Reconcling with great aunt? Help!

[mymamamary]

Dear Moderators, please leave this up, as i only can assume this thread belongs here. Thank you.

Dear Forum, I have a great aunt that our family doesnt talk to. Family problems, she was not the nicest to my parents, etc., we havent talked in like, three years ( i think). She lives in the same town as us. But she doesnt talk to us anymore. Now, since i am going to join a religious order, next year, (im 16), i want to join all of our family members that are “rifted” from us, and i hope as a result just now, to bring them back to our Faith. Now, my question is, my parents dont agree with the idea, as they dont hate her (great aunt) but dont want to sin, by coming into her company (when i say sinning i mean, bad language, anger at her etc. family wounds you know). Since i am leaving anyway next year, to join the Order, would i be sinning by going and reconcling with the great-great aunt without my parents consent? at least 1 on 1 you know? i want this as a gesture of peace! what do you have to say?

 

[EasterJoy]

Ah, I am happy for you! You will have trials like all of us, of course, but I hope your discernment has been exactly right.

You’re joining a convent. Even if it is a strict cloistered convent, you’re not going to Mars. It would be nice to reach out to your great aunt, but do not try to force anything to happen. The Holy Spirit does not work on our time table; we work on His.

If you are old enough to join a convent, you are old enough to reach out to your blood relatives in peace. Don’t go behind your parents’ back, though. Let them know that you are resolved to do this–just to reach out, not to “accomplish” anything by the force of your own holiness–and stick with it. St. Therese will help you, if you ask! Allow them their sense of whether or not it is a good idea for them, though. You are embarking on a life of detachment, and detaching from a desire to control other people or coaching God on the best timetable is the hardest one.

 

[aicirt]

I say go for it!

Blessed are the peacemakers.

 

[Julia_Mae]

I say go for it!

Blessed are the peacemakers.

I agree, take her to lunch or something but… practice silence and humility. It’s likely to be an unpleasant encounter with lots of attacks on the rest of the family.

I think of trying to reconcile with my sister occasionally, but my daughter always points ojut how poisonous it would be for me.

Praying we meet in Purgatory.