Pentecost 50 day challenge

Well done in keeping up with your daily journal. In case you would find it helpful, I mention this idea. Not long ago there was a member here who posted a daily journal like yours but he also included a short summary of how he felt he did the previous day with his four important proactive actions. Going from memory, his list was something like this:

a) Attention to daily prayer commitment
b) Identifying and avoiding triggers/temptations
c) Actions to maintain a positive/unselfish mental attitude and attention to good habits (reading, studying, exercise, personal hygeine, etc)
d) Success/failure in controlling my gaze

Perhaps it would help if you added a short section to your journal covering those things you find important to rehabilitation? No pressure, just a suggestion.

 

Great idea, keep posting and set a new challenge. If you do devote thought and time to talking about fantasies and temptations, it will be very important to include thoughts about what you are doing to deal with them. When we find a bit of success in fighting these temptations, we are on thin ice when we relax our commitment to prayer. In my hundreds of failed attempts of the past, a common theme before each fall was complacency with prayer and complacency in curbing my eyes.

At all times be cautious when considering your fantasies and temptations. Dwelling on these things too much will have the opposite effect than you are seeking.

Sirach 27;4
"When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains;
so a man’s filth remains in his thoughts."

 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Amen.

Let us pray: O God, Who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Happy Pentecost!

 

If you’re preoccupied with thoughts of future temptations it’s going to make the process of recovery harder than if needs to be and heavier than it needs to be. A couple of things we need to accept: A. As long as we are alive in this life we will be subject to temptations. B. None of these temptations are bigger than God.

God who desires a loving relationship with us seeks to build in us trust. This is why there is this constant daily theme; give us our daily bread, carry your cross daily, don’t worry about tomorrow, only pick enough manna for the day (of course an exception for the sabbath). When we start thinking or worrying about tomorrow, next week, next month, next three months, next year, and so forth we put ourselves in a headspace where we’re: A. Living in a fantasy of our own making and B. Trying to become the saviors within our own fantasy and life. This thinking gives way to a trust in ourselves and a distrust in God.