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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
praying to God present in others	Linda	Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Question: Dear Brother Ignatius; Here I go with another question:) Can one person kneel down and pray before another person claiming that they are praying to God present in the person before them? This happened in a group that my adult sons went to. Many of the people are involved in Charasmatic events and gatherings and I was wondering if this reasoning came from that. It is true that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and if we have received the Eucharist we have God present in us but to then show outward worship of God by praying before the person who has received the Eucharist seems to me to confuse people with worshipping God and showing worship to a human being. Also God is present in us by grace not like the Eucharist which is God totally, so could you worship God present in us this way? Only one person in the group of people outwardly objected and that was my son. Are we wrong to think this way or is this something the church holds with that we didn't know about?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Linda: Praise God for your son. He was apparently the only one with a brain or knowledge of the faith in that group. This is just another example of the wacko and even heretic practices that can come about when people place emotions and subjectivity (like the charismatics do) before reason. The concept of bowing to the "god within you" comes from Hinduism and Buddhism, among other sources. Nutballs like Shirley MacLaine and others talk about the "god within" and go further to say that we are gods. While this group may not go that far for them to kneel in front of someone supposedly praying to the "god within us" smacks of idolatry at worse, new age wackoism however unknowingly, or just plain stupidity. Sorry for the harshness here, but these people get me who don't seem to have two brain cells of faith between them and thus come up with the strangest abhorations. Stay close to the Church people, I would tell them, and submit your subjective ideas to the discipline of REASON -- you know, that faculty of intelligence and right thinking (orthodoxy)! Praise God for your son who was a fresh air of sanity at this meeting. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

praying to God present in others

Linda

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Question:

Dear Brother Ignatius;

Here I go with another question:)

Can one person kneel down and pray before another person claiming that they are praying to God present in the person before them?

This happened in a group that my adult sons went to. Many of the people are involved in Charasmatic events and gatherings and I was wondering if this reasoning came from that.

It is true that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and if we have received the Eucharist we have God present in us but to then show outward worship of God by praying before the person who has received the Eucharist seems to me to confuse people with worshipping God and showing worship to a human being.

Also God is present in us by grace not like the Eucharist which is God totally, so could you worship God present in us this way?

Only one person in the group of people outwardly objected and that was my son.

Are we wrong to think this way or is this something the church holds with that we didn't know about?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Linda:

Praise God for your son. He was apparently the only one with a brain or knowledge of the faith in that group.

This is just another example of the wacko and even heretic practices that can come about when people place emotions and subjectivity (like the charismatics do) before reason.

The concept of bowing to the "god within you" comes from Hinduism and Buddhism, among other sources. Nutballs like Shirley MacLaine and others talk about the "god within" and go further to say that we are gods.

While this group may not go that far for them to kneel in front of someone supposedly praying to the "god within us" smacks of idolatry at worse, new age wackoism however unknowingly, or just plain stupidity.

Sorry for the harshness here, but these people get me who don't seem to have two brain cells of faith between them and thus come up with the strangest abhorations. Stay close to the Church people, I would tell them, and submit your subjective ideas to the discipline of REASON -- you know, that faculty of intelligence and right thinking (orthodoxy)!

Praise God for your son who was a fresh air of sanity at this meeting.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum