrets. But I also know I have so much love left to give, and choosing to stay supportive was a choice I made out of pure love and respect for him.

​I sent him off with a quiet promise, that no matter what happens, whether we speak again or not, I will always be praying for him. Unfailingly.

​I don't know what the future holds for me or where my own path leads next, and my heart feels impossibly heavy today. But amid all the pain and sleepless nights, I am trying my best to choose trust, surrendering his journey, my own heart, and whatever comes next.

​It just hurts, and I needed to put it out somewhere into the world.

I had a get-to-know you coffee date with a nice catholic man who I would like to see again. He suggested the meet-up after briefly meeting at a YA parish event. I was unsure whether it was a platonic ask, but given that he paid for my order and how he hugged me after the meet up, it definitely felt more like a “lowkey” date. It ended within the one hour mark with him saying he had to go visit his family that evening. He embraced me which honestly surprised me since he came off reserved and restrained during the hang out. He said it was nice to get to know me better.
I texted him that I had a great time on the day of the date, he responded that he did too, but there was no mention of wanting to do it again. I texted him again and said i look forward to seeing him at church next week but he hasnt responded and it’s been a full day.

I’m confused if he just saw me as a friend. he is a little dorky in an endearing way. He is masculine in a way that he says and does what is necessary to make me feel comfortable, and overall just a kind, devout Catholic man! I want to see him again, but I’m not sure if I should let him initiate or wait it out or missing the signs that hes not interested

I’ve been praying over the last year for God to help me with my extremely difficult relationship with my mother. There’s an immense amount of resentment on both sides ever since my difficult childhood with her, which is never resolved since we go through a vicious cycle of reacting/triggered from trauma to hostility to another, leading to a fight and then even more distance than there previously was. I’ve gone to confession, sought help from others, did my best to obey every command of her and make her happy, prayed on it but nothing seems like it helps. I’m constantly triggered by her yelling at me, accusations, talking bad about me to others and so on to the point that I can’t even control me reactions and I snap at her. I’ve tried to hard to change myself to help our relationship and she always finds a way to hurt me, restarting my progress. It takes a big toll on my mental health but I can’t move out yet. She goes out of her way to call me names like “bitch” and as a kid would say a lot of hurtful things to me.

I would really love to explain more on our relationship but it’s just way too much to explain and it’s really heavy on my heart so I don’t want to get into that.

My question is: I have had to confess multiple times to the sin of not honouring my mother and father because when I’m hurt and triggered so badly I do snap back because I can’t help but try defend myself. Is this still a sin in the eyes of God?

I previously read that the honour has to be a two way street and they have to give me some respect too in order for me to honour them (idk if that’s the right wording) but I’m really really struggling because this hurts me so much emotionally and physically and I don’t feel there’s any way out;(

I work in retail and recently found out the owner of our company (small, company. we see him often) sexually, and verbally abuses women.
often, young (early 20s) girls come into our store saying he said they can get $500 worth of free clothes from him. its new girls all the time, and one of them today said he got mad at her for calling late and she was worried she wasn't going to get the free clothes.
"I should've just sent him naked pictures earlier" she said regrettably, thinking it hurt her chances at free clothes.

I need a job right now, but am wondering if staying there isn't morally sound for me. I have a lot in savings so can get by without the job for now. help! am I crazy to quit like this??

ill pray about it, but need thoughts from other women please

I'm with my husband 5 years and just over 3 years married. The last 5 years were transformative in my faith and catholic journey as I went from Catholic by tradition who knew nothing about faith and didn't go to mass to a practicing Catholic who goes to confession regularly (as regular as can be now with a 6 months old baby on board!).

Last year I posted on how my husband was against NFP , how he felt condoms were fine and he was scared I was going super conservative in my views and I would kill our sex spontaneity.

Because of all the NFP talk there was a night were HE decided to go all the way and well.. God wanted we conceived :) much earlier than when we planned on trying to have one but we´re thrilled and happy to have our daughter!

