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CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 36, NO 1; APRIL 2012
Christian Meditation NE WSLETTER OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
www.wccm.org
Registered Charity No. 327173
INTERNATIONAL EDITION, VOL. 36, N O 1; APRIL 2012
The gentle teacher of
patience But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22,23)
LINDA KAYE, US* JOHN MAIN SEMINAR 2012
“Spirituality and Environment” Itaici - Indaiatuba, SP Brazil August, 16th to 19th led by
Leonardo Boff Phd guest speaker
Fr. Betto, OP Pre-Seminar Retreat: “BE WHO YOU ARE” August 13th to 16th led by Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB Pilgrimage "MEDITATING INTO THE POWER OF NATURE": Iguazu Falls August 19th to 22th
More Information: www.johnmainseminar2012.com email: jms12info@gmail.com
Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit. It is related to the way we handle time but also to situations of life, relationships. We usually don't like to wait, whether for good or bad things that lie ahead. It is also often difficult to support our "neighbour ", even very close people, that we most love. So, parents lose their patience with children (and vice versa), couples, friends, co-workers ... all human relationships, in short, can be a test of patience. And in a world where the speed of our routine borders the instantaneous, nobody seems willing to wait. For example: try waiting an extra five seconds at the traffic light after the green light appears. But, in our daily meditation, we stop. At least twice a day we exercise the stillness of body and mind, just being, in the present moment, in God’s presence. What does meditation have to teach us about patience? That was the question we sent some meditators of our community.
lindakayec@gmail.com In Word Made Flesh John Main writes, “If we can only learn the humility, patience and fidelity to say our mantra we can enter fully into everything there is.” Every time I sit down to meditate it is a new beginning, another opportunity to practice patience through the humbling experience of the ever present distractions of the monkey mind. The mantra leads me back into the present moment, renewed and refreshed in the spirit, simply by giving my full attention to the one word. How does this teach me patience? I am just beginning to have a glimmer of understanding after more than a decade of saying the mantra, of the truth in the words of Abba Moses, “Go and sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything” I live alone near the beach with my nine-year-old standard poodle, RazzleDazzle so there are few distractions in my simple life near the ocean. However, I volunteer in community as director of the WCCM Neptune Beach Center in Florida, which provides many opportunities to practice patience, kindness, listening, being less judgmental and offering presence rather than advice. And on a daily basis I have
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many failures. Today I see these ‘failures’ as ‘opportunities for character building.’ I have a lot to learn about humility and patience and I am grateful it is a journey of awakening, one day at a time, of progress not perfection! Christian Meditation, ‘the prayer of the heart,’ continues to heal the unconscious where old wounds remain and cause my spirit to be restless and seek worldly distractions. Selfacceptance and self-knowledge are direct results from simply showing up twice a day in the silence with no agenda. It is my personal experience while trudging the many roads to happiness, that patience, or any fruits of the spirit, cannot be sustained by positive thinking, created through will power or manipulated into fruition from self-analysis. The ongoing transformation from ‘a stony heart to a heart of flesh’ and the ‘renewal of my mind’ has been the work of the mantra that has gently and patiently led me home and put a new spirit in me…Christ in me – “everything there is.” * Linda is the Director of The WCCM Neptune Beach Center in Florida
PIERRE INOBERT, HAITI* inobert@yahoo.fr In our fast paced world, we often find that we lack time to do our regular duties. To sit in meditation for 20 minutes may look like a long time, when we take much less time to eat for example. If we can speed up the meal time, meditation is different. When we are eager to finish, we just mess it up. Meditation is by definition a teacher of patience. We first sit in a quiet atmosphere. If possible, taking a shower before meditation helps cool down the body and regulate the glands secretions, which play a major role in our state of mind. We first need to be aware of our breathing. Our respiration rate is closely related to our state of mind. The slower our breathing, the calmer our mind, the more focused we are, the better our meditation is. Sometimes, we find out that we’re off track. We need to resume our slow and regular breathing and get back to our Mantra. It needs to be repeated a certain amount of time to feel its power. All in meditation has to do with patience. To do it and enjoy the results is all a patience game. * Pierre is the Haiti National Coordinator
SAMANTHA ARBUCKLE, UK* samarbuckle2005@yahoo.co.uk Meditation has taught me that I can only learn about patience when I fail. Repeating the mantra means I have to be patient with myself because I keep getting distracted
and I have to keep returning to the word. This happens regularly and is a predictable part of my practice. Along with this experience of constant distractions, I come into a felt experience of failure. But meditation teaches me that failure is vital, and necessary for growth. When I get distracted and return to the mantra, patience is enabled to grow its muscle. Patience is a space. It is a space where relationship can take place. I am being taught that as I sit still and return to the word I return to a relationship which is radical and life changing. As I fail, I learn to be patient and as patience grows its silent strength forgives and accepts. I also learn that patience is relational. This is because as I learn to be patient in meditation, I learn that someone or something is being patient with me. I learn this through experience every time I fail. It is there each time I return regardless the length of time I have been away: a loving kindness that has seen it all before and is there in friendship. Patience is the quality in friendship that is simply 'being with' - to be by someone's side. Patience sustains my friendship with the tenderness and care of a deeper reality that exists beyond condemnation, criticism or failure. A gravitational pull that nurtures my deepest need which I can only experience when I fail. * Sam is a member of the Young Meditators Group in London
HELIO MARGALHO, BRAZIL* heliomargalho@yahoo.com.br We can say that patience is a virtue that leads to emotional balance which is the basis of tolerance. And we can say that patience is the most difficult of the virtues. It often happens that when all goes well the exercise of patience is easier. Patience is healthy, calms the heart, letting the Spirit of Jesus "act" like a gentle breeze. Personally, in my family, we live with a case of Parkinsons which has affected my wife's life . As a consequence our family life is very demanding as there is a lot of dependence. I have been meditating for over 14 years and it is meditation that brings me to detachment, helping me better to care for the body of Jesus, to see with the eyes of Jesus and love with the love of Jesus. * Helio is an oblate from Brazil
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CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 36, NO 1; APRIL 2012
A letter from Laurence Freeman OSB DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
On March 3rd Rosie Lovat, a close friend of John Main and the first oblate of the community, died peacefully at her home in London, aged 94. I first met her as I was about to enter monastic life, at the meditation centre John Main started in London in 1975. If the truest quality of life is indeed found in our relationships then a friendship of so many years is worth remembering and celebrating. Not just personally but as a community, because it was in communion with John Main and the community that his life and teaching inspired that she followed the spiritual journey that lay at the heart of the person she was for everyone who knew her. Most of you will not have met her, of course, but I hope these words of mine, developed from my homily at her funeral, will convey something of the depth and inspiration she communicated. The desert teachers said that a good life is worth much more than a homily. It is the central quality of her life that I will, however inadequately, try to convey. There are different ways of dying as there are of living. Premature, untimely deaths - which Rosie and her family painfully knew about - or passing away peacefully, lovingly attended in the ripeness of years when the body and mind just get too tired to continue – which was how Rosie blessedly passed over. But either way, death and grief touch us on the sharpest nerve with the huge mystery and pain of loss. The great silence of those whom we have loved and who have died calls up the largest questions about life and its purpose: questions for which there are never easy answers. Perhaps there are no answers at all; only the truth - which is never just an answer but an experience of reality. An experience, however, that is not like ordinary experience in which part of us always stands aside, outside and watches. The truth that we are contemplating during this Easter season is not an abstract or absent one. It is embodied as a person with whom we can be in relationship. It is through people that we come closest to God. Only the whole truth satisfies both our natural curiosity and our deep need for God. Truth, integrity and wholeness, demands the total absorption and transcendence of the singular ego that takes up its position observing everything from a safe, uninvolved distance and always keeping a bit in
reserve of the gift of the full self which attention demands. Facing the deep and puzzling questions of life and death is more attractive a work for some people than it is to others. At different phases of our life, also, we respond with varying degrees of seriousness. Perhaps only when these questions thrown up by experience become irresistibly insistent, after they have presented themselves to us many times and through many losses, can we simply sit with them, stay patiently in their presence, like an aborigine sitting beside the flowing river in a state of dadirri. And perhaps only then, in that moment of grace we cannot avoid, that forces itself on us in all the finality of death, can we finally be taught by the silence which is their way of reaching us. Normally we don't give much of our time attending to these questions. Then they force themselves on us in what we feel is a crisis or a major loss. But even in the short duration of a funeral we may be persuaded to turn towards the silence into which our loved ones have passed. Rosie was laid to rest on a cloudless spring day in the Highlands of Scotland which was her home for most of her life and where she raised her six children. Her husband Shimi was chief of the Fraser clan, a war hero who loved his native land and who could read it as others read a book. I walked the fields there with him once and saw them briefly through his eyes, astonished by how much he saw and my urban eyes were closed to. Rosie was laid here with her beloved husband beside the three sons who had died before her. Their graves in the small churchyard of Eskadale face across the river to the old hills. The church was full with family, friends and neighbours. A bagpiper led the coffin to the grave. I thought later of the instructions that Leonard Cohen said came with the gift of his poetical voice: never to lament casually. And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty. This was such a graced moment, dignified and beautiful, and shared by those who gathered for the formal rituals of thanks, blessing and farewell. We came not only out of respect for Rosie whom we all loved but also because her silence was her gift to us that morning. It was a silence she had learned to understand and love for many years. Listening to the silence at the heart of life’s mystery, as she had learned to do, is an achievement that needs to be expressed because it reveals the all-embracing and ever present silence of God which touches and pervades us all. Rosie can teach us, meditators or not, something of real value for how we live the rest of our lives. We can learn both from her present silence and by her life which, as with all those who die, we try to remember and retain as far as our imperfect memories allow. I shared some reflections on this
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as we gathered in that unavoidable silence that surrounds meditate alone, with the support perhaps, but not the shared all human experience. Dignity and simplicity are necessary practice, of spouse or children. Their meditation is simply because it is the ‘inevitable defeat’ of the human condition. accepted as a need they have to fulfil as part of their personal And yet in it the kind of vision illuminated by faith may life. Because a man plays golf doesn’t mean that his wife has catch a glimpse, a glimmer of a final triumph. Rosie, like to. There’s a problem if he plays golf in order to get away John Main, taught me this over many years and in many from his wife but his game can be an enrichment of their ways, more often than not by refraining from saying the relationship if he shares the benefits it brings him with his expected or saying it so concisely and directly that it impacted family. Even more, meditation benefits both those who do unforgettably on my mind. How often do we remember the practice and those who live with them. Rosie was a moments of consciousness as much by tone or gesture as by naturally private person reluctant to speak or teach about the words themselves. St Benedict, whose Rule she lived by this dimension of her life. This was partly because it is for many years, says that ‘in many words we cannot avoid anyway hard to speak about but