Not Neutral

A while back someone asked me what I thought of "Reiki". I had to admit my ignorance and tell him that I had never heard of it before. After yesterday's post about spiritists and mediums, I thought it good to mention this because some Catholics think it is entirely acceptable because it does not involve a specific "medium" in the usual way.

Reiki is the practice of "energy healing" by laying on of hands. I will not get into all the details to try to convince you it is sinful to practice it. I will merely give you a simple straightforward story. An exorcist was once doing an exorcism and asked the demon how he got hold of the person who needed the exorcism (which is often done to help the person change his behavior and avoid falling into the same trap in the future). The demon confessed that it was through Reiki.

This happened because in the practice of Reiki, a person is seeking a healing of some sort (physical or spiritual) and so they open themselves up to whatever source of "energy" the practitioner is using. Since "palm healing" is not an act of the Holy Spirit, then there is only one other source for that so-called energy; and that is demonic. There is no real neutrality in the spiritual realm (things are always directed toward God or away from Him).

The problem is not that people want to find healing. The problem is that they are willing to seek that outside of the normal means that God has provided and laid out for us. Reiki is outside of those means. Do not seek to find anything that is an "alternative" to what God has given. And, if you really need to seek a new way of "healing" for something you are suffering from, then check with the Church's position about it before you head down that road and find that you have caused yourself more harm than good.