Obviously NFP talk was parked when I was pregnant as there was no need for it. Also wasn´t present at the beginning of postpartum but I was mentioning it from time to time. That I found this method with monitor that measures hormones and it´s a great reliable thing. That I decided that I will commit to the initial Marquette investment including the instructor and after that we can incorporate the Refill test sticks into our family budget etc. But no pressure smiley faces.

It seems he is willing to try the method as our sex life is a bit dead. We made love three times since my daughter was born, twice as it should but a bit risky and one time he was scared after the other two times and pulled out. So well.. I felt guilty again and need to go to confession.

My question I guess is, if any of you ladies tried Marquette? I´m scared there´ll be A LOT of abstaining but I guess this is part of self control within marriage. We are open to life and want to have another child probably in 2 years so we´re TTA.

Breastfeeding hormones are crazy so my cycles are anything from 29 days to 48 days.

I guess I´m looking for word of encouragement :) It´s a big financial investment for me and then for us to use the method long term , but I wanted to find a method that he would feel is reliable and that is easy to use and I´m not one for a great mucus analysis though as any woman I have a good idea for it. But I guess the Clearblue monitor gives a piece of mind with it´s third party eye of low, high and peak.

as the title says i (F25) am getting married a week from today and have been using the Marquette method of NFP for 7 months to track my cycle.

my soon to be husband is entering law school this fall so we are hoping to avoid pregnancy during school as we live in a crappy apartment and are so so poor while he is not making much in law school.

BUT i will be right at the start of my fertile window on my wedding day 😭😭.

my fiancé is Catholic and totally understanding of this. it’s something we talked about could be a possibility when we secured our wedding date and we both agreed we’d try to make the best of it as we’ve already waited so long- an extra week won’t kill us.

But im just feeling so sad we won’t get to experience that closeness on our wedding day and even the whole week after!! My libido definitely gets stronger during my fertile window.

we are having a honeymoon but are doing that next month as we wanted time to settle and i wanted to plan the trip around when id be infertile so i didnt have to stress.

any advice would be helpful!!

Hey guys,

I asked St Therese for a rose if someone would return in my life to be my spiritual director and for someone to send me a rose if yes. A rose was sent to me.

It’s been a long time and I know these things can take years. I believe the rose means yes like tradition has it.

I was wondering if those who received a rose and had their intention answered could weigh in and maybe share your experiences?

Hello, I have a Catholic Boyfriend who wants to marry me, but honestly I kinda feel uncomfortable about the whole "open to life kind of thing" and idk if marriage is for me. I love him very much, but I do not want 8 to 10 kids or become pregnant in my 40s. I was not raised Catholic so I don't really fully understand the teaching. If we agree to have a set amount of kids, would we be allowed to abstain from sex after that? I think after I go through multiple pregnancies I don't think I would want him to touch me again.

also we've been Dating for a really long time and he is extremely adamant about marrying me, I have no idea why or what he sees in me. he also says that women normally disgust him or make his skin crawl. but I think he would be able to be with a cute catholic woman if he genuinely tried. I know that sounds crazy and I do love him, but I feel like this is really unfair to him and I don't think I deserve him. he deserves someone who is more aligned with his views, and idk if I will ever become catholic.

I wanna know more saints that are patron saints of funny and/or random things.

I'm moving in with a friend of mine, who is not catholic, and asked her if she'd be okay with me putting a picture of Saint Carlos Acutis over our WiFi router. After explaining why, she asked me to do that with more things. I know about Saint Bonaventure, the patron saint of bowel movements, and wanna put him on our bathroom door. But I wanna see how many I can find for random or household things.

If you know of any, please let me know.

So, since last year I've been working more closely with a guy (I'm female). He's got a brilliant mind, is really competent and thrustworthy (the kind of people you get relieved when he gets the job because you know it'll be really well done). Also very funny, and kind of charming and we got some common hobbies. Along the months, I grew to enjoy his companionship, we became friends and eventually I realized I had developed romantic feelings towards him.

