Expert: Padraig Caughey - 5/2/2009

Question
For a long time, whenever I looked at pictures of Christ, I felt a thrilling joy, that was accompanied by warmth specialy in chest area and upper stomach. after some times I suspected this feeling and told myself that perhaps it was impure and irreverent. then I hided all of Christ's images, and ceased to think about Him anymore. And then the problems began: I became lukewarm, worldly and empty within. And a huge number of temptations against faith and purity flooded my heart. I returned to my past sins, and began to be indifferent to my religion... Last night my step sister was talking about her dreams about marriage, and made me feel miserable, broken and lonely. when she left me, I began to think about Jesus, His beauty and love.I imagined myself near Him kissing his feet and embracing Him. When the next morning I woke up, all my miseries left me, I said my morning prayers well ( after I was saying them badly for a long time), also those blasphemous and impure thoughts left me, I became more patient and stopped doing nutty things because My empty heart was filled. Now my questin: Is this kind of thinking about our Lord sinful?


Answer
No its not impure Farnaz. If you go to the end of Christ life we see John, the disciple that Christ loved with his head on Christ's breast. We too do this when we approach Him in deep love. It was no accident that God became man, because seeing Him as a man we could love Him more and as a man we can approach Him best.

I met your late Archbishop one time, a very saintly Irishman called Barden , did you ever hear of him?

I can't tell you how much I admire you all for keeping the Faith out there in Iran such trying circumstance. I pray that the persecution is not too bad.

You're in our prayers.

God bless

Padraig


http://www.motheogodforum.com/portal.php?sid=cd9c8ffb274bf22c9ae184a230a6fa55&EB...