also partly because – I sin’. Truth is best served by brevity. Rosie taught directly disagreed with her about this - she felt she could not express and with a minimum of speech from the mysteries she had herself very well. But even if she didn't speak about it unless learned in. She learned how to reverence and trust silence she was asked, she certainly shared it, in perhaps the best and to speak gently yet powerfully from it. way of all, through the person she became and in the way Her meeting with John Main during a retreat, in 1975 she lived. The fruits of her contemplative life - what St Paul when she was in middle age, introduced her to meditation. calls the harvest of the spirit - fed into her life and personality It was a decisive spiritual and emotional turning-point for over many years. With time these fruits ripened. Time is the her. She was already a religious and devout person but she ground in which our lives are rooted and grow until the now began a spiritual pilgrimage as a woman of deep prayer, great transplantation of death happens. Her prayer produced integrating a daily discipline of contemplative prayer a golden harvest in the last years of her long life and we are morning and evening into her very still close enough to it to speak about “UNLIKE MOST PEOPLE SHE active life. Many people today come it and let it influence us. to meditation to get better In her later years her memory UNDERSTOOD IT INSTANTLY” cholesterol, to lower their blood weakened and, although she never pressure or to reduce stress, generally to feel better - all proven failed to recognise me until the week before she died, her by-products of the practice. But from the start – and without brain cells were increasingly insufficient to keep up with delay - Rosie understood meditation as the discovery of a the ordinary flow and speed of information. She exemplified new dimension of prayer, the prayer of her heart. Given her how important the discipline of twice-daily meditation is as questioning mind and intelligence, high energy level and a preparation for the time when we will forget whether we very active life-style this was a remarkable achievement. have meditated today or not. By the time that condition Unlike most people who learn the art of this kind of prayer developed she was already in a stable state of continuous slowly and with many stops and starts, she seemed to have prayer. Henceforth it was a direct transmission not a got it instantly, responded immediately, embraced the mediated one: pure gift requiring no work like the stage of discipline and never looked back. I don't think I have met prayer that Teresa of Avila describes as God’s pure rain on anyone else who understood so quickly and responded so thirsty soil. Rosie’s sweetness of character, gentleness and faithfully. She understood, with her intuitive intelligence of fresh humour conveyed an experience that didn’t rely on the heart, that this discipline would give depth and meaning words. But any words she spoke at this stage of her life to all the relationships, duties and activities of her busy life expressed a calm and enlightened state of mind. Whoever - especially her love and unswerving dedication to Shimi spent time with her and could relax in her less verbal state and her children and grandchildren, her friends and all those was touched by a simplicity, gentleness and immediacy that who had served the family over the years. introduced them into the space she dwelt in. I often thought Many meditators in fulfilled marriages and happy families that this might be the irresistible force of non-violence that allows us to do the impossible, love our enemies, and that a few minutes with her would have disarmed, albeit temporarily, the Saddams and Assads of this world. This was at the end. It took time for her to absorb the impact of an overwhelming discovery she had made after her first meeting with John Main during a retreat he led for her and a small group of her friends. After he moved to Montreal she would come twice a year to make an extended retreat with him and to share the life of the small community gathered round him. They were blissful times for her. She glided into the routine of the monastery from touchdown and took over the kitchen where she loved to work and where all the members of the community were able to see and chat with her and felt blessed by her concentrated way of working
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and being present to them. As she liked to work mindfully cringe at being called ‘holy’, as holy people should, but I she was sometimes irritated by too many interruptions but can’t think of a better word to describe the quality of love as her diaries of the time show, she controlled her feelings (a and presence of mind that she had and in which she grew natural thing for her). She tried, successfully most of the until the end of her life. If the word ‘holy’ rankles, you have time, to work efficiently and carefully and still be present to only to remember its connection to the world ‘whole’. everyone according to their need. This meant many came to Perhaps she found this wholeness over time because of the her with their problems, a trust she handled with compassion powerful initiatory experience she had been fortunate to have and her natural tact and discretion. at the beginning of her inner journey. It launched her and, Twice a week she would sit in a corner of the meditation by having John Main as her teacher, recharged her room during the evening groups when Fr John gave his momentum when it flagged, often through self-doubt, and remarkable teachings that held the audience in such silent restored her to her right course. Many people start off well attention that their reaction amplified the message he was but then quickly slow down on this path. Many start and transmitting. Rosie would write down everything he said, seem not to finish in this life. Rosie’s kind of ‘conversion of in ring folder notebooks that she collected over the years, heart’ kept her moving onwards, however, even through the for later personal reflection and to share with her own later tragic losses she was destined to suffer. meditation group when she returned to London. Usually in It was primarily from this spiritual aspect of her life that the afternoons she would go for a walk with him on Mount I knew Rosie and learned so much. But like everyone she Royal or shopping for the community at the food market had many facets to her: she was strong and wilful on occasion and have some time for personal conversation. But like him yet naturally gentle and non-intrusive, self-confident in most she practiced a patient detachment and sometimes she would things yet genuinely humble (even too self-deprecating when have to wait a couple of days before he was free. Because of it came to communicating the teaching), passionate yet their detachment and lack of demands the friendship did emotionally detached, intensely loving yet non-possessive. not create any jealousy. On the She caught herself quickly contrary we all felt blessed by it and “MANY PEOPLE START OFF WELL BUT whenever she saw herself she was loved and respected by all the clinging and then let go THEN SLOW DOWN ON THIS PATH” community and guests. immediately. This detachment, Through these intensely happy visits, in her way of as much as any other skill of the spiritual craft that she learning from Fr John and by the way she fulfilled her duties learned, led her to self-knowledge which is the fundamental of daily life she grew to become a deep contemplative in a condition of receiving and transmitting wisdom. mature Christian faith. She remained real, grounded, There were many scenes of life in which she learned and attentive to others and lovingly involved in her family, who practiced this apart from the retreats in the community. always held first priority for her. She led a weekly meditation Everyone, in her family and her social life, who knew her, group in London and tried to introduce it in the north of knew and loved what they knew in her in their own unique Scotland when she returned there. Responding to a general way. As her spiritual life deepened she found many of the recommendation of Fr John’s one day about the value of superficialities and frivolities of her social world hard to deal yoga, she took it up and became very adept, being used, to with. But she also had the capacity of wise women and good the delight of her family and friends, as a model in a book mothers to expand into the people who needed her wherever Yoga for the Over-50s. Balancing the two major aspects of she met them. Every relationship is unique and recognising life, contemplative and active, the yin and yang of all this allows one’s way of loving to become more universal. existence, is the big challenge. St Benedict describes a way Yet every relationship also contains and expresses the whole of doing it by managing time, and by respecting the three person in a new perspective. She could not share all that she dimensions of life, body, mind and spirit, and by placing was learning on her spiritual path with her family and friends; prayer at the centre. Rosie found inspiration and support in but, whether they understood it or not, they experienced it his wisdom by becoming a Benedictine oblate, in fact the through the change it was working in her. We can only first oblate, of the community. The second was an Anglican understand a person completely within the context of all bishop, the third a newly arrived Portuguese immigrant in their relationships and of their whole life. This means, Canada. An oblate is a layperson living out their particular unfortunately, that we cannot know anyone completely in vocation in the world, family or work but doing so inspired this life. It also means, however, that we can continue to by the spirit of the Rule of St Benedict and with the spiritual learn about someone long after they have left this life. We support and friendship of a community. In our monastery continue to be changed by the significant relationships we without walls the binding unity is in the daily practice of have known and what we learn from them never ceases. meditation. Through this commitment, which became so I remember being struck early in our friendship by Rosie’s close to her heart and part of her identity, she witnessed and spirit of truthfulness. She didn’t like being expected to say taught, as a true desert mother would, by example and things that she didn’t mean. I discovered that this honesty presence even more than by words of instruction. was a personal spiritual practice for her that she took very Very few people, whether in active worldly lives or even seriously. Once when she was staying in the community a in quiet monastic cloisters, understood the depth of the guest, who was an enthusiastic painter but not, if truth be contemplative experience as Rosie was led to do. She would told, a very good one, kept asking her to look at his work.
6 She declined and continued to try to avoid it saying that she didn’t know anything about art. But he insisted and eventually she agreed to go and look but on condition that he didn’t ask her to express an opinion. She saw the not very good paintings as agreed; but he did not keep his part of the bargain and asked her what she thought. She repeated she was not a good judge and would prefer not to comment. He kept on insisting and she finally, gently said that she thought the paintings were terrible – but, again, not to listen to her opinion. He must have learned his lesson. Another quality of her character and her spiritual life was humour. She was deeply reverent and had a strong sensitivity to the sacred but she knew that humour was an integral part of understanding the serious things in life. Once, when her memory was evidently fading and conversation becoming rather cyclical, she told me she was ‘going a bit potty’. I agreed that she was losing mental powers but also, I said, the fact that she could be so clearly aware of this and talk about it showed that even if her brain cells were not being replaced as they failed, nevertheless her mind seemed very present. I spoke about the difference between brain and mind. She thought about this and said with a smile, ‘thank you Laurence, that’s very helpful. I will try to remember that.’ Her spiritual life also poured out in her empathy and compassion for others in need. She gave loving care to many people who needed someone patiently to give them true time and attention. But she kept her ‘good works’, as one would expect, unobtrusive and discrete. This same reticence was also true of her inner life. The interior journey is not easy to describe or communicate to others. Yet she understood the spiritual work of ‘setting your mind on God’s kingdom before everything else’ as Jesus taught. After meeting John Main she realised that this level of prayer does not mean thinking or talking about God all the time, but rather remaining centred in God throughout all kinds of activities and relationships. This meant that she could communicate the fruits of her prayer if not the practice of it and she strived to stay mindful at all times and in all situations. Her fixed times of prayer – the daily meditation and the scriptures and the Eucharist which she loved – were her grounding experience of living continuously in the presence of God. But they extended beyond her fidelity to these explicit times of morning and evening prayer and penetrated the whole day. This, as she discovered, is what contemplative Christianity in fact means for everyone; she had trusted John Main’s affirmation that it is what everyone is called to. No
