Assuming Burdens of Others

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blackforest

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I know someone who will ask people if she can have their burdens for them. It’s how she copes with other people around her who are dealing with life struggles - e.g. divorce, substance abuse, domestic violence. She considers this a spiritual exercise.

She’s Catholic, and I’m wondering if this is in any way compatible with Catholic theology? ?s there any Church teaching that sheds light on this practice?
 
I’m not too sure 🙂 I have learnt though, that the hardships we often have to endure are in some way benifit for our soul.If someone took my burdens upon themselves I might not have that opportunity to grow.
I can understand offering up and praying for specific hardships ,but I’m not sure about ‘having’ them.
I’ll be interested for someone else to give a thorough answer
 
I have to say that this sounds a bit weird to me - not to offend a maybe valid spiritual task, but I can´t believe (and these are only my feelings) the idea of any human, especially a stranger, being able to understand the burden of others that good to take it. We take our burdens to Jesus, as he fully knows every pain, and he´s the only one I´m really comfortable to do this…
 
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That’s what I was thinking.

I was just wondering if there was any Scriptural or Magisterial basis for this concept before I criticized it.
 
blackforest said:
That’s what I was thinking.

I was just wondering if there was any Scriptural or Magisterial basis for this concept before I criticized it.
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Well, I’d say it’s both anti-scriptural and anti-magisterial.

The church encourages us to aid in other’s burdens.

Only Jesus and priests in persona Christi can “take on” a burden.

Basically, she’s putting herself in the place of Jesus where she has no business being as she is not a priest.
 
She can pray for the other people, but she has no power to take their burdens unless she’s doing something practical like paying off their debt or giving free shelter in her house to the homeless.
There is no way someone can assume another person’s emotional pain, much less their health problems like addiction or cancer.

It sounds like this lady has been reading some new age stuff to me.
 
She claims to suffer with them in order to relieve someone else of suffering.

What she really does, I suspect, is use them to distract herself from her own burdens that she can’t deal with.
 
I have heard of doing this.

One can do this, where you heroically suffer for someone else. This may be what she’s trying to do. I read about this a long time ago, and I can’t think of what else it’s called though.

It’s like you’re trying to be a victim soul, or something like that.

I may not be using the correct terminology, though. If I can think of the correct terminology or if I can find it, I’ll post back.

It’s not anything “New Age.”

It’s rather like “offering up” your suffering for others.
 
oldgraymare2 said:
It’s rather like “offering up” your suffering for others.
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“Offering up” or being a “victim soul” does not mean the other person you’re suffering for will be relieved of their burdens in life. Most of the people who become victim souls are offering their own suffering in reparation for the sins of souls in Purgatory or on earth.
 
oldgraymare2 said:
I have heard of doing this.

One can do this, where you heroically suffer for someone else. This may be what she’s trying to do. I read about this a long time ago, and I can’t think of what else it’s called though.

It’s like you’re trying to be a victim soul, or something like that.

I may not be using the correct terminology, though. If I can think of the correct terminology or if I can find it, I’ll post back.

It’s not anything “New Age.”

It’s rather like “offering up” your suffering for others.
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Being a victim soul does not involve speaking to that person about psychological issues. It’s about spiritual ones. The Saints have offered sacrifices for those in purgatory or those who were in grave sin. And it’s never taking on the burden so a person has the feels, but making reparation to God
 
Hi 'TisBear,

I found what I was looking for…

Here is a link to it, that explains things better than I can…

It is called “heroic suffering.”

From the divinemercy.org website:


Your suffering doesn’t only have to be for the souls in Purgatory.

It can also be current, of those who are still living on Earth.

I offer my sufferings for those who may be lost, who may have no one to pray for them, for those who may be on the road to Hell, and for poor sinners.

The OP’s friend may be the one who knows what she is trying to do. I’m only trying to explain from my own interpretation of my understanding of the post.

God bless you! 🙂

I’m editing my original post here to add in the part about “heroic suffering” from the article from the “divine mercy” website. Here is the snippet from it, from St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy Diary entry:

In Diary entry 309, St. Faustina heroically offered herself to our Lord, willing to endure even extraordinary sufferings for the good of souls: “I make a voluntary offering of myself for the conversion of sinners, especially for those souls who have lost hope in God’s mercy.”
 
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Thank you for the insight.

My one concern is that she isn’t as spiritually strong as she thinks she is, although only God can truly be the judge of that. She has a lot of big problems in her personal life, esp. with her marriage, as it is and distracts herself by nurturing others. Perhaps it’s easier than nurturing her DH right under her nose.

I realize that I’m stating the obvious, but the best we can do is pray for others.
 
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blackforest said:
Thank you for the insight.

My one concern is that she isn’t as spiritually strong as she thinks she is, although only God can truly be the judge of that. She has a lot of big problems in her personal life, esp. with her marriage, as it is and distracts herself by nurturing others. Perhaps it’s easier than nurturing her DH right under her nose.

I realize that I’m stating the obvious, but the best we can do is pray for others.
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You’re welcome. 🙂

Sometimes I’ve personally found that I don’t always know what’s going on in someone else’s life. They may not share everything with us. Some details may get left out–even something that can make something else a little more clear to understanding.

You’re right, about praying for others. Prayer is very powerful, and it can do wonderful things all around.

God bless you for caring about your friend. 🙂
 
I understand, and what you are doing is fine.

But you’re offering your OWN sufferings. You’re not telling other people, “I will assume your suffering for you” or “I will relieve you of your burdens in life.”

It may be that the OP is confused about what the person is doing. But if someone was saying to other people, “Give your sufferings to me, I will relieve you of your burdens”, my response would be, “Only Jesus can do that.”
 
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