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Monday, August 18, 2008

Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing
















As I was spending some time surfing the Internet I came across the book,
"Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing: A New Way of Praying the Rosary."
This is the description of the book found at Amazon.com

Book Description
"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence."--Mother Teresa

This remarkable work presents the well known Catholic prayer, the Hail Mary, with pranayama--an ancient breathing method practiced in yoga.

For readers looking for refreshment, meaning, and heightened spiritual connection, HAIL MARY AND RHYTHMIC BREATHING is an extraordinary resource.

Topics include: coordinating proper inhalation with prayer; the Hail Mary; a look at the lives of Mother Teresa and Gandhi; the physical benefits of mediation and prayer on the heart; and ten meditations.

Now I don't know about you but there is something confusing about this:

The Rosary is a prayer used within Catholicism

Yoga

















Statue of Shiva performing Yogic meditation

From Wikipedia
Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India, to the goal achieved by those disciplines, and to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy.


Yoga is linked with Hinduism which is a religion opposed to the truth of Christianity.


The book also talks about Gandhi:

From Wikipedia:

Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised Hinduism all his life, deriving most of his principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to a different faith. He was an avid theologian and read extensively about all major religions.


He had the following to say about Hinduism:
"Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being...When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita."


We have a book that is mixing Catholicism with Hinduism as if the two are somehow compatible.

Now my question is simple, Will Catholics accept this book? Will they embrace the idea of this book with no problems at all? In my conversation with catholics they always try to insist that Catholicism is truly biblical and is true Christianity in practice.

True Christianity insist that there is only one Savior and that is Jesus Christ. True Christianity insist that there is only one way to the father and that is through Jesus Christ. True Christianity rejects other religions as false!


Way of Life Literature posted an article addressing this book. Here is what they had to say:


GREAT END-TIME BLENDING (Friday Church News Notes, August 15, 2008, http://www.wayoflife.org/ fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -


A great end-time blending is in process throughout Christianity and beyond to the religious world at large. Fundamentalists are affiliating with Evangelicals; Evangelicals are affiliating with Roman Catholics; and Catholics are affiliating with all the pagan religions. Richard Galentino’s new book Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing (Paulist Press, 2008) is an example. Galentino merges Hindu yoga with the Catholic Rosary. The original title was Hail Mary and the Art of Yoga Breathing.

The merging of Catholicism with non-Christian religions has been picking up steam each decade since the Second Vatican Council, which said: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. ... The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions ... they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men” (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Oct. 28, 1965).

This opened the door for the interfaith dialogue that has resulted, not in the Catholicization of paganism but in the further paganization of Catholicism. The call for interfaith dialogue has been repeated forcefully by every pope since Paul VI. One of the segments of the Roman Catholic Church that has responded in a big way is the Catholic monastic orders (Trappist, Benedictine, Franciscan, etc.). Since the 1970s they have developed intimate ties with their counterparts in pagan religions, and they have discovered that contemplative mysticism is an effective bridge for interfaith unity. In recent decades many Catholic priests have become Hindus and Buddhists, while remaining Catholics. The very influential Trappist monk Thomas Merton claimed to be both a Buddhist and a Christian. Paulist priest Thomas Ryan took a sabbatical in India in 1991 and was initiated into yoga and Buddhist meditation. Today he is a certified teacher of Kripalu yoga. In our new book Contemplative Spirituality: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond and in the article “Second Pagan Invasion into the Roman Catholic Church” we provide extensive documentation for this phenomenon.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1).
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> posted by Trevor Hammack at

1 Comments:

Blogger Timothy said...

>"Will Catholics accept this book? Will they embrace the idea of this book with no problems at all?"

Probably not as the book seems to lack an imprimatur.

One of the spiritual protections Catholics enjoy is the protection from false doctrines and practices by virtue of the nihil obstat and imprimaptur. A book faithful to Catholic doctrine usually bears both guarantees.

Thank you for your concern and act of charity.

God bless...

+Timothy

August 18, 2008 at 5:56 PM  

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