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CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
Christian Meditation NE WSLETTER OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
www.wccm.org
Registered Charity No. 327173
INTERNATIONAL EDITION, VOL. 35, N O 4; DECEMBER 2011
WCCM: 20 years sharing the gift of silence
The year 2011 marks 20 years of the formation of The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM), which took place during the John Main Seminar 1991 in New Harmony, Indiana, U.S., led by Benedictine monk Fr Bede Griffiths. The World Community marked the expansion of the"monastery without walls" that began with the first meditation centre, founded by Fr John Main in London, in 1975. In this edition of the International Newsletter, some members of the WCCM reflect on the past and future of the Community: What has been done and what lies ahead. Videos of JMS 1991: Bede Griffith’s talks are available on the Online Store (www.wccm.org)
BALFOUR MOUNT*, CANADA Dom John Main OSB wrote, “Know from your heart, from your own experience, that you were created for infinite expansion of spirit... Holiness is not fundamentally a moral quality. It is rather the unique experience of Presence.” His vision was simple, a reawakening of the Christian contemplative tradition; his teaching was simple, twice daily faithfulness to the mantra as an open window on the Unity within that is always there. Over the past 20 years, each time that a member of the human family has recognized for the first time the profound wisdom in his words, the full, radiant, hope-
filled purpose of John Main’s legacy, the WCCM, has once again been realized. As we look to our risk-ridden future we find it clouded by multiple mega-challenges - the exploding world population; the increasing disparity between the few who are very wealthy and the sea of humanity engulfed in increasing poverty; spiralling levels of unemployment, international mass migration and hunger; the decreasing availability of potable water; the increasing cost of fuel and industrial production; dwindling supplies of nonrenewable resources; increasing pollution, deforestation and global warming; galloping secularization in our perception of the meaning of life and the decreased credibility of what many perceive as the church’s hierarchical, power-driven
2 structure. As we recognize these perils, we note that there has never been a time when Father John’s words have rung out with greater relevance. He said, “(‘This unique experience of Presence’) has to be restored to the heart of the church if she is to face creatively the challenges before her: the challenge of the renewal of her contemplative religious life, the challenge of restoring unity in the Spirit with all Christian communions, the challenge of embracing non-Christian religions with the universal love of Christ which is already present in the hearts of all people and which she has a special duty to release and identify. To meet these challenges each one of us must be personally rooted in Jesus’ personal experience of God, which he shares with us all through this Spirit.” Our WCCM future? It is up to each of us. * Dr. Balfour is a Montreal physician acclaimed for his pioneering of Palliative Care Medicine
CLAIRE MORGAN*, AUSTRALIA John Main teaches us that at the time of meditation the present moment is paramount. Through repetition of the mantra, we experience the ‘now’ as the moment of Christ, with aspects of the past and the future appearing only as distractions. Outside of our times of meditation however, it can be fruitful to reflect on the strands of time stretching into the past linking us with a rich Christian contemplative heritage and heading forwards into the uncharted waters of the future. As we move into the New Year, it’s worth remembering that by 2025 the population of the world will have grown from 7 billion to 8. Many natural resources will continue to become more and more scarce, with issues such as water security sowing the seeds of conflict between neighbours. I believe that it will become increasingly important to share our way of meditation as a practice which provides an invaluable and unique impulse for positive action in the world. In the next decade, it seems likely that leaders and policy-makers will further accept the importance of good mental health to society and the scope of meditation practices to improve people’s mental well-being. Continued outreach by the WCCM on this topic is one valuable way to demonstrate the Community’s ongoing relevance in the secular world. As a range of meditation and mindfulness practices are introduced ever more widely into schools and workplaces worldwide, I hope the Community’s pioneering efforts in schools will be recognised and continue to flourish. In today’s world, divisions and disagreements between different Christian bodies loom large in many parts of the world. As an ecumenical ‘monastery without walls’ spanning continents and cultures, the Community has an important role to play as a Christian organisation which welcomes those of all denominations and which offers a meaningful way for people of differing views to sit down
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
together in silent prayer. * Claire is the Young Meditators Coordinator in Australia
