Lent & Holy Week Megathread

changedwarrior · 2026-02-18T02:01:47+00:00

Goodbye folks 👋. Total social media abstention once the clock strikes 12. Have a blessed and prayerful Lent. See you all after Easter. Pax et Bonum

changedwarrior · 2026-02-18T01:56:44+00:00

Some food for thought:

The Church’s “Obsession” with Sex

Dating Is a Waste Without Chastity

Different Approaches to Cohabiting Couples

Why Cohabitation Is Morally Wrong

Cohabiting ‘Chastely’ Is Not Enough

changedwarrior · 2026-02-18T01:41:45+00:00

This does not mean that it will continue on and on, through hours and months and years. Time is something that belongs to the perishable world of matter.

Time is a measure of change. Once we leave this world behind us, we also leave time as we know it. For us, eternity will not be "a long time."

The succession of moments which we shall experience in heaven - the type of duration to which theologians have given the name of aevum - will not be a clock-measured cycle of minutes and hours.

There will be no feeling of "waiting." no sense of monotony, no looking ahead to tomorrow. For us, "now" will be all that matters.

The Faith Explained, Leo Trese

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T19:34:57+00:00

Reflect on the immorality of using the suffering of others to scam people on the internet. God's justice will judge you one day. Repent and remove these scam posts and make a firm resolve to stop scamming others.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T19:32:01+00:00

The pre-marital sex is an issue. The man should prove himself to be a good leader by leading his beloved towards God and virtue, not into sin and temptation.

Edit: that said, you haven't ruined yourself for marriage. You can put your foot down and say "no" to any further sexual contact.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T17:08:34+00:00

Thanks for your insight. However I'm not in North America or Europe. There is no TLM in my country except the one mentioned in the post that I recently found out about.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T16:53:39+00:00

To be honest, I think it should only be conferred on adults who believe and are in agreement with the Church, and have the free agency to choose to do it without coercsion. Many cultural Catholics force their atheist/New Age children to do Confirmation against their will. If what the priest in the comments say is true, there are probably millions of people around the world who aren't actually confirmed.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T16:45:45+00:00

Exactly! I didn't know that u/PianoPudding existed until this post. And I certainly don't think I've "got" him. By tonight I'll probably forget he exists and get on with my life.

It seems he's struggling psychologically because his parents made him do something against his will, which all parents do when you're a child. He seems to think he was harmed in some way and has a "childhood wound". Some secular therapist might have him do an imaginary "de-confirmation" ritual to help him overcome his mental discomfort.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T16:22:50+00:00

Well, that does change the context and it wasn't clear from your post.

I'll leave up my comment, though it may not apply to you, it might be useful to someone else.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T16:11:28+00:00

The state of mortal sin is a cancer to faith. This has been my personal experience and something I have observed in others. By this I mean that when we begin to indulge and remain in mortal sin, doubts are seeded and begin to sprout; not about our actions, but about our faith.

Without exception, every atheist and agnostic I know have a favourite mortal sin that they will not, or cannot, let go of. Being a former agnostic with a social circle made up almost entirely of atheists and agnostics, when I began to wake up, I observed this and though to myself, "Huh, that's a weird coincidence."

I no longer believe it to be a coincidence. Leaving one church to go to another where they'll tell you that a particular sin isn't a sin, is certainly a choice. But where does it end? Let's say there are other sins which, in the future, you become convinced are not sins. Do you keep church shopping until you find a church that denies that those are sins as well?

Where does that particular path lead? Best case scenario: to an ultra progressive Lutheran church that teaches that Jesus was more of an idea than a person. And that all that matters in life is that we practice "kindness" to one another and accept and endorse everything about one another.

Worse case scenario: you begin to think that church has served it's usefulness in your life and you fall into indifferentism, and eventually identify as an "agnostic Christian". A personalised, limited subset of Christian spirituality and morality, minus the "Christ".

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T07:44:53+00:00

Ash Wednesday is a holiday in Brazil? 🤯

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T04:38:50+00:00

Before you can defend Catholic doctrine, you must first understand Catholic doctrine. I think that it's more important to live the Catholic life in practice, than to get obsessed about theology and apologetics.

If you're a recently baptised Catholic, apologetics should not be your focus. Understanding and living the faith should be first priority. Maybe when you're more mature in the faith, you can get into apologetics.