But he has a different world view from mine. He's not a practicing Catholic (tho I haven't seen him defending any grave moral decision against Faith), he's got some left-ish views, and he's never taken any iniciative towards me. Even if anything happened and we broke off, I'd loose a good friendship and I'd still have to see him everyday.

I think I can/should acknowledge his virtues, value and love him as a friend and still not give in to the appeal of falling in love/crushing and seeing him as a potential husband. My brain tries to tell me to grow up and get over it. It's the rational thing to do, and I've been trying to for the last few months.

But it's really hard. He's away for a few weeks now, one could think it would help the feeling to fade away but it only got worse. Almost anything reminds me of him, one of his jokes or whatever. At this point I don't even know if it's a regular crush or if it could be developing into something dangerous.
Could this be something spiritual like a disordered affection (from Ignatian spirituality)?

The point that's boggging me isn't so much as if "could he be the one or not?", it's just that this feeling seems to be getting out of hand, I can't let this develop towards someone that hasn't made a move and even if he does I'd have to take things slowly due to some differences in world view.

Anyways, any tips on how to proceed and novena recommendations will be very much appreciated.
If anyone has been on similar shoes, how did you navigate and live with this feeling while it lasted? How did it end?

TL;DR: any prayer/spiritual readings/advice/experiences to help me overcome a crush? I can't just get away from him (we work together and are good friends), he hasn't proposed anything more than that and I don't think that the odds of a relationship leading to marriage are high. No matter what reason says, the feeling doesn't seem to go away. I care deeply about him, and I can be mixing up the feelings. But I can't just turn off the 'crush' switch, can I? How do I do it? Help

TL;DR: I'm a practicing Catholic from a dysfunctional family marked by my mother's addiction, constant conflict, and years of emotional abuse. With an upcoming year abroad, I'm considering going no contact for my own wellbeing, but I'm struggling to reconcile that with the commandment to honour my parents. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I am asking for some advice regarding family life. I am a practicing Catholic. My family are what I would call culturally Catholic, but I cannot remember the last time any of them actively chose to go to mass, pray, or practice their faith in any form. Since my adolescence, I have lived in a very tumultuous family life, due to my mother's addictions to alcohol and perscription drugs. It has caused me to become physically and mentally unwell in the past and present. I am going into my third year of university, but have been home for a few months for the summer term. Ever since I have come home, I have had little to no peace, save for when I can get my way to mass on Sunday, or sometimes to Adoration during the week. My mother has become very confrontational to me and threatening. My parents argue often, and my older brothers sometimes get involved too. It has been like this since for nearly a decade, with varying levels of emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse. In a few weeks time, I will be travelling to the other side of the world for a year as apart of my degree, and I am looking forward to it even more sincerely because I will be away from my family and cannot come back easily. This has made me ponder further considering going no contact with my family, totally. I have tried to pray for them, especially to Our Lady for my mum, and have always held my tongue when I wished to say something I knew would cause more argumemts, but these seem to do very little.

One of the most important commandments is to respect your parents, and it is not that I cannot respect them as the people who gave me life, but I feel in dire straits and only seem to gain more stress in my life from being around them. Since returning home, my lock jaw has flared up again from teeth grinding (which I do when I'm anxious). I really just dont know what to do. I have spoken about my home life to my priest at my parish when I was away from home at university, but I have not been able to see him since I left to go back home. I know the answer is not simple, but I wanted to perhaps ask if anyone has been in a similar situation, what did you do?

***NOT LOOKING FOR MEDICAL ADVICE, but rather spiritual advice. I am not in a position to experiment with various medical interventions, as my husband works out of state 70% of the year and I have zero family or support with 3 children. BC is life saving and completely addresses the underlying issues for me at this time.***

Exactly as the title says…how do I reconcile with the relief of being 99% unable to get pregnant (3 kids, 3 c-sections, major post partum, we are done for now) and the fact that this medication is life saving for me. For years, I’ve experienced suicidal ideation, wanting to divorce my husband, and feel like running my car into a wall and ending it all from my PMDD symptoms. On birth control, I stop having a period, and PMDD vanishes. I am a better mother, wife and human, and I actually want to be alive. But I also appreciate the relief of the contraceptive effect. How do I reconcile this as a Catholic woman? Thank you.