MAGDA AND FRED JASS *, CANADA Magda: In 1991 in New Harmony, we formed the mission statement for WCCM. It contained 2 parts. To pass on meditation to others, and to do it as taught by Dom John Main. We have followed both directives. Both important. It has been spread so well, that the work of the Spirit is visible in it, both in Fr Laurence’s incredible amount of work, and in people’s receptivity to it. The many teachings, meditators and groups are a great personal support for individuals, as well as forming a community and being good for the world. The next step for the future, is for each meditator, and the community, to integrate meditation into their lives. By that I mean to allow meditation to change us, to live our lives out of the meditation. As this happens we need to provide the spiritual friendship for supporting the changes that lead to a life of grace, based on openness and truth and self knowledge that will change the world. Fred: The Silence is the Science. The mantra brings you to the centre, to the silence, and gets you inner peace. It guides you, and others, and brings us to the centre. It is like playing darts, you throw it in the right direction. The Mantra: I am praying in silence/Which is the science /It Guides me to God. * Magda and Fred were received as oblates by Fr. John
ANA FONSECA*, BRAZIL John Main said that the essential teaching of meditation is contained in the three words: ‘say your mantra’. I do believe that fidelity to the simplicity of his teaching brought the Community where we are now – present in over 100 Countries with more than 2000 weekly groups - and will keep us rooted and alive for the next 20 years. My hope for the future of our Community is contained in the following prayer of John Main: “Heavenly Father, we know that we must lose our lives in order that we may find them. We know that we must enter fully into the mystery of your Divine Life. Strengthen us, give us courage. Root your mantra in our minds, in our hearts, in the core of our being, that we may grow fully open to your gift of life and fullness’. * Ana Fonseca is the Vice Chair of the Guiding Board and the National Coordinator in Brazil
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RUTH FOWLER *, AUSTRALIA In 1991 at New Harmony in Indiana, a series of intense discussions scheduled around the wonderful talks by Fr Bede, led to the formation of the WCCM. At the time I don’t think anyone really knew what it meant for the Community into the future. Hope was generated by this new way of being community, but it was also tempered by the pain arising from the closure of the Montreal community as well as the many practical issues such a new structure needed to address to support itself. What was not in doubt was our faith in the teaching, our faith in the practice of silence and our deep faith in the presence of the Holy Spirit, within ourselves and in the Community. Since that time the WCCM has enriched the lives and faith of many thousands of people across the world. Central to this has been the continuity, simplicity and integrity of the teaching from John Main OSB and Laurence Freeman OSB. Faithful to the deep contemplative vein coursing through the Christian tradition, the practice of loving attention in silence has been, with grace, a catalyst to transform the lives of countless Christians seeking a deeper encounter with Mystery. As in the past, so in the future, the Community’s willingness to listen deeply to the Spirit’s movements will shape its future contours. People continue to hunger for depth and meaning. The need for the ongoing teaching to adults and young people is clear. School children too have a right to know about the ‘other wing’ of prayer – the way of silence. Wise use of technology and social media can enhance the communication of the twin pillars, the teaching and the practice, without falling prey to these modern modes inherent capacity for banality. But initiatives and mediums, important as they are, come and go with the times. The constant is our witness in love to another way of being present. This will be the fruit of our own continuing faithfulness and surrender into the Mystery of Being, the Mystery of Christ, as individuals and community. (See a full version of this text in www.wccm.org). * Ruth is a WCCM Coordinator for Meditation in schools
LEONARDO CORREA*, BRAZIL I see with joy that the WCCM completed a walk of 20 years. I am part of a small fraction of this history, but I can see that so many people have shared the "pearl of great price" which is Christian Meditation. Actually, that's how this gift came to me in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. For the future, I look with hope because you can notice the growth and enthusiasm in new and older members. At the same time, I have the
