Q : 
Response to your answer to Can Catholics practice Longevitology – Longevitology users channel universal energy when putting hands on others (if God created the universe then the energy is also created by God). During an "adjustment" they are not necessarily thinking of anything, but just allowing the universal energy to pass through them while meditating.
【 Question from 】 Other, US

Fr. Francis : 

Can Catholics practice Longevitology?

That something is created good by God does not automatically means that it can only be used for good or can only cause good results. Satan does not create, but he takes what God creates and twists it for his evil purposes or misuses it to cause harm. Water is created good, but I can use water to save you or drown you.

So, just because the “universal energy” is created good does not automatically mean letting it passing through you guarantee it is used according to God’s Will.

The core problem with longevitology, which may not have been intended evil, is that like many non-Christian transcendental meditation, mindfulness meditation, yoga meditation, all in all New Age spirituality, is that it thinks it is authentically spiritual when one empties his mind to receive, either some universal energy or divine immanence. But it is on this point that it is decisively not Christian. In fact, it is on this point that St. John in his first epistle meant when he said the anti-Christ is the one who denies the Incarnation.

Let me explain.

While these spiritualities, which more precisely is called spiritisms, emphasizes the emptying of the mind, Christian spirituality has always since the very beginning teaches the opposite: that true meditation is not the emptying of one’s mind, but the focusing on Christ the Incarnate Word.

Without going into too much theology and tradition, the mind is a faculty that does not have a door — both God and Satan can walk in anytime; while the heart is guarded
— namely, only those things we allow can walk in. The problem of a spirituality that teaches one to empty his mind and receive, is essentially allowing one’s mind and heart to be both unguarded, and to imagine whatever may occur to be good without protection or discernment. To imagine that the Enemy would not take advantage of this is simply foolhardy at the least.

Jesus spoke about this in the passage about the strong man (Luke 11:21ff). The Enemy cannot come in when there is a strong man guarding our house. Our strong man is Jesus, who defeated Satan. It is He alone who can truly guard our heart. When we empty our mind to meditate, we are also emptying our heart’s guard, then the strong man is not there. The Enemy will come to steal, rob and murder; at the least, he will plant weeds to destroy our wheat.

In case you may think this is a bit overblown, let me tell you some real examples I encountered.

Someone who was depressed experienced great relief in this type of meditation and energy healing. Because she was emptying her mind, But what really was happening was simply the euphoria coming from de-stressing. But because the meditation was not Christocentric, her imagination connects it to whatever her mind wants to be what God directs. In her case, she imagines that it was a magic formula God gave her. So over time she put more and more trust in her ability to enter into meditation and the experience of the energy, and less and less on Christ. The tool, the energy created by God so to speak, slowly took the place of God Himself. Within a short time her language changed and she no longer follows the Gospel; she stopped praying and going to Church. She believes her gospel is this new lifestyle, this new methodology.

Another one, while he was meditating and experiencing seemingly great benefits from this healing, slowly began to hear a voice. But he was accustomed to receive and believe this energy is good, the voice automatically was received with trust. But this voice begins to make demands and makes statements that are really half-truths. It was not long before his family was alarmed but some of his behaviour alerted the priest, only to be discovered that he was possessed, all because he himself invited the Enemy in by “emptying his mind”, and not focusing on Christ.

At the end, longevitology provides nothing new that Christian spirituality did not already provide. As I wrote in my original article, it is essentially what we practised since Pentecost when we lay hands on a sick person and pray in Jesus’ name. The only thing that is new with longevitology is removing Christ from the equation, who by the way is the author of all true healing to begin with, and replacing Him with this impersonal energy. Christians stumble into this not because it is new; rather it is because they have not experienced the fullness and the richness of Christianity and the Pentecost!

I can understand non-Christian may stumble into this source of healing innocently. But for Christians to practise it, whatever the reason — be it ignorance or otherwise, it is in reality nothing short of taking God’s gift of healing but removing Him in the equation, in other words, this leads one to the possibility of plagiarizing God, the hallmark of the Enemy.

In essence, longevitology is simply a deficient tool, if not outright dangerous, too easily used by the Enemy on the unsuspecting soul. It is also unnecessary for one who knows the power of Christ manifest through the Holy Spirit.