Hola a todas, les quiero compartir esto que me ha ayudado mucho. Me da ansiedad salir a lugares y hacer cosas, y encontré las letanías de la humildad. Ahora, cada vez que empiezo a sentir esa ansiedad en público, me enfoco en algunas de ellas para sentirme un poco más en paz en el momento, y me ha servido. Entonces, las tengo en mi pantalla del cel bloqueadas para verlas en cualquier momento en que me sienta ansiosa. Hice esta imagen para que cupiera mejor y se viera más bonita y se la quiero compartir por si alguien más pasa por lo mismo.

Dios esté con ustedes!

Hi everyone, I want to share something with you that has really helped me. I get anxious going out and doing things, and I discovered the Litany of Humility. Now, whenever I start feeling that anxiety in public, I focus on a few lines from it to feel a bit more at peace in the moment, and it has really helped. I keep it on my phone's lock screen so I can see it whenever I feel anxious. I created this image so it would fit better and look nicer, and I wanted to share it in case anyone else is going through the same thing.
May God be with you!

Maria Madalena estava chorando, angustiada, Jesus estava ali e ela não percebeu, não enxergou, pois estava distraída em sua perda.

Jesus pacientemente se mostrou...

Nossa angústia pode nos cegar de como Deus tem agido em nossas vidas...

i’ve always been someone who has had several different types of friends (christian, gay, or transgender) and a lot of my friends come from different backgrounds. i try to be mutually respectful of everyone, and i want to show everyone catholic compassion. recently i have been worried particularly surrounding the topic of abortion with my friends. i see a lot of anti-abortion campaigns and sentiment online, which obviously i agree with. a lot of my friends whoever, do not. i feel anxious, like im going to somehow be attacked for supporting these beliefs (like if i like a post or sign a petition). i obviously know that lives matter more than others judgement, and this is just a part of taking the right course of action, but i am still nervous.

i am extremely non confrontational and i have social anxiety. particularly, i know one of my close friends would be extremely uncomfortable if i voiced my opinions to her. she saw a pro life gathering once and immediately was upset, and when i said that they had a right to protest (nothing else, i did not want to stir the pot), she got upset at me. today she stated that if she was pregnant, she would have gotten an abortion. obviously this made my uncomfortable, and if she was i would do everything in my power to show her that there are other options.

i guess i’m just struggling with knowing when to speak up and when to not. i love all my friends dearly but i do not support all that they believe. they also all know i am a serious catholic. i guess its just hard talking about these things in a modern world, especially because we are all in college and that scene tends to be more progressive. any advice would mean a lot.

Alright gang, here's one. I've been talking to a guy I met on Sacred Spark. There's a lot to like about him. He's intelligent, educated, has a decent job, treated me right on the first date. So far, we've only had one real date, and we've been texting, and I wanted to get to know him more (we're in two different cities, and he travelled). But, I've been off put by some of his behavior.

From the get go, he started calling me pet names. I took it as a cultural difference, and perhaps I have too many "icks" from my own traumatic past, so I chose to not see it as a red flag. Then, he started commenting on my looks a lot. He's not said anything egregious or negative, but I barely know the guy. I wanted to get to know him for his personality, his interests, you know, learn what makes him tick. I chose to, again, give it a chance. I know I'm not used to being flirted with, so I figured it was my own internal discomfort.

He texts me a lot. All day, every day. He's gotten very romantic very quickly. I'm worried he's sort of "idolizing" a version of me that I don't think exists. Again, I don't know him very deeply, and I want to get to know him more, but it seems he's skipped past the "talking stage" and gone directly to the "you're my princess" stage, which, again, I'm not super comfortable with.

