That Special feeling

Hey All,
Have you ever been riding in a car or sitting at home a feel a joy and sense of peace fall upon you that no words could describe. I had spent some time in the Pentecostal faith and was told that the Spirit would come upon me when I needed him and he was a real presence. However I must have been at the wrong bus stop because I never felt anything at all. This in and of itself was enough to drive me crazy! I was told of many cures for this issue. The main one was that I did not speak in tongues. So I gave that a try and the preacher prayed and sweated over me in a effort to get these spiritual words out of me. In fact I got so tired of standing there and made some noises just so he would quit before he had a brain aneurysm.
     I was told I did not pray enough and I then began a prayer life of epic proportions. This didn't work so I was told there was some sin I had not confessed to Christ and this held me back. I went through allot of actions asking for forgiveness but all I got from this was a really bad feeling about myself. Finally after I had tried many many cures I was told the same thing those who go to healing conferences and get no healing "You just don't believe enough". This line was so good I took it home and fertilized my backyard with it. I have always believed in God, Noah's Ark  and all the other Old Testament stories I took for fact and have not questioned them at all. The closest problem I can admit to was at that time I was sort of holding God at a arms distance. Something good happens praise the lord! something bad comes along, don't worry I can fix this all by myself. I talked at God often but rarely listened and only when I wanted somthing
     I returned to the Catholic faith last year due to some life events that had happened and was from the start on fire. I prayed 3 to 4 hours a day, said the Rosary and the Divine Chaplet daily and prayed for lost souls in Purgatory and all other kinds of things. I was a student on what was proper to do during a Mass and what was improper.Needless to say the veils on my wife and daughter made us stand out as it was but add that to bowing to the Priest as he processed in and out of Mass. Not holding our hands up when saying "and also with you" as well as tapping the chest three times when in the Lord's Prayer say and forgive us our trespasses. We weren't to say the social stars of our Church but we did not mind we worshipped in accordance with the ways of tradition all but forgotten these days.
It was during this time I was at my happiest and at the most peace. The Church became less of a place I had to go and more of a place I loved to go. Just walking in to Mass my wife would hear me say very softly. "I love it here".
     It was also during this time that my first experience with the presence of the Holy Ghost came to pass. I was riding in a car and was suddenly overcome with a feeling of peace and joy beyond explanation. It was a feeling that if you ever had you never wanted to lose everything was Good and there was nothing that had to be worried about because you knew (not guessed) but knew Christ was in control. These feelings would last perhaps a few minutes to a couple of hours and during these time all you could do was praise God because nothing mattered more than that at that moment. It was the best I had felt ever and as it happened again and again I never wanted it to stop. However I found that it could stop. Let you prayer life fade and miss a Mass or two and that is all it takes. Now when I say miss a Mass or two I should say we were on vacation traveling. However this is a very poor excuse to miss Mass. If I had out some effort into it I could have found a Church where I was.
     Once these first slips are made it is a very slippery slope and it takes allot of effort to begin again. The great this is that when you do begin again Christ returns and all is as it was. While this is a true sign of the forgiveness of Christ I would caution all that the suffering you feel while separated is of such unhappiness I pray none would find themselves in the absence of the presence of Christ, Sickness and fatigue are just two examples of what you must battle to get back on the correct path. Yet if you get by these times and pray for God to put you back on the path you will find yourself there before you know it. There is nothing like being in the presence of the Holy Ghost and nothing else compares to it. Once you experience it you will never want to lose it and if you do once there will not be a second time.
     The next few blogs I will post will be about my life before being Catholic and what happened in my life to

Until then God Bless You All!