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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
John Main	Nivlem	Monday, February 14, 2005
Question: Dear Bro, The website link below speakes about John Main n his christian meditation. http://www.innerexplorations.com/chmystext/john.htm I'm still skeptical about this kind of meditation using the mantra "Maranatha". My parish has a meditation grp that implements this christian technique. So I'm still in doubts whether it's safe to use it to meditate. Do u know of any other forms of christian meditation that derives from catholic origins? Thnk you for ur help and God Bless!
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Nivlem: There is absolutely no excuse for Catholics to use meditative techniques borrowed from Hinduism, Buddhism, or other Eastern Philosophies and Religions. Such techniques are based on a worldview and cosmology that is uttered inconsistent with Christianity. Anything in these Eastern techniques that can be co-opted into Catholic meditation and prayer has already been done by the Eastern Catholic monks some 1500 years ago. Their experiences and practices have been tested by time and the Church to ensure that any techniques used are in fact Catholic. While some techniques may look very similar to Eastern/Oriental meditaion practices the test of time and the Church has filtered out those elements not consistent with Christianity. Therefore, all that the Eastern religions and philosophies can offer us that can be consistent with Catholicism has already been co-opted. Modern people who try to co-opt ideas from the East today do so without 1500 years of testing and vetting. And, predictibly their techniques developed contain contaminations. Keating and Pennington's so-called "Centering Prayer" is among the most popular of this false co-opting and contamination. Because of these meditation movements the Vatican has issued a document concerning this subject: On Certain Aspects of Christian Meditation. Also helpful in understanding these issues is the article: The Dangers of Centering Prayer by Father John Dreher. An ancient form of Christian meditation that appears very similar to Eastern meditation is Hesychasm. This is the technique that uses the "Jesus Prayer": O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. The person prays, "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God", as he breathes in deeply; and then when saying, "have mercy on me, a sinner" as he exhales. This is not a mantra though it may look similar. Hesycasm has a controversial history in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Church. You can read about that from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia. As this form of prayer can be easily misused and misinterpreted it should not be attempted without a loyal Catholic Spiritual Director who is familiar with this form of contemplation. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

John Main

Nivlem

Monday, February 14, 2005

Question:

Dear Bro,

The website link below speakes about John Main n his christian meditation.
http://www.innerexplorations.com/chmystext/john.htm

I'm still skeptical about this kind of meditation using the mantra "Maranatha". My parish has a meditation grp that implements this christian technique. So I'm still in doubts whether it's safe to use it to meditate.

Do u know of any other forms of christian meditation that derives from catholic origins?

Thnk you for ur help and God Bless!

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Nivlem:

There is absolutely no excuse for Catholics to use meditative techniques borrowed from Hinduism, Buddhism, or other Eastern Philosophies and Religions. Such techniques are based on a worldview and cosmology that is uttered inconsistent with Christianity.

Anything in these Eastern techniques that can be co-opted into Catholic meditation and prayer has already been done by the Eastern Catholic monks some 1500 years ago. Their experiences and practices have been tested by time and the Church to ensure that any techniques used are in fact Catholic. While some techniques may look very similar to Eastern/Oriental meditaion practices the test of time and the Church has filtered out those elements not consistent with Christianity.

Therefore, all that the Eastern religions and philosophies can offer us that can be consistent with Catholicism has already been co-opted. Modern people who try to co-opt ideas from the East today do so without 1500 years of testing and vetting. And, predictibly their techniques developed contain contaminations. Keating and Pennington's so-called "Centering Prayer" is among the most popular of this false co-opting and contamination.

Because of these meditation movements the Vatican has issued a document concerning this subject: On Certain Aspects of Christian Meditation.

Also helpful in understanding these issues is the article: The Dangers of Centering Prayer by Father John Dreher.

An ancient form of Christian meditation that appears very similar to Eastern meditation is Hesychasm. This is the technique that uses the "Jesus Prayer": O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

The person prays, "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God", as he breathes in deeply; and then when saying, "have mercy on me, a sinner" as he exhales.

This is not a mantra though it may look similar.

Hesycasm has a controversial history in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Church. You can read about that from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia.

As this form of prayer can be easily misused and misinterpreted it should not be attempted without a loyal Catholic Spiritual Director who is familiar with this form of contemplation.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.