We have designed a quiz that aims to invite our readers to reflect on how an ideology Catholics know is incompatible with our faith has been gradually, insidiously infiltrating our daily lives.
Words like “Transcendental Meditation,” “reiki,” “Bach Flowers,” and “cosmic energy,” are concepts that, little by little, have become part of our vocabulary. The “New Age,” which is not a religion nor a doctrine, and is better known for its practices (more and more common and widespread), has been entering our Christian life, arguing that its techniques are not harmful, and that they are completely compatible with the Christian faith (as with any other religion.)
The New Age originated as an easy answer to the desires of the modern man’s heart. Perhaps weary of a culture of “wellness,” we desire to contemplate the fundamental questions: “who am I?,” “Where did I come from?,” “Where am I going?” The New Age tries to answer these questions in such a way that ends up confusing the person, promoting the idea of an impersonal god, presenting transcendence as immanence, salvation as “auto-salvation,” grace as cosmic energy, prayer as relaxation and self-control, moral truth as experience, and eternal destiny as reincarnation.
“In sociological terms, the New Age has very little presence in spheres marked by material scarcity. Is it attractive and appealing in spheres of greater economic prosperity, to persons of a certain sociocultural status and religious sensitivity; persons who are exhausted by the materialist model, and who are looking for deeper answers in their lives. At the same time, such a solution must be easy and should not require a strong commitment. We must keep in mind that the New Age grows, in part, because there are people searching for God, who desire a reconciled life. The New Age is not only attractive to those fond of the occult and alternative, but also to many men and women who want an answer beyond what the secularized culture has to offer. The challenge for the Church is to go out and encounter such people, presenting Our Lord Jesus to them, the only One capable of answering the most profound hunger of men from any time and place.” (Fr. Gonzalo Len, New Age: The Challenge).
The original post can be found at Catholic-Link Spanish here. Translated by Lorena Tabares
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