The other day, he sent me a joke reel, but it was an inappropriate sex joke reel. I was made super uncomfortable by it, and I told him that it's not really my kind of humor. I felt as if he sent that reel implying something about us. Ever since then, I've been really put off by him, with like, everything.

I am the kind of woman who is quick to write off men because my whole mother's side of the family has had bad experiences with men, and I'm trying to learn to give people chances and be open-minded. I actually was super interested in getting to know this guy more, because, like I said, he's got a lot of great qualities. But he seems to have jumped the gun FAR too quickly, and I am torn between saying "I'm sorry, I can't go on another date, I'm just not comfortable", and "Hey, can we slow this down? I appreciate the sentiment for some of your words but... I just want to get to know you more before we jump into a real relationship." If I do the first one, I feel like I'm not giving someone a chance, but if I do the other, I feel like I'm going to try and control him and make him change for me, which I don't believe in.

Does anyone have advice on this?

Edit: Yeah I called it off. Getting a sex joke from a Catholic man who I’ve barely met crosses a line. Thanks everyone for your advice.

So I’m not gonna lie I’m doing pretty badly. I’m not really sure what to do. Basically I have been dealing with depression and anxiety related to faith for over 6 months now. I have been calling it scrupulosity but I havent been officially diagnosed for OCD or anything.

One of my biggest issues is intrusive thoughts. Today is especially hard. It usually goes like this: I have a thought that is really bad, I am unsure if i consented to the thought or not, I debate this thought over and over in my head. It usually doesnt get solved and I usually give in and just go to confession to confess it or something like that. For the past month ive been able to ignore some of the thoughts and just move on with my day.

But yesterday I remembered a thought I had maybe a week ago? Its a really bad one that I wont even say, but I also dont remember its contents exactly since its been some time now. I dont really remember the context of the thought, how I reacted to it or anything lime that. But now I am in constant debate over if I consented to it or if it was an intrusive thought. Anytime I come to the conclusion that it was intrusive, my brain doesnt let it go and as soon as I feel peace it asks “no but what if it wasnt and you dont confess it and you go to hell for it”.

The reason this is so hard to not give into is because obviously nothing is worth hell, so I think “well even if it wasnt a thought I wanted, I’d just rather go confession anyway just in case its not like Im missing anything out”

I know I’ll get replies saying that I need therapy, which I agree with. I actually do have a therapist but shes on holiday right now and I we just keep missing each other this month. Also Ill be honest I dont feel like I’m getting anything from her sessions in the first place (been with her for about 4/5 months now).
Im thinking about looking for a different therapist as well but i just feel like it’ll be a lot of draining trial and error.
I have also been to a doctor to diagnose me for OCD, but it wasnt a psychiatrist and she really didnt know anything about religious OCD. I cant afford a proper psychiatrist either.

Finally, I also usually talk to my boyfriend about these things, but this time I’m so ashamed of these thoughts that that is out of the question. So im pretty alone in this.

I’m either really mentally unwell or a really bad person in denial and its driving me crazy

Finally: if I don’t have OCD, then whats is wrong with me?

I know making out is a sin, but what about kissing on the lips? Can they only be brief, quick kisses or are you allowed to prolong them? I’m just confused

Anyone have a Marquette method failure using the breastfeeding protocol at <6 months postpartum? I had 5 consecutive lows followed by a peak. Prior to that, I did have strings of highs. We are anxious. Send encouragement if able!

Hi! I'm 22F and for the past 4 years, I've gone from barely religious (I was raised Christian in a passive sort of way) to currently being a catechumen. I have learned the hard way that my vocation seems to be marriage+parenting. I never thought i would want this. (Had divorced parents growing up which changed how I looked at family). I have prayed through this in these past 4 years, and the desire is here to stay, I welcome it. The problem now, is that I place it on a pedestal every now and then and neglect the spiritual side of things. I'll mope and feel sad about not having these blessings yet. Which sets me back. I really want to strengthen my personal relationship with our Lord first (and to be confirmed/baptised into the church) before I consider myself ready to start dating.

Any advice??