The practice of yoga places great importance on breathing, and that seems to be the case with Christianity too - if a recent speech by Pope Francis to charismatic Catholics is any indication.
"When we inhale, by prayer, we receive the fresh air of the Holy Spirit," he said last week. "When exhaling this air, we announce Jesus Christ risen by the same Spirit."
The Pope spoke Friday to members of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships during their Sixteenth International Conference. The group's theme this year is "Praise and charismatic worship for a New Evangelization."
"No one can live without breathing. It is the same for the Christian: without praise and mission there is no Christian life," Pope Francis told the group.
The category "charismatic Catholic" came into being after the Second Vatican Council. Outwardly, it looked like once-sedated Catholics raising their hands in worship and praying out loud in a Pentecostal spirit. Many of those who experienced the Charismatic Renewal started meeting together in intentional communities.
Popes before Francis have not been strangers to this movement, but have more or less given it a Catholic stamp of approval.
In fact, since his original appointment in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, the preacher to the papal household who delivers sermons to the Pope himself, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, has been a leader among charismatics.
Characteristically, Pope Francis gave his listeners at the Vatican two warnings aimed at opposing problematic tendencies within the Catholic Charismatic Movement.
To Catholics whose worship includes singing, dancing and praising but forgets Mary, he said, "Prayer to the Mother of God must never be excluded, never!"
And to Catholics whose fellowship excludes Christians of other denominations, he said, "Do not forget your origins... the Charismatic Renewal is, by its very nature, ecumenical."
Francis feels at home with the charismatic crowd - he was special assistant to the charismatic renewal in Buenos Aires. But it didn't start out that way. In June, he told a group of charismatics that he used to think their joyful praise was a "samba school" and a style of worship he didn't share.
He later came to believe the charismatic movement "was willed by the Holy Spirit" in order to be "a current of grace in the Church." He told the June audience they are a "great force meant to serve the preaching of the Gospel in the joy of the Holy Spirit."
The Pope said he had noticed that charismatic groups appreciate God's love for all his children and have a special love of God's word in the Bible, which they often carry on their person.
Kathryn Elliott covers the Vatican, Pope Francis and all things related to the Catholic Church for HNGN. She is a producer for EWTN News Nightly, an international cable news show airing weeknights at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST on the Global Catholic Television Network. Kathryn has reported for the National Catholic Register, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Catholic Spirit, The Minnesota Daily and The Word Among Us Magazine. She has a BA in professional journalism from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Kathryn lives in Washington D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @kmelliott90.
