There is a tender conscience, struggles with scruples, and then scrupulosity (like ocd). Scrupulosity, religious ocd, is not necessarily an issue of not recognizing God’s mercy (this may be part of it but not the primary cause for concern). Most scrupulous have no issue with mortal sin, but rather cannot discern mortal from venial sin and struggle with pathological guilt even though they are people of pure hearts. Having a spiritual director and only confessing with him is definitely a huge move, but there is no replacement for solid Exposure and Response Prevention therapy coupled with other forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The Church does a great disservice to the scrupulous (ocd) by telling them it’s primarily a spiritual issue. It is categorically a mental disorder that is invading one's spirituality and should be treated as such.

I spoke with a priest this past weekend about young people and scrupulosity. He said that they are seeing an increase in this and it is concerning. Young people that are wanting to live a good Catholic life are watching these videos but don't have a developed brain to know how to understand and properly apply the teaching. How do I know? Because my teenage boys are sharing these videos with me and are struggling with scrupulous tendencies. Their fear is that they don't know if they have thought things through because according to some of the other videos, you can fall into mortal sin in a split second. When my teenage son won't eat bread during lent for fear that unknowingly it has meat in it and could then be in mortal sin, that is a problem. Our teenagers are looking for a healthy formation of conscience to know the difference between venial and mortal sin with their not yet mature brain to think everything through. Please do a separate video addressed to teenagers and a healthy formation of conscience. They are watching and looking to these "experts" more than their parents.

I am the man crippled for 38 years. He is me. I cried out to God in frustration one night some months ago that the Church keeps making me wait to be baptized. Inevitably, I said, something always gets in my way and I cannot complete RCIA. That night, after crying out to God, a video clip popped up on my KZfaq feed: it was the scene from The Chosen (a show which I've never watched) about the man crippled for 38 years. I will be 38 in July. Tears began to stream down my face. I've done this before -- cried out to God in frustration because a lifetime of depression, despair, and addiction makes me feel paralyzed to properly respond to the Church and its call to conversion -- a faith I was not raised in and which I didn't even begin to seriously consider until late in my adult life. At a particularly low moment, away from my home and my family and feeling utter desolation, I cried out to God and demanded that He show Himself, if He exists at all. What followed was the most terrifying experience of my life, in which I carried on an entire conversation with someone that I later learned no one else could see. When I realized this, I had a rush of a deep euphoric awareness of God’s love for humanity. But that euphoria didn't last long, because I then began to see once again my own brokenness and sins, which I knew already, but now I saw them in relation to that all-encompassing love that I had felt. And I fell into a period of terror like nothing I have ever felt before -- a terror so intense that I was actually afraid that I had died and I was in hell. When you make demands of God, you must be careful what you ask for. He answered my demand. He showed Himself, and it resulted in me seeing my brokenness more clearly -- and that feeling is hell. But I was now ready to be introduced to the Divine Mercy, which I was some time later. I had that experience almost three years ago now, and what has followed is what I will call my "Three Years of Darkness" -- only in the last couple of days have I come to realize that for these last three years I have been stuck in the darkness of scrupulosity, which is why I continue to be frustrated and resentful and tempted to despair, feeling like what I was given is wasted on me because it's too late and I'm too broken. So earlier today I started reading a lot of stuff on scrupulosity and printing it out. Then, all the sudden, this video pops up. So... I am once again in RCIA, or rather, Sunday of last week I started the monthly meetings at the church until it begins in August. But I told the Sister, just so we're clear: "I would be baptized today if I could." The Church only "stirs up the water" once a year, and so far I have failed to make it, falling into bitterness and despair as a result. But I see now that scrupulosity was driving my impatience. I wasn't trusting God, that He can and will save me, even if (through no fault of my own) I am never baptized in this life. I needed to realize this and let it sink in. Jesus asked the crippled man if he wanted to be well because Jesus knows that when we have suffered for a long time, people can reach a point where they feel so utterly beat down and defeated that they no longer believe they *can* be well. They have lost hope and the will to go on, feeling that their brokenness cannot be fixed. When a person is paralyzed in that state, they can become frustrated with a promise of healing that always seems just out of reach. "I would be baptized today if I could." Please pray for me.

Matt, when you have a talk again with prof. Matt Breuninger, please approach this topic, specifically as it relates to OCD and exposure-response prevention therapy.

This video is more about rejecting sin than scrupulosity.

This was great!!!

My own vanity leads me to scrupulousity. I’m an ex-classical ballerina trained old school Soviet style. Most ballerinas have the archetype of scrupulousity and discipline. Then they go into extreme careless and back to scrupulousity. In many ways I can see how this was all good training God had me endure for the future date when I would be PUNCHED SILLY WITH His love. It was a surprise, not planned and I was not looking (or maybe I was unconsciously) The point is the bodily pain, hunger pangs, bloody and/or broken toe(s), extreme diets placing my body in starvation mode, and more was great training to lead me into mortification and fasting. This area of my life is the smallest compared to other life eexperiences that was for His reason, which now I fully comprehend. All bad is actually GRAND. I notice my scrupulousity and the good thing about my character type is I get sick and tired of my own self in all matters. I stop myself and accept. God loves me for me and some things take a little longer to get down in right order. I’m not worried He will get me there. He always does

I suffered from scrupulosity for a brief time in my life and I started being healed by studying an image of the Sacred Heart.

Mark DeJesus is such an amazing ressource for religious scrupulosity, perfectionism and OCD. I wish you could have him on the show, would be an amazing collab!! I love your channel, thank you for everything ❤

I see nothing wrong with the thumbnail. I don’t know why some people are saying it is bad.

Is it gluttony if you overeat so that way you’re not hungry at a later inconvenient time? Also what if I just want to gain weight and not be small?

Keep thy mind in Hell and dispare not.

This is not a good video for the scrupulous. This is going to make them worse. More despair, anxiety, etc.. Very incompetent and dangerous.

I didn’t really understand this but I am scrupulous, can someone help explain this to me🙏🏼

But is it scrupulocity or mediocrity? Hard to tell

You two are laughably ignorant about this topic. Especially the Grandpa.

Another immodest thumbnail on this channel …