How the specter of syncretism is being used to islamize the faith
The short version: don’t let anyone tell you to throw out a practice because they say it resembles Buddhism, for Buddha, being royal, may have known various spiritualities from the ancient world when he fasted and created Buddhism.
The Lord said the most important commandment was to love God with your whole heart, soul and mind. (Matthew 22:37.) Psalm 51:17 says of God, “You will not despise the heart which is wrent with sorrow.”
Praying from the heart has on occasion brought accusations of being a closet Buddhist and trying to syncretize Catholic prayer by turning it into the Buddhist practice of Metta which I now know is called one of the heart practices by Buddhists.
I was not a Buddhist but had tried to improve my prayer life from modern vagaries by reading The Imitation of Christ, The Spiritual Combat, The Sinner’s Guide, Philothea or an Introduction to the Devout Life, etc. as well as by praying.
Buddha was royal. His family was probably educated in the various religions and spiritualities of the world around them including the predecessor of Christianity which was Judaism. There is no basis to claim syncretism just because praying from the heart allegedly reminds possibly malicious third parties of Metta. There is also no reason to believe any component of any given form of prayer was completely unique to Judaism.
Atheistic Buddhists admit the Seven Petitions of the Our Father are excellent dispositions for Metta, but the faithful can also pray to the Divine from their heart as well.
I once prayed the Rosary from time to time, but people would say that Mary is the mother of God, and the Church is the spiritual mother of God, therefore I must be asking for the Church’s intercession, therefore I owe and owe them if I dare think my prayers had been answered. While the Church may teach it is our spiritual mother, I don’t think it enjoins hyperdulia to just any usurping claimant. I had read that it meant St. Mary the Mother of God intercedes with God for the benefit of the supplicant, and other Catholics are not mentioned as being asked for help, in fact they went to lengths to reinforce that Mary was perfect and selfless enough to trust. The act of putting one’s nose on another’s prayer life after tricking them into thinking one must not pray for them from the heart (for they are not Buddhist) is seemingly akin to demanding submission to rapport with Allah, or Allah-vus folk.
Perhaps I ran into a few baddies and their thinking doesn’t represent the mind or teaching of the Church but I hope no one lets the “Roman-rite Islamists” rearrange their prayer life through misplaced trust or the specter of syncretism without prayer and careful consideration.
Besides, there are Catholic priests who have openly become Buddhist Lamas and have not been defrocked, so I hear.
I hope anyone beset by Roman rite islamizers considers praying to the Father from their heart every day (and/or doing Metta even though it doesn’t always involve supplicating the Divine) for the natural world around them, especially for the germs they share with parties who won’t leave them alone, and for the roots and fungal networks beneath their feet. Some think it helps to reduce undesirable rapport. Don’t let them demand submission to rapport. Does the Communion of Saints demand submission to rapport? Don’t let them shame you into backing down and calling you nature boy or starchild. They will try.
The short version: don’t let anyone tell you to throw out a practice because they say it resembles Buddhism, for Buddha, being royal, may have known various spiritualities from the ancient world when he fasted and created Buddhism.
The Lord said the most important commandment was to love God with your whole heart, soul and mind. (Matthew 22:37.) Psalm 51:17 says of God, “You will not despise the heart which is wrent with sorrow.”
Praying from the heart has on occasion brought accusations of being a closet Buddhist and trying to syncretize Catholic prayer by turning it into the Buddhist practice of Metta which I now know is called one of the heart practices by Buddhists.
I was not a Buddhist but had tried to improve my prayer life from modern vagaries by reading The Imitation of Christ, The Spiritual Combat, The Sinner’s Guide, Philothea or an Introduction to the Devout Life, etc. as well as by praying.
Buddha was royal. His family was probably educated in the various religions and spiritualities of the world around them including the predecessor of Christianity which was Judaism. There is no basis to claim syncretism just because praying from the heart allegedly reminds possibly malicious third parties of Metta. There is also no reason to believe any component of any given form of prayer was completely unique to Judaism.
Atheistic Buddhists admit the Seven Petitions of the Our Father are excellent dispositions for Metta, but the faithful can also pray to the Divine from their heart as well.
I once prayed the Rosary from time to time, but people would say that Mary is the mother of God, and the Church is the spiritual mother of God, therefore I must be asking for the Church’s intercession, therefore I owe and owe them if I dare think my prayers had been answered. While the Church may teach it is our spiritual mother, I don’t think it enjoins hyperdulia to just any usurping claimant. I had read that it meant St. Mary the Mother of God intercedes with God for the benefit of the supplicant, and other Catholics are not mentioned as being asked for help, in fact they went to lengths to reinforce that Mary was perfect and selfless enough to trust. The act of putting one’s nose on another’s prayer life after tricking them into thinking one must not pray for them from the heart (for they are not Buddhist) is seemingly akin to demanding submission to rapport with Allah, or Allah-vus folk.
Perhaps I ran into a few baddies and their thinking doesn’t represent the mind or teaching of the Church but I hope no one lets the “Roman-rite Islamists” rearrange their prayer life through misplaced trust or the specter of syncretism without prayer and careful consideration.
Besides, there are Catholic priests who have openly become Buddhist Lamas and have not been defrocked, so I hear.
I hope anyone beset by Roman rite islamizers considers praying to the Father from their heart every day (and/or doing Metta even though it doesn’t always involve supplicating the Divine) for the natural world around them, especially for the germs they share with parties who won’t leave them alone, and for the roots and fungal networks beneath their feet. Some think it helps to reduce undesirable rapport. Don’t let them demand submission to rapport. Does the Communion of Saints demand submission to rapport? Don’t let them shame you into backing down and calling you nature boy or starchild. They will try.
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