Traditional Catholicism & the New Age To Catholic Podcast (Podcast EP 4 + Video)

April 13, 2022


My Podcast

I have started and stopped the New Age To Catholic podcast a of times now. Which I think has more to do with spiritual warfare than it does with my feelings about the podcast itself.  So, I'm going to be talking a bit more about spiritual warfare going forward - in the podcast and on YouTube  

And as part of that. I'll be talking about learning Latin and other aspects of traditional Catholicism. Which is what this episode of New Age To Catholic (which originally aired January 1st) is about:


Or if you prefer the video version you can watch here:


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Untraditional Me

For me, growing up in the sixties and seventies, the world seemed both mysterious and expansive. The New Age and occult was central to this world view but there were a lot of other things that went along with it, like feminism and leftwing politics and Vatican 2, that I didn’t really question – until recently.

Having originally converted to Catholicism in the 1990s (then left and finally returned two years ago) I have always felt like the Novos Ordo (lit. new order) Mass WAS traditional. And I probably would have gone on thinking that way, if not for my experience during the Latin portion of a webinar deliverance prayer session performed by Catholic exorcist Monsignor Stephen Rossetti.

That webinar helped me realize that Latin is unusually effective in spiritual warfare. Which got me thinking.

I began to wonder why Latin and the Traditional Latin Mass are becoming more and more restricted. I began to look into Traditional Latin Masses (TLM) in my area. I was encouraged when one of my YouTube subscribers shared her experience with TLM and praying in Latin.

Providentially, I learned that there are two TLM churches in my area. One of which I can walk to.

Where I’m at Now

In some ways, I’m still straddling the line between traditionalism and the contemporary worldview. But I do have a strong interest in tradition. For now, I'm studying Latin and learning the Mass and just beginning to consider that I have been more wrong, in more ways, then I could have guessed.  

My prayer for the last several weeks has been to be better conformed to God’s will. And so, with that in mind, I’m not formally committing to anything. Other than continuing study and a committment to go wherever God leads me!

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Check out my podcast on most popular podcast apps (just search New Age To Catholic)

You can watch the video on YouTube here YouTube.com/barbaragraver  

Visit my author website at BarbaraGraver.com

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3 Differences Between Catholic & Non-Catholic Meditation

April 6, 2022

I recently did a video / blog post on Catholic meditation or meditative prayer.  In that post, I talked about the differences between Catholic and non-Catholic meditation.  For me, three key differences stood out.  

I'm not sure that I articulated them clearly in the video, so I thought it might be helpful to summarize them here.

The Three Differences I've Noticed

1. Catholic meditation or meditative prayer is part of a larger, well defined structure.  

Meditative prayer is the second of the nine levels of prayer mentioned by St. Teresa of Avila and others.  These levels begin with vocal prayer and gradually progress towards more contemplative levels of prayer.  New Age, Eastern and other forms of popular meditation are less defined.  

This means that when you participate in popular meditations (whether individually, in a group or via a recording) you often don’t know what you’re getting – or where that particular meditation is leading you.  Whereas in Catholic meditation you absolutely do.

2. The object of Catholic meditation is God.  

Other kinds of meditations have very different objects. The object of eastern meditation is to experience nothingness.  The object of New Age meditations center on various, often unknown, entities or energies.  In many cases these unseen entities or energies are imaginary; in others they are spiritually dangerous. Many popular relaxation type meditations also include eastern or New Age content, which may be placed at end of the meditation when the listener is in an open (and vulnerable) state of mind.  Whether real or imaginary the objects of popular meditation don't offer any actual spiritual value.

Catholic meditation can help bring you closer to God.  Over time, it can lead to real progress in the spiritual life as you approach looking at things as God might.  Such progress can help us in practical ways as we overcome vices and develop virtue.  It's spiritual value is beyond estimation.

3.  Catholic meditation is an effective form of spiritual warfare.  

Because prayer raises your heart and mind to God, it creates an atmosphere that’s inhospitable to demons.  In fact, according to Catholic exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger (who is my resource for much of the information shared in these posts) it’s possible for people to rid themselves of demonic obsession solely through Catholic meditation. 

Other forms of meditation however can, and sometimes do, have the opposite effect.  They may open doors that make us vulnerable to demonic influence or attack.


In Summary

Catholic mystics, like St. Teresa of Avila, have been utilizing mediation to get closer to God for hundreds of years.   In the way of other New Age modalities, popular meditation may mimic the deeper spiritual practices of the Catholic faith but but can't provide the same spiritual benefits and may even be spiritual unsafe.
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To see my previous post and video on this topic, please click here.
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