notion of our responsibility to give to a chaotic, noisy and confusing world, an option of a more balanced way. The new generations increasingly connected and receiving stimuli from all sides, must have this alternative: a path of silence and inner peace. We live in a time where real-time connects lives. However, emptiness, and a sense of isolation is still huge. A very popular internet character is called Forever Alone. It is a very crudely drawn cartoon, which stars in microstories of loneliness and dissatisfaction with life. It is indeed ironic that a character who symbolizes loneliness has been so successful in an eminently social media created to connect people. It makes me think that all of the technology is not enough to break individualism. So many times we feel "Forever Alone". Even when we're with someone by our side, or when we give a hug to loved ones, or when we have many friends on Facebook, when we go to clubs and laugh and drink together. Yes, we share life, but there is a limit, a barrier. In the depths there is the anguish that comes from the feeling of loneliness. But if we have courage to go to that background and experience that silence, we can break the barrier of fear. It is an experience of reconnecting with the All and everybody. The sharing of silence in groups in the community has shown that it is an antidote to the anguish of "Forever Alone". It has been this way since the beginning of the WCCM-since when it was not yet called WCCM, when it was just a group that began to meditate with Fr John Main. Silently, groups were formed, connections that have spread and continue spreading across the planet. This I see as the most important: to offer people a very simple practice that at the same time, requires seriousness and commitment. A practise that is both personal and communal. Twenty years since the John Main Seminar 1991. And I hope we can keep meditation increasingly available to a world in urgent need of silence. Accessible to those who have complied with the "Forever Alone", not realizing there’s no need to be this way. In silence, we are all one. Never alone. * Leonardo is an novice oblate
CATHERINE CHARRIÈRE*, SWITZERLAND While walking back home one evening after my weekly meditation group, I looked at all the lit up windows in the street. It came to me how precious it would be if the residents of these houses or apartments would invite their friends every now and then for a 20 minutes period of silence, like they would probably do for a meal or a cup of tea. The small meditation groups have been a strong point of our community. We can find them in churches, prisons, houses, hospitals and they gather people of different ages, social classes, interests. The silence during our meditation creates community and transforms each of us. It is a way
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to grow towards understanding and peace. Thanks to these small groups, to the work of the WCCM and to Meditatio, Christian Meditation has spread around the world and doesn’t seem to be such a strange discipline any longer. Many people now realise that it is part of our Christian tradition. During a recent one week silent retreat with Jean Vanier where I was asked to facilitate a workshop on Christian Meditation, it came to me that a meditation group within each home of l’Arche Community would be a strong asset for its active and devoted members.Meditation is a gift that can be shared with everyone. When you share, you do not impose, you stay open and grateful to what is offered to you and what you can give in return. This is also the clear understanding I received during our different interreligious meetings.Meditation rescues you from your deepest fears and restores you to your own true self while opening you up to the Other. If a meditation group could arise in each home of L’Arche Community, maybe one group could start in each school, each parish, each business centre. Meditation is a way of peace, a way of love … and we
need peace and love in our world today. * Catherine is a member of the WCCM Guiding Board
PETER NG*, SINGAPORE I came into our community 23 years ago. I have benefited so much from the gift of meditation that I feel impelled to contribute as much as I can to the work of our community. I have witnessed how meditation can transform the consciousness of humanity and feel very privileged to be part of this great work. I recall John Main saying that the very essence of our meaning is to exist for others, and that the only way to do this is in our prayer where we have to discover ourselves existing for the Other. So we must remember that the most important thing for each of us is to be faithful to our daily practice, and to encourage as many people as possible to meditate. If we do this, the fruits will follow. If we don’t, there won’t be much fruit. * Peter NG is a Trustee of the WCCM
IN FOCUS
WCCM Indonesia Florentina Kindawati kindawati.s@gmail.com I was introduced to Christian Meditation in 2007. One day, I was asked by a friend to join the Six Weeks Program for new meditators held at Santa Ursula School premises by the Christian Meditation Jakarta Community. My first reaction was ‘why not’ since I used to practice Sadhana meditation for about two years, and thought it was going to be a same thing. The Program ran for six weeks. To my surprise, I finished the six meetings without missing any one of them, and found the material presented and each meditation session were very interesting and felt renewed after each session. Since then, I try to make the recommended twice a day meditation sessions as one of my daily life routines. After each meditation session, I experience peace and joy feelings and they are really helpful for me to start my day. This has also become my source of strength and energy to continue my daily meditation. My journey continued. After awhile, I had the urge that I needed to share the experience of meditation with my friends and community; so then, I set up a prayer room in my house and started a weekly group meeting in the same year. I wish to spread this practice to as many people I can reach out to, so they may experience the fruits of the Spirit in their lives through practicing Christian Meditation.
