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91
Dear Striving Catholic,

Thank you for sharing your story. It took a lot of courage, I'm sure. 

I was going to reply with some information relating to your original post, but I can imagine that the replies to your story have thrown you into anguish and turmoil. 

My advice to you now is to immediately seek the counsel of a traditional Roman Catholic priest. Let him examine your case, and tell you for certain if your previous marriage is valid. 

I suggest contacting Immaculate Heart Seminary in Round Top, NY. 

Send them a message via email. I find these priests very charitable. 

Just Google it, and the website will come up. 
92
Hate to be the one to break it to you, but your civil marriage was valid since you were both non-Catholics. Thus to live with this other woman, however nice she is, would be adultery.

Living in adultery prevents you from receiving the Eucharist as you will be in a perpetual state of unrepentant mortal sin.  There are those on this forum who unwittingly got into this same situation but once you know, you go.  You must separate from this new "wife" who is actually a concubine.  You may not like this truth but it has to be done.  And forget about living as "brother and sister" or the internal forum.  That's not Catholic at all.  If you stay with this woman you are condemning her to Hell for all eternity as well as yourself.  If you love her, then you will want her to get out of this sinful co-hab situation.  As a Catholic, she already knows in her heart that this is adultery.  Our Lady would never condone what you are doing.  She said many marriages are not of God.  

You won't listen to this.  I know from experience.  But you will pay a dear price...like many of us, you must remain single and celibate the rest of your life.
93
Great advice.  If anyone received a superabundance of graces, it was Judas, who spent nearly 3 years in close proximity with Our Lord Himself ... and yet he too, in the end, exercised his free will to reject them all.

In terms of "wielding" God (others have likened using God as a vending machine), I've always remembered the story told by an early Church Father.  So, there was a man fishing on a lake, and at one point he catches something, which must have been very substantial due to the resistance on the line.  So he pulls with all his might for a long time, and finally sees his catch drawing closer, eventually realizing that his line was caught on a large, immovable boulder, and while he thought he was reeling it in closer to the boat, the entire time he was actually pulling the boat toward the boulder.  That is what prayer is like.  We don't "reel in" God, but merely draw ourselves closer to Him.  Even if OP were to pray, fast, do penance hard enough to "win" the conversion of this soul, it was God Who inspired him and gave him the graces to do it in the first place, i.e. it's always God and only God who converts.  God desires the conversion of this individual more than OP does, and more than the individual does, infinitely more.  This doesn't mean to be complacement, so you should do everything you can, but always realizing that it's God insipiring you and giving you the grace to do it.  God's economy of grace can also be likened to young children who have no way to earn money, can't get jobs, etc.  But the parents give the children an allowance.  These children then save their money for a long time and buy the parents a gift.  Ultimately, the parents were the source of the money, and in a way financed this gift, but what is moving about the gift is the generosity of the children in saving the money for their parents rather than spending it on themselves.  Any graces that may funnel through us to others originate with God in the first place.
Ladislaus, this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

If you are sincere in your prayers God will surely answer them, but maybe not in the way you want them to be answered. Remember, He will always do things in the most perfect way possible.
Quo vadis Domine, thank you. These are words to remember.
94
ugh...this is so...disappointing... first I was slammed by things that contradicts with what I have learnt and thought I knew...then to find out the Church is so divided and I cannot trust anything... and now this part about my past marriage...:'(

Yes, unfortunately, things are a mess since Vatican II, and you're not alone in struggling with it.  Standards that the Church had in place for millennia were suddenly thrown out the window.  It can be difficult to navigate, but pray the Rosary faithfully, ask Our Lady for help in discerning God's will, and you'll invariably get to where you need to be.  This is precisely why some of us are Traditional Catholics.  Nefarious groups have been (by their own admission) attempting to infiltrate the Church for centuries, and by 1958 they finally succeeded at the top.  This is why Our Lady left the Third Secret and why Sister Lucia stated that its meaning would be "clearer" when nearing 1960.  This is a great apostasy, a falling away, that was predicted even in Sacred Scripture before the final arrival of the "Man of Sin".  Cardinal Ciappi, who read the secret, stated that it was about an apostasy that would "begin at the top".  This was all foretold for the sake of the elect, so that they wouldn't falter and lose faith in the Church, and God allowed it as a necessary sifting.  Just stay devoted to Our Lady's Rosary, which she said would be the last remedy available to mankind, and she'll take care of you and guide you.
95
ugh...this is so...disappointing... first I was slammed by things that contradicts with what I have learnt and thought I knew...then to find out the Church is so divided and I cannot trust anything... and now this part about my past marriage...:'(
Yes, things are very serious unfortunately. The times are such that many of us had to break off relationships and be persecuted for the faith.

God has mercifully brought you to where you are now, so close to the Truth, only a few more steps to take, although maybe the hardest of all.

Trust in God's Providence, pray the rosary for discernment and all will be well!
96
ugh...this is so...disappointing... first I was slammed by things that contradicts with what I have learnt and thought I knew...then to find out the Church is so divided and I cannot trust anything... and now this part about my past marriage...:'(
97
Anσnymσus Posts Allowed / Re: Reputations of Eastern Orthodoxy
« Last post by Marulus Fidelis on Yesterday at 07:40:25 AM »
No, but thank you for asking.  I know that is a common reason for people leaving the Church.  Also, thank you to everyone else.  I picked up a copy of the Fortescue book as well as one by Erick Ybarra (a novus ordite but he is a scholar on the Greek Schism) called "The Papacy."  I already pray the 15 decades but of course will continue to do so.  Prayer and study. 
Great! As I said, I'm positive the spiritual aspect is what counts here so I'd focus more on being in the right frame of mind, maybe read some lives of the saints as well.

:pray:
98
I could be wrong, but wouldn't his baptism wash away all sin even any that would come from adultery from a previous marriage? He's reborn as a son of God now.
I don't quite understand the point. Yes, all sins were forgiven him in baptism, but that doesn't make his marriage invalid or allow him to be intimate with another woman which I understood to be his present, post-baptismal, and unfortunate condition.
99
Anσnymσus Posts Allowed / Re: Reputations of Eastern Orthodoxy
« Last post by rosarytrad on Yesterday at 07:24:44 AM »
No, but thank you for asking.  I know that is a common reason for people leaving the Church.  Also, thank you to everyone else.  I picked up a copy of the Fortescue book as well as one by Erick Ybarra (a novus ordite but he is a scholar on the Greek Schism) called "The Papacy."  I already pray the 15 decades but of course will continue to do so.  Prayer and study. 
That's great to hear. I have it on good authority that Fr. Fortescue's book is an excellent source for learning about the Eastern Schism. May it strengthen your faith. 

Thank you, Sneedevacantist for recommending it! 
100
Anσnymσus Posts Allowed / Re: Please pray for my mother
« Last post by PAT317 on Yesterday at 07:11:40 AM »
:pray:
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