/lit/ - Literature

>>17002861
People who are deeply religious rarely stop believing, even if they sin, because you receive consolations from God which convince you of His existence. Take prayer-- most people think of prayer just as closing your eyes and asking a benefactor for things you want. But for those who break through petitionary prayer into meditative prayer, Lectio Divina, contemplation etc, prayer becomes so much deeper and richer and actually changes your soul. I can't really describe it other than that you are acutely conscious of God shaping your life, and of the Holy Spirit. It's impossible to reject God completely after experiencing that, and there's always progress to make on the path to holiness. "Be ye therefore perfect".

>>16953591
City of God is worth it, although it is bulky. Maybe you could spark notes it and return to it later on? For Aquinas, I found Feser's book a good introduction, Marshall's "Aquinas in 50 pages", and Chesterton's guide if you want more info on the Saint as well as just his philosophy. God bless you on your journey, anon. I'm going to include you in my prayer tonight. Please say a prayer for me, too.

>>16943579
>True traditional Protestant Churches
Which ones? Different Protestant sects are still splintering into existence today.

>Catholicism isn't the same Church is was 60 years ago
False. Doctrine remains the same as ever, even if the means of worship differed after Vatican 2.

>There will never be a Catholic parish that is not a Vatican 2 Catholic parish.
How can you not see that this is a great indicator of a Church's legitimacy?

I strongly, strongly recommend that you read a little on Aristotelian teleology, and then what Augustine and Aquinas have to say. Just spark notes it to get the gist if you can't be bothered to read. I am convinced you will find yourself drawn to conversion. Protestantism falls apart when you look at it closely.

>>16878873
Your leaders have excommunicated each other. Much love for you orthodox bros but Catholicism clearly has more of a claim to legitimacy. And neither Christ nor and of the fathers spoke against evolution.

>>16022649
>>16022666
>>16022720
>>16022956
I guess the thing is, I have always legitimately done some of my best thinking when I have to think on my feet. Sometimes when I'm in a jam and need to force myself to find a way out in a story, that's when I do some of my very best writing. So the more spontaneous way of writing has repeatedly yielded good, even brilliant results for me, and that's why I keep it up.

Maybe I also incline towards this style because I am a poet, in addition to a prose writer. Writing short poems inclines you towards this kind of spontaneity because often a poem is the locus of a single idea, and that idea can come to you at the most random of times.

Anyway, sometimes I feel like people who are convinced the Catholic Church is doomed aren't actually Catholic in any meaningful way. Specifically, I feel like the people who think this do not regularly go to Mass or receive the Sacraments. The vast majority of younger priests, priests about 40 years old and younger, are really good. Some are very harsh and rigid, some are more laid back, but even the laid back ones take their priesthood extremely seriously and are absolutely devoted to the Church. The younger priests are a really good sign for the future. Most of the real corruption in the Church comes from men who are very old, men who at this point are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.

I'd rather be Catholic right now than be a Catholic in, say, 1994 or something like that. I think the Church is in much better shape right now than it was a few decades ago, even if the headline news about it seems to portray it as worse. Even the corruption at this point is not as bad, because before it was secret, but now we know about it and can therefore begin to address it.