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Caldera599
Guest
That is is OK to cut off people who are clearly poisonous and have no interest in listening to anyone who cares about their spiritual well-being?
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PaulfromIowa
Guest
You have no responsibility to talk to anyone except perhaps your parents. Why do you have to explain this to anyone?
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Lou2U
Guest
Yes, OP, who are you trying to explain this to? If someone is poisonous, you don’t have to talk to them or spend time with them.
Lou
Lou
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SAVINGRACE
Guest
I have found trying to care for someone else’s spiritual well being can lead to miscommunication, tension, arguments and ultimately failed friendships. The spiritual wellbeing of an individual is that persons cross to carry and that persons alone.
All I can do is care for them as a friend by listening. Most people don’t want/need personal/spiritual/religious advice, they just need someone to listen to them. Yes, it can be draining especially when dealing with people who are trouble magnets, live self-destructively or are already trainwrecks. Not everyone has the strength to be the shoulder to lean on and there is no shame in identifying that you can’t because if you can’t filter or compartmentalize at the end of the day it will negatively affect your spiritual well being and that’s not good.
This is why Catholics are so lucky, our Priests are our rock, their listening skills are second to none. Imagine all they have heard in Reconciliation and they are there for their parishioners no matter how annoying or broken we are. SUPERHEROES in my book.
All I can do is care for them as a friend by listening. Most people don’t want/need personal/spiritual/religious advice, they just need someone to listen to them. Yes, it can be draining especially when dealing with people who are trouble magnets, live self-destructively or are already trainwrecks. Not everyone has the strength to be the shoulder to lean on and there is no shame in identifying that you can’t because if you can’t filter or compartmentalize at the end of the day it will negatively affect your spiritual well being and that’s not good.
This is why Catholics are so lucky, our Priests are our rock, their listening skills are second to none. Imagine all they have heard in Reconciliation and they are there for their parishioners no matter how annoying or broken we are. SUPERHEROES in my book.
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Indigo_Cardinal
Guest
You don’t even have an obligation to talk to your parents (providing you’re legal age and living on your own) if they’re the toxic ones in your life.
And you don’t owe anybody an explanation for why you’ve cut somebody out of your life. If people ask, simply say, “It’s a private matter.” Hopefully most won’t push it after that.
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PaulfromIowa
Guest
That is arguable for Jews and Christians. The Commandment to honor one’s mother and father implies that we should take an interest in their welfare in their old age.
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AbideWithMe
Guest
Yes. And if anyone feels they need to take the drastic and dramatic step of cutting their parents out of their life, they’d better be absolutely certain that their judgment of their parents is correct—not some pop psychology or ‘I had a handful of psychology courses in college’ judgment— and that the relationship is unworkable and intolerable.
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MaryHelp777
Guest
It says in the new Testament:
“If your brother slips, go correct him in private,
If he will not listen, admonish him in the presence of two or three witnesses,
If he still will not listen let him be as dead to you.”
Basically meaning:
If someone should be avoided at certain times, because they have bad example, avoid them!
St Theresa of Avila wrote: “Only a fool thinks he can be friends with bad company and not get away unscathed.”
Avoiding sin also means avoiding bad company when it is the right thing to do.
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Luz_Maria
Guest
My Grandmother would always say good-bye to us by by saying, as we turned around to leave, “May God and your Guardian Angel keep you from a bad company and a bad moment.” Loved it!
Luz Maria
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