God loves the scrupulous. Their poor souls want to serve God so much, but their mental confusion causes them to suffer. God loves their hearts and wants them to live freely. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Thank you for this video, as someone with OCD, I have felt it heavy on my heart to see more awareness brought to this topic.

@Anon.5216

5 ай бұрын

Luther was scrupulous. He went to confession six times in one day!

So thankful you addressed this. Scrupulosity is the whole focus of my channel. Mine was bad enough at one point I nearly stopped eating all together, lost a ton of weight, nearly ruined my marriage, I DID ruin my employment. Through a wonderful support system, and a church where my soul is nourished and supported by a wonderful community. Praise God for his abundant grace for His children.

Ihabe neen struggling with this for almost 60 years

Please pray for me, as I have OCD + Scrupulousity and *need* to find a priest who’s experienced enough to deal with me.

Great show Michael. Father Ignatious gives very solid spiritual advice. A show on penance and reparation with Father Ignatious might be interesting and spiritually profitable. Thanks Michael. Keep up the good work. God Bless you.

I've struggled with scrupulosity on and off for over a decade, at varying levels of severity. I finally bit the bullet and started taking an SSRI and thank God I hit it on the first one. It has helped tremendously. I find the Jesus Prayer to be an excellent weapon for fighting off unwanted thoughts. It begs for the mercy needed to fight the temptation and gives you a holy distraction to focus on instead.

@willmartin5183

5 ай бұрын

@@billie5057 Lexapro (escitalopram) is what helped me!

@willmartin5183

5 ай бұрын

@@billie5057 Lexapro is what helped me!

Thanks for the interview on such a real issue. Nightly examen for a few minutes not morbid reflection. And the push needed to return to confession and communion. "Apart from me you can do nothing" . I pray this Lenten Season is fruitful.

Thank you so much Michael. I desperately needed this episode, and honestly, I didn’t realize how much I needed it until I started listening. God bless you and your ministry. A huge thank you to both you and Fr. Ignatius!

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Glad to help

Where I live, I'm blessed to just have a priest, a spiritual director is unheard of for anyone. But our priests kindly give us some direction when we go to Confession. When a priest leaves and a new one comes, I have found God seamlessly attunes him so its as if there's been no change at all. My conviction that I'm truly confessing to God and not to man is absolute because of this.

Thank y'all so much! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Any time!

This is a great topic I myself have ocd and scrupulously

Please add me to your prayers. Struggling with it since 2009. Life is unbearable sometimes

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely

This is the best and most objective advice I’ve read or heard about! Thank you Michale and Father Ignatius

I love the Friars of the Immaculate!

Thank you so much, Father! This was so comforting. God bless you.

I'm really enjoying Fr. Ignatius in this video. Bet he's an incredible spiritual director. One of the reasons I was drawn to Catholicism was everything is laid out so you can accurately assess your state. It's organized, logical, and congruent...and makes me uncomfortable (challenges me). When I'm uncomfortable, that's a sure sign I'm on the right path. But, to be clear, I go mostly by Church writings and humble theologians, NOT necessarily live priests. I've found a LOT of priests who are doctrinally off. I understand that not everyone has the acuity to easily understand all the nuance of doctrine. I'm just thankful that for the most part, scrupulousity doesn't affect me. I think being patient with oneself and reserving judgement until you have a good understanding is helpful. Pretty sure God is patient enough to wait for us to have full understanding before he passes judgement. I'm also pretty sure he's happy with anyone who is making an effort to understand their behaviors and sin. I could totally see him as being ecstatic watching someone dig for that truth rather than judging themselves or being in fear. I would like to add, we are not completely in control of our thoughts, emotions, and decisions. Much of it starts outside of awareness. So the rubric I came up with is it's not the initial thought, it's what we decide to do with it that determines the sin. So, if you have a flash of old pornography pop into your head, as soon as you realize it, if you feed it, it's mortal sin. Gossiping is another good one. Automatic stuff is venial, secondary actions are mortal. And I think when that stuff pops into our head, but we catch it, God is more pleased that we caught it than he is disappointed in the venal sin. You brain does stuff. It's not as simple as free will. How you respond is a huge factor. Free will is partiality in the unconscious parts of the brain, hence the need to be conformed to Christ so that those hidden decisions aren't sinful. That's just my opinion based on neuroscience and doctrine. Prayer "reformats" those deep parts of us. (I really need to get my butt praying the rosary.) I guarantee you this video helped people. I will be using some of these ideas to help anyone I encounter.

This is a well needed episode. Thank you.

Thank you , Some time I can't even see what actually happened and I have to wait until my anxiety flash away.

Fascinating! Thank you for yet another enlightening video Michael! Bless you and bless the Father ❤

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Same to you!

Much needed to hear. Thanks.

