"Whoever is not against us is for us." Mark. 9:40
"If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges." Mattew. 12:27
Reiki is the union of two Japanese words: Rei, which means universal, total or essence and Ki, which means vital energy. Created by the Japanese Buddhist, Mikao Usui, Reiki is a natural, non-invasive therapy aimed at restoring the spiritual and psychological health and well-being of a person. Through the laying of hands, the therapist helps the patient gain access to vital energy, universal and divine, which relieves stress and accelerates the natural healing process of the body and mind. The therapist is only a catalyst or facilitator; it is really the patient who heals himself or herself by connecting to the divine and healing vital energy.
In all of Christ’s miraculous healings, the faith of the one asking for the healing was a “sine qua non" (absolutely necessary) condition. In Reiki too, it is the patient, through the therapist, who taps into God’s vital energy and healing power. This faith is the catalyst to the salvific energy that comes from God, as we see in the healing of the woman who endured hemorrhages -- she touched the fringe of Jesus' cloak, and without him realizing it, the energy flowed out of him, and she was cured (Luke 8:43-48).
Contemporary thinking can no longer explain reality based on Newton's mechanistic physics, but rather on the theory of relativity and quantum physics. However, most Christian thinkers, the theologians, still base their thinking on Newtonian physics, this being one of the main reasons why they reject Reiki as a physical and psychological technique.
Faith being a "reasonable obeisance", according to the First Vatican Council, within the framework of Newton’s mechanistic physics, where reality is governed by fixed and unalterable laws, it becomes difficult to explain Jesus’ miracles and healings, Christ’s resurrection, and subsequently our own. These same mysteries can be explained more reasonably on the basis of the theory of relativity, quantum physics and the Heisenberg principle, for which we no longer speak of laws of nature but of statistical probabilities, which involve a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability. For Einstein, energy and matter are transmutable and equivalent; energy is a form of matter, and matter is a form of energy.
The Manichean mentality, which understands that in creation there are good things and bad things, and advocates God as the lord of the good and the devil as the lord of the evil, forgets that God created everything out of nothing and everything God created is good. Everything in nature is a manifestation of his goodness and there are no supernatural forces that are not manifestations of God's power. Christ has sheep from other fold (John 10:16) and whoever is not against us is for us (Mark. 9:40).
There are also those who associate Reiki with the New Age, and because of this, it should be condemned. New Age is a syncretism of religions and for this reason should not be considered totally negative. Rejecting the idea that God is not a personal being but an energy, everything else can be adapted to Christianity. Haven’t we built churches where pagan temples used to be? And didn’t we replace the worship of goddesses with the veneration to Mary, the mother of our Lord? Who doesn't like the music of Enya and the magic of Paulo Coelho’s books? Yet, they are New Age, "let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater".
Reiki, like yoga, Zen, transcendental mediation and other eastern therapies, is not a religion or even a philosophy, but rather a technique for healing and spiritual growth. Reiki does not proclaim that God is a cosmic energy, but that this cosmic energy is divine. Nor does it deify its founder Mikao Usui, even though he was inspired by Jesus and by his miraculous healings through the laying of hands. Usui's technique is followed, but his name is not invoked during therapy. There are no rules in Reiki prohibiting Christian therapists from invoking the name of Jesus or the Holy Spirit in order to obtain the grace of healing.
I took a two-year residential course on psycho-spiritual counselling at a Catholic institute in England founded by Cardinal Hume of London. During this time, I trained in various healing techniques, including Reiki. My teachers, priests like myself, and some religious women, do not see any contradiction between the Christian faith and the practice of Reiki; on the contrary, we think they can even complement each other.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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