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one is ever perfect at it. Rosie understood it and worked at it in the best of ways, by being conscious that it would never be about being perfect. It is about persevering faithfully and loving in it continuously. For those who knew her in this dimension of her life she became an attractive and inspiring example of how to live the mystical dimension of Christianity while keeping your feet on the ground of ordinary life. Rosie had many aspects to her generous, non-possessive, wise and sweet character. Some knew her as mother, grandmother, aunt, friend or as a wonderful person to work for. I have tried in these few words only to highlight that spiritual aspect as a woman of faith and prayer that influenced all sides of her personality and formed her as a quietly exceptional witness of the interior life of the Gospel. Her spiritual depth was excavated by many losses and intense suffering as well as by the many joys and discoveries of her life that she always saw as blessed. Life lived fully contains and merges both. The wisdom that results from this union of joy and grief became palpable in the last years of her life especially after the great premature losses of her two sons, Simon and Andrew, and then Shimi, her husband, and the physical and mental struggles of that time. At the end she came through into a peaceful harbour. The death of Fr John whom she had nursed in his final illness also broke her heart. Perhaps it is a truth of holiness that the benediction of God touches us through the pain of others when suffering is embraced by the solitude it creates. All who knew her at this time knew they were in contact with a very purified, very loving and peaceful person who radiated the spirit simply by means of her way of being – a style grounded in an often hidden but always strong and eloquent silence. We might all pray that before we die we reach that place of poise and integration, of beauty and discipline, where we are both wholly detached from life, ready to drop it at a moment’s call, and yet also wholly committed to it, in love with it despite its cruel blows, ever curious about its meaning and enjoying its lighter and brighter moments. It is rare that anyone stays in that blessed and blessing state for long. Rosie, I believe, entered it and remained there for an unusual period of time. I asked her once, after she had become less mobile and could no longer walk as vigorously as she liked to, whether she felt peaceful. She thought of a truthful answer and said ‘yes, I think I am. But I’m not sure if I should be.’ I suppose she may partly have felt then that she wasn’t ‘doing’ enough. But I think she also understood, in a place deeper than the ego’s self-doubt, that in her quiet way of life, dependent on the kindness of others, she was an emanation of pure and loving action. In learning to meditate we learn how this peace can be both possible and authentic. It does not need to be justified or apologised for, because it is the ‘better part’ that Jesus tried to get the over-active Martha side of us to understand. And because we learn through our own experience that to be still and awake is not a passive or vegetative state but a communion with the pure being from which all action, all creation flows. Rosie loved her home in Scotland where we laid her to rest in the fullness of her years in the sacred grounds of a beautiful, peaceful church where she and generations of her family had prayed. It is a grace that we could lay her to rest
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in a way that allowed her to continue to communicate what she had learned in this life. We, her family and community and friends, can celebrate her life now, the gift of a longabiding influence on us and on many more people than we might imagine. We thank God for imagining her into existence, for loving her and for leading her into the ultimate union with Christ in the joy of the Resurrection which she had already tasted in this life. May she rest in peace. And may those whose lives have been diminished by the loss of her physical presence be
stimulated by all that we will never forget about her. There is no doubt in my mind that she contributed, with Fr John, greatly to the development of the community we have today. One day may we glimpse, as she did, something of the Resurrection, the fullness of life, which she has now entered but for which we are all designed. With much love,
Laurence Freeman OSB
NEWS FROM THE WORLD COMMUNITY The following is a small representation of the life of the Community. For weekly news and more information visit the Community web page: www.wccm.org
« CALLED TO BE » THIRD FRENCH NATIONAL CONFERENCE, 3-5 FEBRUARY 2012, BESANÇON – FRANCE Gabriel Vieilee gabriel.vieille@sfr.fr The 3rd French National Conference took place from February 3 to 5 in Besançon (between Lyon and Strasbourg), with about 150 participants. Fr. Laurence Freeman and the WCCM team had invited Francine Carrillo, minister, theologian and poet to express herself on the theme « Called to be ». After denouncing the false images of God, Mrs Carrillo explored, through the experience of Moses, the nature of the relationship between God and man. A God who gives us life, calls us to BE and waits, to free us, for our answer. A slave to his own bonds, man is invited to “become”! With the aid of many references (Jewish mysticism, contemporary theologians, etc.) Mrs Carrillo revealed to us a God who gives us back our dignity, abandoning our usual narrow empty credos! Laurence Freeman reminded us of the traps we find in our world: publicity, the abundance of artificial products and other seductions of every kind! For him, crowds are anonymous and our task is to extract ourselves from them in order to face another crowd, the crowd of our multiple thoughts! It is through the faithful and loving repetition of the mantra that we can clear a way through this chaos and give back priority to the Spirit of Jesus who gently leads us to freedom, happiness and responsibility! The speakers gave two talks each. The meditations, with an “inspire-expire” rhythm throughout the day, allowed participants to meet in silence in the beautiful chapel of the Foyer. Several workshops were offered on various themes: “The Clown and Faith”, The Fruits of Meditation”, “Yoga”, “Awareness”, “Walking Meditation”. On Saturday, the day ended with the celebration of a contemplative Eucharist that was harmoniously punctuated with Taizé songs and piano pieces On Sunday morning, Fr.
Laurence Freeman and Francine Carrillo answered the questions of the audience. The participants agreed that the experience of this conference was most powerful, creating bonds, strengthening their practice and further spreading the light of the WCCM. Our deepest gratitude goes to the speakers, the organisers and the centre of “La Roche d’Or”. Let us also not forget that behind the scenes of such an event are hidden numerous actors who have worked in the shadow; we thank them heartily. * Gabriel Vieille is a group leader in Besançon
POLISH NATIONAL RETREAT: FROM WARSAW TO CRACOW – MEDITATIO 2012 Andrzej Ziolkowski * and.ziolkowski@gmail.com This February was a cold month in Poland, but 15°C below zero temperatures did not cool down the enthusiasm of the Polish meditators to come and listen to Fr. Laurence’s teachings during his five day visit. The whole visit was geared around a series of talks and meetings on the subject of faith, coinciding with the Polish release of his newest book “First Sight. The Experience of Faith”. We started off in Warsaw on February 9th with an interview to the Catholic monthly WIEZ (The Bond). There was little time for rest after the interview, as we had to rush to the Dominican’s Church in the Old Town of Warsaw.
