spiritual guidance
Jul. 29th, 2003 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
percivalas I was replying to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brightfame's comment to my last entry, something struck me.
The reason I'm scared of Catholic Mass is that I'm afraid of being lost at sea with the issues it brings up in me. Now, priests should be there for you in such situations, to give guidance, right?
Well, I got the guidance I needed from a priest (thanks again,seraphimsigrist, for your invaluable LiveJournal ministry!), but was I tempted to ask one of the priests who were saying Mass, the one who waited outside to greet the flock who was streaming out of the church?
Nope.
See, I've this ingrained belief that Priests Should Not Be Bothered.
Priests are remote people who say Mass, thunder at you from the pulpit, and are Too Busy to Talk to You. They are not the first port of call with any spiritual difficulties, or the person I would instinctively turn to when I need to talk about lost hope.
In contrast, the godo (=group leader) of my Buddhist Sangha is always there for us when we need him. He has even completed a one-year foundation course in Buddhist Psychotherapy in order to be able to offer us better support with the issues that can come up during meditation.
What is your experience?
(cross-posted to catholicism & own LJ)
brightfame's comment to my last entry, something struck me.The reason I'm scared of Catholic Mass is that I'm afraid of being lost at sea with the issues it brings up in me. Now, priests should be there for you in such situations, to give guidance, right?
Well, I got the guidance I needed from a priest (thanks again,
seraphimsigrist, for your invaluable LiveJournal ministry!), but was I tempted to ask one of the priests who were saying Mass, the one who waited outside to greet the flock who was streaming out of the church? Nope.
See, I've this ingrained belief that Priests Should Not Be Bothered.
Priests are remote people who say Mass, thunder at you from the pulpit, and are Too Busy to Talk to You. They are not the first port of call with any spiritual difficulties, or the person I would instinctively turn to when I need to talk about lost hope.
In contrast, the godo (=group leader) of my Buddhist Sangha is always there for us when we need him. He has even completed a one-year foundation course in Buddhist Psychotherapy in order to be able to offer us better support with the issues that can come up during meditation.
What is your experience?
(cross-posted to catholicism & own LJ)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 04:25 am (UTC)My best friend's younger brother is a priest, so I see very well that they're just regular people, really. I keep my distance a little when he's "in office" versus just over for dinner, but still - I have called on him here and there for things. That's his *job*. And he has always been there.
We also approached a priest at the point that we wanted to join the Church, and get married, and he met and talked with us. And my husband had some things on his mind but didn't want to do it in the typical Confessional setting, so he asked to sit down with one of the priests, and that went all right.