Day after day I feel I am becoming a more patient, tolerant and loving kind of person. Each morning I thank Him for the new day and at night time am grateful for what He has given me during the day. I understand the problems in life will never go away, but, now I feel more confident and calm to face each of them. I believe there is always a way out to each problem, no matter how serious it might be, as long as I have the courage to count on Him and strive with my best effort to resolve it. My ego and prayer life have also been transformed, it is now more on attention than of intention. Jesus says: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him”. Likewise, my family life is entering a new dimension. I feel closer to my life partner and daughter as I never felt before and I’m certain that we are all united in one family because of His love for each one of us. By now, I have been mediating for more than four years and for all this time I never doubted for even one moment that He had called me to come closer to Him by the way of Christian Meditation discipline and I am grateful for His call.
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CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
A letter from Laurence Freeman OSB DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
I have become quite fascinated by clouds recently. Not the Cloud of Unknowing that we beat upon with the dart of love or the Cloud of Forgetting into which we push away our thoughts; just ordinary clouds. Human beings must have been looking at them since they first took interest in the world around, and above, them. Yet, curiously, it was not until the early 19th century that anyone categorized and named clouds. Although they are notoriously unstable – you can see in clouds as many shapes as your mind can create images, or as many stories as your imagination can make metaphors with – they do nevertheless follow certain rules. I think there are twenty-seven cloud states, each of which has an international symbol used by meteorologists and pilots as a quick way of reporting the state of the sky. Yet like the human spiritual journey, which also follows certain recognizable states and patterns, each sky is unique each time you look into it. So, however handy labels and organization can be, we shouldn’t take classificatory systems too seriously. Clouds form at different altitudes. So, often there are widely separated cloud layers moving at different speeds and with different levels of density. These layers can influence each other and flow together and to the trained eye they predict the weather we are going to have down below. Looking up into the sky from the ground or down on the clouds from a plane can be a contemplative practice. It deconceptualises the mind (at least until you start seeing your own shapes and stories in the melting forms) and it disconnects the emotions from their attachment to fear, desire and anger (at least for a few moments, but enough to remind you that you are not only what you think or only what you feel). I am never very happy praying to ‘our heavenly father’ because the ‘heavens’ are not where your feet feel planted and ‘father’ expresses only half the mystery. Yet if I think of clouds it makes a little more sense. To look up at the heavens reminds you that you belong there as much as to the earth although it’s a different part of you that relates to what is above. If earth is our mother the sky is father and we are each the product of their union. To experience this it is best to be out of doors or in a roofless church or as part of a
monastery without walls. There you feel how really boundless the spaciousness of the spirit is; and how no barriers can separate us from what we belong to or from those with whom we share this view and its experience of freedom. * Twenty years ago the John Main Seminar was held in New Harmony, Indiana which had been founded in the 18th century by a Utopian community. Like most such communities it soon ran into the brick walls of reality and dispersed but the town trundled on down the centuries, like institutions that forget why they were created. Then it was revived as a spiritual and philanthropic centre by the passionate idealism of Jane Blaffer-Owen who kindly hosted the seminar and Fr Bede Griffiths who was leading it. It was nine years after John Main’s death. Fr Bede had insisted that he wanted to talk about Fr John’s teaching on meditation and its relationship to community. (His talks were published as one of Fr Bede’s best and most accessible books : The New Creation in Christ: Meditation and Community. In celebration of the anniversary the videos of his talks are also available for download from the community website: www.wccm.org). The talks were given with Fr Bede’s characteristic intensity and grace in a large hall; but the meditations and the Eucharist were held in the roofless church, a walled garden space intended to be equally hospitable to believers of all kinds. It was here that the monastery without walls that was already born and growing globally became named as The World Community for Christian Meditation. Meditators from many parts of the world had assembled, some having started their journey directly with Fr John while others had been led to it by the spirit of his teaching. We were all concerned about the future of the community that, as Fr John often taught, comes into existence among people who meditate together. We were already gripped by a sense of momentum, a spiritual shape forming and growing and that we were part of. At the same time we felt that if this community was to evolve into its full potential it needed, like all young things, some help, some structures and organization. It was a Pentecost moment. We didn’t fully realise what was happening till we left. Then we saw that we had agreed on something that now needed tending. Just how collaborative the discernment process was can be guessed by the unwieldy name we gave to it and the hours spent debating the merits of ‘for’ and ‘of ’ in the name – an impasse resolved finally by Fr Bede who thought we should primarily be a community ‘for’ Christian meditation.
