I joined CAST at the deepest darkest time in my life. I saw no light, only darkness, tears, and agony. CAST helped save my life and my spirituality. I had stopped going to Mass because I could not bear to go alone. I would not open the Bible on my own because it was nothing but empty words to me, how could God not stop him from destroying yet one more family? No one in my life wanted to be around me let alone let me talk about or express my pain, until I joined CAST.
It took awhile as you know, but I began by attending Mass. What could I do when you told me to get my butt out of bed and get ready because you were on your way icon smile Feedback Seriously though, I regularly attend Mass now and am a scheduled adorer at Adoration.
This was the first activity that I put any physical effort into. I really mean, to get out of bed was just something I did not do on a regular basis. But on Tuesdays I began to look forward to going to CAST, it became the first routine thing I did post divorce on my own. Now I take part in many activities on a regular basis and on the spur of the moment.
Through CAST and the divorce care classes, I have learned to begin to see the good in me. I have learned how to see some light in my darkness and more important it helped me work through stages of divorce and being alone. Now I can say that although there is still darkness, it is a small dot of darkness that I see, the rest is light!!
This is the first group of friends that I have made on my own, my friends, not “our friends”, these people care about me, want to be around me, we laugh together, sometimes we cry together. We give and take advice from each other and are just generally “there” for each other.
I get to meet new Catholics members who are struggling, just like me… and make good friends, people I can trust and hang out with.
I have made such great friends who are on the same page as I am spiritually and I am truly grateful to God for directing me towards CAST and I have the utmost respect for the group. I love the healing Mass, it was such a great experience and who doesn’t want to release their pain, so it was extremely beneficial.
I like the rosary before the meetings, it’s good to get in a prayer habit and thinking of others. We sometimes get so busy we don’t remember to take the time to pray for others. Perhaps during Lent we could do the Divine Mercy devotion. I am grateful for the healing mass. It’s intention is rarely voiced in a Mass when people make prayer requests. We often need help in this situation whether we admit it to ourselves, others, or not. I didn’t attend the annulment meetings, but thought they were a great idea. I know many people think CAST is a singles scene thing, which it isn’t. It’s nice to meet other Catholic adults and explore faith and what it means to us day to day. I learn things I didn’t know and reconsider some of the things I thought I did.. It’s always good to meet more like-minded friends.