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I think I suffer from this. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you so much for discussing this topic.

I have a suspicion that I may have OCD driven scrupulosity. I never considered this to be my ailment and I spent all night and morning 4/19 researching. I know that I am experiencing this but I still don’t know what to do to help it. I feel like I only get relief in front of His altar. I only feel peace when there are tears streaming down my face, which is a problem considering I’m a 6’3” “big and strong” man with responsibilities. The thought of needing medication brings a dread of not being good enough and what if I can’t afford a doctor’s prescription or miss it or maybe I have some other problem. I feel so lost unless I am finger flipping Bible pages and when others around me don’t understand the references I make in conversation it makes me feel ever so much more alone, especially among other Catholics(I literally do not understand Protestantism at all, other than my own personal opinions on why they protest). Other people see me as intelligent but I often feel as if I don’t know anything at all but then I have the undying urge to interrupt and interject when others are speaking. I love God and I am so grateful for everything he has given me, yet I cannot help but feel as if I am breaking his heart everyday in nearly every moment.

I think I heard scrupulosity once described as a plague of the soul or at least that is how I would put it, it is horrible. Thoughts and prayers for anyone who suffers from it. God bless.

Great video. Keep up the good work.

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

i needed this ❤

This was superb! I learned a lot from this.

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I needed this

🙏

Excellent video! Thank you! I needed to hear this.

@ReasonandTheology

5 ай бұрын

So glad!

Spiritual OCD. God looks and judges the heart. We can never be perfect. This is the same God that forgave those who were crucifying Him. Trust who God says He is not what we say He is. Look at the earthly ministry of Christ for the answer

Scrupulocity is probably common among converts from protestantism because of a fear of backsliding.

I'm of a melancholic temperament, but my OCD symptoms probably influence the scrupulosity more.

Why do you need to go to the conffesion at all if a mortal sin must have concent and knowledge. For instance, I'm a revert to the church, and I went to confession for the sins I had committed while I was away from church, including blasphemous and sexual sins. Now that I have been reconciled and I know what mortal sins are and I no longer commit them, why would I need to go to conffession unless I were to commit a mortal sin. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I know that I'm not knowingly defying our Lord before I do something. I may be short to anger and other things, but I don't think that God doesn't like this before I act, so I don't have the knowledge.

@ignatiusmanfredonia

5 ай бұрын

Good question. The CCC 1458 mentions the benefits of regular Confession. Pope Pius XII also lists a half dozen or so that can easily be found online. Blessings +

@alternativefactory7190

5 ай бұрын

@ignatiusmanfredonia thank you father. You've been most helpful. I will certainly look those up!

@ignatiusmanfredonia

5 ай бұрын

Something not included in those sources, but I think worth adding, is that you fulfill that particular requirement for gaining plenary indulgences, which can then be applied to the deceased. +

@alternativefactory7190

5 ай бұрын

@ignatiusmanfredonia indulgences are a while other topic that confuses me. I take the church word on and trust in them being a real thing, but I don't understand who they work, how to gain them, and their historical, biblical, and theological basis.

@ignatiusmanfredonia

5 ай бұрын

@@alternativefactory7190 maybe a good topic for a future show

If you take the threats of Catholicism seriously in regard to mortal sins...scrupulosity is inevitable.

Sister Lucia was told by Our Lady in Fatima, that those who are not with the Pope are not with God. Check it if you don't believe me.

If the dangers of mortal sin are real, and there are many mortal sins, isn't scrupulosity a necesity to avoid damnation? To not be scrupulous in light of the threats of eternal hell one must either not take hell or sin seriously. This is just one the reasons I will not be Catholic. I can't imagine the daily torment.

@yelsawRednaxela

3 ай бұрын

Scrupulously and awareness of a truly mortal sin are not the same thing.

@gab31282

3 ай бұрын

@@yelsawRednaxela What do you mean by a truly mortal sin?

@yelsawRednaxela

3 ай бұрын

@@gab31282 One that meets all three criteria, with no room for doubt.

@gab31282

3 ай бұрын

@@yelsawRednaxela 1. An act of grave matter 2. Committed with full knowledge 3. Deliberate consent. NOTE: And this is where can of worms are. I assume full knowledge is when a person knows that that a particular act like masturbation or avoiding Sunday mass is sinful/wrong, and that the person is choosing to do the wrong out of their own accord/choice. These prerequistes are very basic and make the vast majority of Catholics and non-Catholics guilty of mortal sins on a regular basis. These three points that define mortal sin reinforce my main point about scrupulosity. Motal sins are a dime a dozen, and if you take them seriously you will live a tormented life.

@yelsawRednaxela

3 ай бұрын

@@gab31282 Your challenge seems more a rebuke of the modern world, and not a theological idea, no?