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Communities need organization, like families, bird- given a large mansion filled with art treasures, we were allowed watching clubs or international relief agencies. There is always to move in a little earlier than the benefactor wanted and a danger that organization takes over and becomes an end in before she had removed all the furniture, rugs and art works itself rather than facilitating the means; but without she wanted to retain. This meant that we got used to living organization – the ‘good order’ that St Benedict says must with these beautiful artifacts and, of course became attached be maintained if the community is not to become sad - there to them; and then one day, on many days, a man would is also a danger of losing the founding vision. At various unexpectedly arrive and take something away leaving some of stages in our community’s development I have been told we us struggling with our feelings of loss. Fr John was delighted were getting too structured, too big, too busy. I always listen when these sudden reclamations happened and said he could to these criticisms, as temperamentally I tend to sympathise not think of a better way of teaching us how to live in the with them, preferring spontaneous decisions to long spirit of meditation. He was in a tent. The rest of us were consultations and flexible setups to formal processes. But imprisoned in walls. fortunately we are blessed to be a community with many Perhaps anniversaries are attempts to hang on to things, to temperaments and approaches that tend to complement memories that always fade like clouds, to positions achieved, each other for the benefit of the work and vision we are all to hopes that we should have outgrown. They can be arbitrary committed to. My sense after twenty years is that we are ways of measuring the unbounded dimensionality of the spirit. still a community first and an organization second. When The expression ‘curse of dimensionality’ refers to the people say we are too organized I sometimes wish they would phenomenon that the more you try to organize or analyse tell us how. something the more its volume increases. Like trying to * define or speak for God. Anniversaries might risk this but Wall-less monasteries and roofless churches are like books they are also a human comfort and cause for celebration, a without pages or buildings time when we pause to become without bricks. Perhaps this is “MY SENSE AFTER 20 YEARS IS THAT more conscious of the layers of what St Peter was getting at when WE ARE STILL A COMMUNITY FIRST time, like the layers of clouds he spoke about our being ‘ like AND AN ORGANIZATION SECOND” above us, that all human living stones built into a spiritual experience is composed of. house (1Pet 2:4). Such entities are difficult to define or herd. The right use of memory is to make us more present, not But they do allow space for expansion and growth in all to indulge a vague nostalgia or make us complacent. To be directions. Of course growth in the human realm needs form more present means that we become more conscious of the and purpose, too, or it can become chaotic. The challenge is simultaneous phenomenon of birth and death. They cannot how to preserve the spaciousness of being wall-less and be separated. I always sense this strongly at the end of the roofless while providing food and shelter for pilgrims. The year as theologically I reflect on the birth of Christ, both in answer can only be a dynamic sense of a community that is history and in our heart, and psychologically I remember inclusive and made up of the people who are travelling the death of Fr John who would today be 85, younger than together for as long as they freely wish to stay together. Fr the age at which Fr Bede led the Seminar. Yet his early loss John, who was a rare master at knowing when to renounce is inseparable from the birth of the community which still one phase of life and throw himself into the process of change continues to grow from the brief but incredibly intense in the next phase, said he thought the ideal monastery would period of his public teaching. be made of tents. That would remind the monks that they * had no abiding dwelling and must be prepared to leave Anniversaries provide us with a brief sense of form amid everything at any moment. the shifting patterns of our lives from which to glimpse what Living in a tent is a matter of perception. When we were lies beyond form altogether. In this insight we see how birth and death are linked, how they join together like the two ends of a piece of string in the eternal cycle. At a higher layer we can also glimpse how this cycle is transcended altogether only in resurrection, the ultimate and infinitely dynamic transcendent state. As Fr Bede wrote in his New Creation: The resurrection does not consist merely of the appearances of Jesus to his disciples after his death. Many think that these appearances in Galilee and Jerusalem are the resurrection. But they are simply to confirm the faith of the disciples. The real resurrection is the passing beyond the world altogether. It is Jesus' passage from this world to the Father. It was not an event in space and time, but the passage beyond space and time to the eternal, to reality. Jesus passed into reality. That is our starting point. It is into that world that we are invited to enter by