8 The old room in the church’s vault was packed with more the 200 young people waiting to meet and listen to Fr. Laurence. The WCCM meditation group organized the event, which meets regularly in the church. The talk finished with 20 minutes meditation, followed by time for questions. The evening ended over dinner with the Warsaw meditators. The next day we set off for Kielce (200 km south). For the next three days a quiet hotel in the forest on the city’s outskirts became a venue for Poland’s annual meditation retreat - Meditatio 2012. The retreat gathered 140 participants from all over the country, 60% of which were newcomers to meditation. The inaugural mass took place in the Kielce Franciscan Church. The retreat motto was “Why faith moves mountains.” Father Laurence talked about stages of faith development in human history: from its prehistoric magical and cult forms, through mythology, the modern rational approach towards religion and up to its highest form: contemplative and mystical experience extending beyond words and images. In this process collectively and individually, we have built a big mountain within us – our ego. Its myriads of expressions block us from experiencing God’s love. “This is the mountain we need to move” – argued Fr. Laurence – “and it could be moved by faith, when we take up the daily work of meditation”. The retreat became a lively encounter of people from all ways of life, regularly punctuated by 30 minutes of the meditation silence. A closing contemplative mass beautifully summed up the three days of this special stage on our community’s journey of faith. On February 12th, we gathered around the Jewish Menora memorial to commemorate victims of the Jewish pogrom that took place in Kielce in July 1946. This year it took the form of an interreligious meditative encounter of a Jewish Rabbi, Muslim Sufi, Buddhist Zen Master, Christian monks and the people of Kielce. On the last leg of the five day tour we visited the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec/Cracow. Father Laurence gave a talk to the local monks on the “Monastery without walls”. Father Laurence concluded his visit in the auditorium of the Ignatius University in Cracow. About 100 students listened to him talk about the difference between faith and belief. The evening ended in a cosy restaurant in the Old Town area over dinner with the members of the Cracow meditation group. ONLINE: read a poem by Ewa Elzbieta Nowakowska at wccm.org * Andrzej is the Polish National Coordinator
ITALIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE Francesco Ierardi * The 13th Italian National Conference was held at the Abbazia di Maguzzano (Lonato- Brescia), between 13th and 15th February. Fr. Laurence talked about the theme “The Secret of Happiness” and the event had also as speakers: Gianni Vacchelli (a Dante scholar who spoke on the mysticism of the Divine Commedy), and Antonia Tronti (teacher of “Christian Yoga” and expert of Vedic scriptures). The event was introduced by the Bishop of Brescia, Mons.
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 36, NO 1; APRIL 2012
Monari, who is a friend of our community. There were more than 120 participants at the conference, from all Italy. The last day was partially dedicated to the election of the directive Council which will run for the next 3 years. The national coordinator is still Silvia Fascicolo from Rome who led the Community in a distinguished way over the last 3 years. * Francesco is President of WCCM Italy
MEDITATION AND HEALTH CARE CONFERENCE IN JACKSONVILLE Laurence Freeman OSB, and Dr. Jonathan Campion (consultant psychiatrist, and member of WCCM based in London) were speakers at the Integrative Care Conference, in Jacksonville, Florida, in January. One of the organisers of the event was Dr. Gene Bebeau, WCCM national coordinator for US. In an interview Gene spoke about the conference: How did you get the idea for this conference? Personally, since I am a physician, and since beginning to meditate, I have been interested in how the practice of meditation could benefit health care. We have developed a meditation task force at the hospital to make people more aware of meditation as a basis of health. And we want to show how it can be included in caring for patients and also help health care workers to stay healthy. The idea for this conference came from the meetings of this task force. What has been the feedback on the Conference? The feedback has been overwhelming and unanimously positive. People were impressed with Jonathan's presentations, in which the statistics helped them to see the importance of meditation in preventing mental illness and promoting mental health. They were also impressed with Fr. Laurence's presentations, especially with the way he sat in front of the audience, and gave his talk without a powerpoint. They especially enjoyed the period of meditation. ONLINE: Watch the videos of Fr Laurence and Jonathan's talks at www.wccm.org ( YouTube channel).
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GUIDING BOARD MEETING 2012 The Guiding Board Meeting was held in London 2225 March. The Guiding Board is a group of eighteen meditators from thirteen countries. It has an extended annual meeting to set and review the priorities of the community and represent the members worldwide. At
this meeting in the 21st year of the Community's life there were significant discussions about vision and directions for the future. ONLINE: watch a video with members of the Guiding Board talking about the meeting at www.wccm.org ( YouTube channel).
MEDITATIO NEWS
NEW MEDITATIO HOUSE Meditatio House is home to a small WCCM oblate community. It offers hospitality to guests from around the world and also serves to coordinate the Meditatio program. It has moved to a new location at 32, Hamilton Road, London W5 2EH, U.K. ONLINE: Fr Laurence gives a tour of the house during a Guiding Board visit at www.wccm.org ( YouTube channel). See also a photo gallery at WCCM Facebook page.
MEDITATIO SEMINAR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE COMMON GROUND - THE CONTEMPLATIVE DIMENSION OF FAITH
The Singapore Christian Meditation Community hosted the Meditatio Seminar “Common Ground - The Contemplative Dimension of Faith” over the weekend of 78 January. About 400 people from different faith traditions learnt how “the shared experience of silence in meditation can enhance inter-religious dialogue”.
* Fr Laurence Freeman, Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation, led the seminar together with a panel representing five faith traditions: * Mr Ashvin Desai, President of IRO and representative of the Jain faith in IRO * Venerable Chuan Guan, resident monk at the Buddhist Library * Habib Syed Hassan Al-Attas, Imam and head of Ba’alwie Mosque * Master Huang Xin Cheng, Tutor of Rites, Leader of the Singapore Taoist Orchestra, and Lecturer at the Taoist College; together with Master Chung * Kwang Tong (Wei Yi), Secretary General of the Taoist Federation and Council member of the IRO * Mother Mangalam, life president of The Pure Life Society, Malaysia
MEDITATIO EVENTS 2012 4-6 May: Letting Go – Christian Meditation as an 11th Step Practice Meditatio Weekend Retreat, London Facilitated by May Nicol, Linda Kaye and Terry Doyle 22 May: The Spiritual Ground of WellBeing – Meditation as an Art of Healing Meditatio Seminar, York, England What does "spiritual" mean? It is an important element of people's sense of 'well-being' today but defies exact definition. Maybe this is because it is about wholeness and a catalyst for wholeness. In this Meditatio Seminar different schools of contemporary psychology and religious traditions come together to show why meditation aids the healing process. 21 June: Salvation or Enlightenment? A Day of Inter-faith Dialogue Meditatio Forum, Westminster Cathedral, London With Tibetan Buddhist Dr Alan Wallace and Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman OSB Full details of these events are posted on www.wccm.org. Or email: meditatio@wccm.org
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IN FOCUS Leonardo Correa leonardo.correa@wccm.org My journey on the path of meditation began in 2008. I was coming home from work one day, carrying my backpack, headphones on and listening to the radio. Changing stations, I stopped at a Catholic radio station based in my city, Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil. Marcelo, a doctor who is also an oblate of the community, was talking on the radio about the tradition of Christian meditation and saying that he was planning to start a new group in town. Like many Christians around the world, I had never heard of Christian meditation. Meditation for me seemed evidently connected to the East and yoga. I came from a Catholic background with experience in youth groups but was now living in a period of "autopilot" in my religious practices. The year was not turning out very peacefully for me: dissatisfaction at work and the end of a love relationship. Meditation emerged as a prospect for change. Anyway, I decided to try it. I joined the group and right away felt it was something natural for me. I always liked silence and intuitively knew there was something special about it. I started to become more involved, helping Marcelo with courses on meditation, and participating in national retreats with Fr. Laurence. I read the basic books and managed to build a discipline of two daily meditations, feeling quickly that it was something good for me. In 2010, at a national retreat, Fr. Laurence told me about the Meditatio project, about the opportunity of the oblate way and the possibility of spending an oblate year in London. I knew this would be a big change. I thought for some time and decided to try. I quit my job of ten years, rented my apartment and went to Meditatio House in London. The experience in community in London is something that I´m still assimilating. A routine of meditation three times a day, study of the Rule of St. Benedict, the local and global work of the community. I travelled to different parts of the worldwide community, took part in retreats and gatherings of many different kinds. I saw how culturally diverse the
community is with people of many different backgrounds. But I also saw the unity created by the same practice of twice-daily meditations – the way that unites. The things I learned in my year at Meditatio House are not easily itemised, like an academic curriculum: spiritual exercises involving human relationships, detachment, struggle with the ego, self-awareness, listening and dialogue with God. At the end of my oblate year, I realized that I had much for which to thank the community. If, on the one hand I had given myself in as dedicated a way as I could during the year, I had also received much, much more than anything I gave. Above all, it created new personal links within the "community of love" that Fr John talked about. So, despite being back with my family and friends in Brazil, I know I now also have a family and friends around the world. "My world" had expanded. Thus, it was a joy to be offered the opportunity at the end of the year to work professionally for the community and to help bring the gift of meditation to more people.Now as Director of Communications I can integrate many levels of my life and experience: spiritual, professional and personal. I know that my journey is not over with the end of the oblate year. Regardless of where I am, the vows of obedience, stability and conversion are something to be remembered daily, like the practice of meditation itself. Often it is hard to explain to friends what being an oblate means, or even what meditation is about. But I try not to worry too much about it. The important thing is to try to live in a way that passes on the hopeful and life-changing message about the path of meditation - and one that transforms us daily and helps us to live more fully. * Director of Communications
WCCM Pilgrimage to India and Nepal 5 – 20 Jan 2013 To mark the 15th anniversary of the Way of Peace Pilgrimage Including a full day of dialogue, prayer and meditation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB in Sarnath, where the Buddha first turned the wheel of the law. Itinerary includes Calcutta, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Kathmandu and Mumbai, with optional extension to Goa. Full details, and downloadable booking form, at www.wccm.org
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CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 36, NO 1; APRIL 2012
REVIEWS - FILMS, BOOKS, ART
OLD IDEAS by Leonard Cohen Jim Green jg@greenjim.co.uk Leonard Cohen is fast becoming an unofficial patron saint of our meditation community. The credentials are impeccable: a Jewish, sometime Zen Buddhist monk with a strange and intimate take on the Saviour – remember this from 1967? And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" Oh, and he’s a ladies’ man, a singer, an ex-drunk, a poet, a depressive, an artist, a bard and a prophet whose work has spanned many decades and whose vision spreads even further. Cohen playfully offers yet more identities in the opening lines of his new album, Old Ideas: I love to speak with Leonard He’s a sportsman and a shepherd He’s a lazy bastard Living in a suit And, talking of identity, who’s this speaking, if it’s not Leonard? God? His muse? A Doppelgänger? Is he possessed? …he only has permission To do my instant bidding Which is to say what I have told him To repeat And then comes a chorus of heartbreaking simplicity: Going Going Going Going Going Going
home home home home home home
without my sorrow sometime tomorrow to where it's better than before without my burden behind the curtain without this costume that I wore.
‘Leonard’ – whoever that is - is preparing for death.
The temptation in reviewing this album is simply to quote verse after verse of these haunting lines. But I no longer know how they read on the page. It’s poetry for sure, but above all, they are songs. And what songs. All of his moods and registers are here. I tried to organise the ten songs into his core modes, the fundamental Cohen grammar. We have the Devotional (Going Home, Show Me The Place, Come Healing), the Pithily Apocalyptic (Amen, Banjo), Romantic Noire (The Darkness, Anyhow, Crazy To Love You, Different Sides) and Whimsical-Minimalist-Zen (Lullaby, Banjo). Keen-eyed readers will see that Banjo appears as both Pithily Apocalyptic and Whimsical-Minimalist-Zen. Which is the joy of Cohen. As I review the ten songs, I realise that they could pretty much all be smuggled in and out of each category. Over again, we find ourselves asking, Who’s he talking to, God or his lover? Is he in his bedroom (or someone else’s) or is he at prayer? No matter – those of you who know Cohen will already be prepared to share in his old ideas. For those of you who don’t, there’s probably one old mistaken idea which has somehow percolated through to you over the decades. Namely, that Cohen sings songs of monotonous despair: Leonard is depressing. As usual with merely received wisdom, nothing could be further from the truth. There is a hard-won, clear-eyed joy woven into this “manual for living with defeat” (Going Home). And discovered wisdom: O, see the darkness yielding That tore the light apart Come healing of the reason Come healing of the heart O, troubled dust concealing An undivided love The heart beneath is teaching To the broken heart above (Come Healing) And if the angels in Heaven sound anything like his backing singers, I can’t wait to get there. 2012 - 10 tracks, Retail Price: US $11.99 £7.99
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MEDIO MEDIA - NEW TITLES
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 36, NO 1; APRIL 2012
ALIVE IN CHRIST
A CHILD’S WAY
Timothy Radcliffe OP 2011 John Main Seminar
Jeannie Battagin
In this series of talks, using direct and frank language, frequently sprinkled with humour, Timothy Radcliffe OP presents four approaches on how the ordinary Christian can come to the mystery of living in Christ. Our love must embody God’s love which is both intimate and lets us be. Leadership is an intrinsic part of the life of every baptized Christian – having confidence, learning vulnerability, rejoicing in people. The daily rhythm of prayer sustains us in our loving and leadership. Sanctity is the vocation of every baptized person. The paradox is one of accepting that you don’t know who you are, while taking the path to become the person that God meant you to be. The seminar concludes with a dialogue between Timothy Radcliffe and Laurence Freeman, moderated by Niall Kennedy, in which bringing the Christian message to the next generation is discussed. Catalogue # 6002 ISBN 978-981-07-1570-0 5-CD set Retail Price US$40.95 £25.50
This book by Jeannie Battagin is designed to provide inspiration, support and specific resources for creating and sustaining the practice of Christian Meditation among children, from first grade through to the eighth grade. Jeannie’s spiritual journey and specifically practice of Christian Meditation has been influenced by an inner calling to teach children this form of prayer. This book is particularly useful for teachers, parents and grandparents who feel the call to teach Christian Meditation to children. Says Fr Laurence Freeman, ”There is no better way of shaping a better future for humanity than by teaching meditation to children, by showing them that they have this gift and capacity within them for life. In so doing we are not only working for a saner future but we begin the healing in ourselves, today.” Jeannie Battagin, a mother of two adult sons has been a meditator in the Christian tradition since 1983. She has been a member of The World Community for Christian Meditation since its inception, leading a weekly meditation group. Catalogue # 9481 ISBN 978-981-07-1695-0 Softcover book 143 pages Retail Price US$17.95 £10.90
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The Christian Meditation Newsletter is published four times a year by the International Centre of The World Community for Christian Meditation, St Mark’s, Myddelton Square, London EC1R 1XX, UK (tel +44 20 7278 2070 / fax +44 20 7713 6346) Email: welcome@wccm.org (Copyright The World Community for Christian Meditation) It is distributed by national communities with national updates.
General Editor: Gregory Ryan (gjryan@wccm.org) Graphic Design: Carlos Siqueira (carlos@wccm.com.br) International Coordinator: Pauline Peters (paulinepeters2@gmail.com) Coordinator, International Office, London: Susan Spence (susan@wccm.org) The World Community Web page: www.wccm.org Medio Media Web page: www.mediomedia.com