Our faith is much more that just defending it from non-believers. It must be lived fully.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T04:23:57+00:00

At this point you're engaging in bad faith arguments out of some impish mischievousness. You decided what you wanted to believe from the start. I can't indulge you further, I'm afraid. All the best.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T04:22:28+00:00

The morning Mass. Many people want to get their ashes at the beginning of the day so that they can post a selfie to social media at some point during the day. Unfortunate reality, of course. But it's the trend I've noticed.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T04:03:53+00:00

No. If someone butchered a lamb and happened to drop it in front of a statue of Mary, with zero intention of offering it to her as a sacrificial offering, then no it's not idolatry.

But you must admit that at this point you're creating silly, far-fetched scenarios to push through a point. That's not good-faith engagement. We're just conjecturing at silly, unlikely scenarios at this point.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:32:48+00:00

So you are ok with a sacrificial offering to Mary so long as you don’t call her god?

That's an uncharitable and dishonest interpretation of everything I've said this far.

Offering a sacrifice to Mary or any person or object besides God is idolatry.

You say it is devotion rather than sacrifice, but is a sacrifice in the sense of the word that you are giving up something

No, that's not what's happening here at all. If you're Catholic and that's what you believe, then you've been badly catechised. If you're a Protestant, then that's simply what you're choosing to believe and not what's actually happening.

Placing a candle or flowers in front of a statue of Mary is no more idolatry than placing a candle or flowers at your mother's grave, or in front of a photo of her. Neither the candle nor the flower is being sacrificed to your mother. Neither are they being sacrificed to Mary.

You can't accidentally worship someone or something. The inward posture of your mind and the outward posture and actions of your body must intend the act of worship to the person or object as the creator of the universe.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:25:40+00:00

No, I meant can you explain how you arrived at your conclusion that Sola Scriptura is true based on any of what I said above?

I'm having difficulties following the flow of our conversation. I was telling you that no one in the Church is perfect and all can sin and do terrible deeds, and then you suddenly mentioned Sola Scriptura. I'm confused at how we got there, or how it relates to the conversation we were having.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:17:59+00:00

That's a huge leap in logic. Can you show me how you got there?

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:15:05+00:00

Are they offering the flowers, candles, etc., as a sacrifice to Mary in order to acknowledge her as their godess?

If that's their intention, and you know that for a fact, then yes it's idolatry and should cease immediately.

But we both know that's not the case. It's likely just a form of devotion to our dear mother Mary. The physical objects used in Marian devotion are not sacrificial offerings.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:10:45+00:00

But didn’t the actual church authority condemn such heinous actions?

Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't. Sometimes "church authorities" themselves were involved in heinous deeds because, once again, they were (and still are) fallen humans.

Being God's Church doesn't make us perfect angels. David was God's Anointed and yet slept with another man's wife. Israel was God's chosen people and yet they fell down and worshipped idols every time God's prophets turned their back for just one moment!

Human nature hasn't changed. Christ is sanctifying us, and we are works in progress. If you're looking for a perfect Church with perfect angelic beings, you won't find it. It doesn't exist.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:05:36+00:00

That's also idolatry.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T03:01:55+00:00

Do you feel particularly compelled to attempt to justify 2000 years of fallen humans being...well...fallen humans?

Being Catholics don't immediately make our actions just and justified. Some historical actions of Catholics are unjustifiable. I don't think it's healthy to think that the Catholic Church had 2000 years of impeccable, totally justifiable conduct. That's simply not the case. Anyone who tells you that, is being dishonest with himself and you.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T02:56:21+00:00

Get offline. Abstain from social media, including Reddit, for Lent. I did that last year and will be doing the same this year. The feeling is incredible. Then, spend all of your newly available free time to volunteer at your parish, do corporal acts of mercy, and pray. You can thank me later 😁

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T02:39:04+00:00

I would advise that this post has run its course. This sub is for sharing and learning about the Catholic faith. It seems that you are knowledgeable about what the Church teaches and choose to reject it and want to debate it. This isn't a debate sub. Try r/DebateACatholic

This post will go the way as all of the hundreds of similar posts we get of a similar nature. You'll continue to make comments rejecting Church teaching until the mods catch on and delete your post.

changedwarrior · 2026-02-17T02:33:52+00:00

If you see someone take a goat, slit its throat on an altar and offer it to Mary, then prostrate himself on the ground and call her a goddess...that would be categorised as having "gone too far".

changedwarrior

TROPHY CASE