Dear Dian:

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I'm sorry to hear that the man you tried to help has turned on you. But, this is not uncommon. It happens quite frequently that the people we try to help will turn around and bite us. Welcome to the club.

In general, in situations like this it is better not to do things "on behalf" of others who are in need of help. It is best to give that person the resources for them to check out on their own. In this case, that would mean suggesting to the person to call the diocese rather than you calling the diocese for him.

We often have concerned people contacting us about loved ones or friends who may find themselves in trouble because of occult or demonological issues. We tell those concerned people to have the person in trouble contact us directly. One of the reasons for that is that if the person is not willing to contact us directly than they probably do not have the commitment to do what is necessary for them to be freed and delivered. One cannot help somebody who does not want to be helped.

Thus, the better course of action would have been for you to suggest to the man that he call the diocese himself. When approaching the issue in this way it sometimes can deflect the anger that we get from people we are trying to help. There is no guarantee of that, but at least the person is helping himself, with no one to blame but himself should things not go the way he wishes. More importantly, it places the responsibility on the person to help himself — to seek the help himself. If a person is not willing to take responsibility for himself he will not only fail to be healed but will resent those who tried to help him by doing things for him.

As for the incident on Divine Mercy Sunday you acted correctly by not answering him and continuing to pray. And, you should continue to pray for him.

The feelings of withdrawal that you are experiencing do not come from God. Those feelings are psychological, and probably a symptom of depression. I don't know what you mean by "the larger parish I felt to move away from now lives at my door" except that it may be an expression that you feel like things are closing in on you, which is also evidenced by your comment, "My world is getting smaller."

I do not believe that God causes us depression in order to get us to move or to do something that he wants. A good father does not deliberately cause depression in his children. Now, God can and does bring something good out of the lemons that we lay in our own lives. He will make sweet lemonade from those lemons, but he does not cause the lemons.

I suggest that you seek out a mental health professional, preferably at Catholic counselor who can help you with these feelings.

On the subject of the parish itself, and your relationship with it, sometimes we have to accept the fact that we cannot be involved in our parish other than to receive the Sacraments. One can quietly come to the Holy Mass, receive the Eucharist, and then after Mass quietly leave. One can quietly come to the parish to receive the Sacrament of Confession, and then quietly leave. It is not required to be involved in any activities, groups, or meetings at the parish. It is nice to be involved, but it is not required. Our participation in the Sacraments, however, is required.

Any thoughts to not go to the Holy Mass because of how one is treated by other parishioners, or any other problems at the parish, do not come from God. Such thoughts either come from our depression, or they come from the devil, or a combination of both. We must resist those thoughts and attend to the Sacraments as we ought. Without the Sacraments we do not have friendship and intimacy with God and we do not have the spiritual strength to cope with our problems. Thus, do not forsake the Sacraments under any circumstances.

Especially in situations where there may not be another parish more nurturing to us in the area, we certainly must take the approach of "stay, watch, pray" and in offering up of our suffering to God for the salvation of souls, for the healing of a parish, or other such things. In such circumstances we must accept our suffering as mortification for our souls, which God will honor us by strengthening us in our spirit and our faith.

On the subject of giving up self you state, "I wanted to give up for Lent was my "self"- I in no way am able to do so." This is a thinking error. If one was not able to give up self then God will not ask us to do so. Since God asks us to do this we can know for certain that it is possible. It is a matter of us making a decision of will to mortify our pride, and then to practice those things which lead us away from pride into humility.

Yes, pride is a sin. It is the first sin on the list of capital sins. Capital sins are those which engender many other sins. Nearly every sin and mistake we make can be traced to pride in some fashion. I suggest that you read and say the prayers contained in our pamphlet, Dealing with Pride (pdf file). 

We will be praying for you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary