Is there Such a Thing as Secular Mindfulness?

BD writes: “I have repeatedly asked my therapist to find something other than mindfulness to help me with my anxiety issues. But he insists that this therapy has no Buddhist roots (even though he admits that it is based on the MBSR) and has been secularized. Is this true?”

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Can I pray to St. Expedite?

St. Expeditus (WikiCommon: Piotr Rymuza)

LB writes: “Is praying a novena to this saint okay? I’ve read different things about leaving an offering of pound cake and that some people that practice voodoo pray to this saint. So that concerns me and I don’t want to invite the wrong things into my life. I know he has a huge following in Brazil, but given that I’ve read different things about this saint, I wanted to be sure. Is he not considered a true saint because there is no historical record of an actual date of death? Please advise.”

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Prayer Blankets

EW writes:I am writing for information about a gift that I received from some Catholic women friends. I have heard them talk about the practice of Reiki and Healing Touch. They are involved with it in the hospital settings. They call it a prayer blanket and they are hand-made from cloth material. It is 17″ x 17″, the back and front are beautifully quilted. In the front is a centered cross. The prayer blanket comes with a prayer blessing for the one that places it on the part of the body that needs prayer. I heard a priest in his homily that Catholic school children made prayer blankets and sent them to the missions for a school project. Does this have anything to do with the New Age?”

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Fr. Keating and the Controversy Surrounding Centering Prayer

By Connie Rossini

Former Trappist Abbot Father Thomas Keating passed away Oct. 25. Father Keating was the primary architect of the centering prayer movement, which has thousands of adherents throughout the world. From the beginning, centering prayer has been surrounded by controversy. What is centering prayer? Is it in keeping with the Catholic tradition? Should Catholics practice it?

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When Eastern Meditation Goes Wrong

Although Eastern meditation practices are being sold wholesale to the public as a panacea for everything from stress to digestive issues, experts say there can be very real – and very serious – consequences to these mind-control techniques.

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