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meditation. We do not have to wait for physical death, but discovering that we can change from within and that the we can enter now into that eternal world. We have to go fruits of the spirit – the greatest of them especially – are beyond the outer appearances of the senses and beyond the manifesting in all aspects of our life, from our relationship concepts of the mind, and open ourselves to the reality of to ourselves to our work and sense of social responsibility. Christ within, the Christ of the resurrection." (The New Beyond this some may rise to a truly Christocentric layer of Creation in Christ, p77) consciousness where the motivation for meditation is no Like Fr John, Fr Bede’s understanding of Christ was less longer what we get from it – even the good things – but the about a backward looking in time; it is centred more in the union itself with Christ as a goal that needs no justification transformative experience of the present Christ. For each of or measurement. them meditation is the simple, immediate and a universal A community is composed of people at every level and at way into this presence. every stage of their journey. To accept one’s place within a As I travel round the cloister of our monastery without web of unity is a means of transcending the ego. This is why walls I am privileged to be able to meditate nearly every day community cannot avoid conflict, because none of us can avoid with people at all stages of this common inner journey. To the work of transcending the ego and opening layers of help people understand the journey they are on is an vulnerability and past hurts that demand the healing of love important way of helping them to persevere on it. I speak and deepening of faith. This work is painful at times and yet often, therefore, about the stages of saying the mantra; and teaches us not to fear the suffering or the many experiences of I am not unaware of how much of my life I have tried to death that lead from isolation to communion. No one is find new ways of explaining the importance of ‘ saying one compelled to stay in this process of community but for those little word’. But I think it is helpful to be told when you are who do the freedom of the true self is found sooner. beginning – and when you perhaps feel that meditation is a Life’s tents contain many options, sometimes seemingly mystifying or even useless endless corridors. For many today “WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR mechanical exercise – that faithful this freedom of choice is repetition leads to growth. We say PHYSICAL DEATH, BUT WE CAN ENTER bewildering and leads to a kind of the mantra more subtly; we listen I thought of this recently NOW INTO THAT ETERNAL WORLD.” vertigo. to it more finely; we repeat it more when I got lost in the duty-free gently as we say it more faithfully. In God’s own time it maze of an airport and could not see the way to the departure may lead us into patches of clear sky, pure silence. Then the gate. This was of course intended by the designers of the space clouds have shed their rain and there is only the pure sky of which is calculated to hypnotise and numb the traveller and the mind of Christ in which the sun of the Father shines on turn them into consumers through the dazzling, brightly lit all alike. This should not be spoken about too much or it displays, shrines of the different god-brands and irresistible will become an imagined goal and an object of desire; then special offers. In real life, however, we are pilgrims not the clouds of ego will mass together ready for a storm. Yet it consumers. Yet we are inclined to choose the path that promises is important to know that we move from saying to sounding to preserve our freedom of choice, to hold back from radical to listening to the mantra – all towards a place of pure hope, commitment and radical poverty of spirit. loving faith, unconditional acceptance. We will cling to anything that prevents us from truly * falling into love deeper than the stage of romantic The new meditator needs to have some map for this attachment where the ego still enjoys the sense of its own journey. Even the experienced meditator benefits from being loss. Until then we still feel secure that we are in control of reassured that he or she is still on the way. At times the familiar losing control. Only after time do we see that the path we landmarks and directions are removed. When we get lost we chose – if in fact it was a valid one – was actually a path we always blame someone for not having marked the road better. were long ago chosen for. ‘You did not choose me, I chose This can happen to an experienced meditator after many years you’, the Lord says to all true disciples. The recognition of when he has had a heart attack, brushed close to death and our having fallen into, or been chosen for discipleship comes feels at a loss, unable to say the mantra, to be present any as a surprise and something we may wrestle against at times. more. Then it helps to be reminded that it is not essentially It is at the heart of all authentic spiritual experience. What our own journey but his, not our prayer but his. This can be other way to humility, to self-transcendence, to true a way up to a higher level of selflessness in meditation when, relationship can there be? How else but in true devotion as Fr John used to say, you simply release the mantra and set and self-giving can we transcend our ego’s orbit? Nothing in it free in your heart. life is really real until it has been verified against this basic Or, when people become concerned about the spiritual sense of being a disciple. and religious context of meditation, it can be helpful to be Meditation and the community it creates is the discipline. reminded that the journey also has different dimensions in * these ways too. Many people today start to meditate to lower During the seven years of the intense radiation of his their stress levels or to increase their resilience and well- teaching John Main never swerved from the essential simplicity being as medical research proves that it does. But from this of what he had discovered and was leading others to know for basic level of motivation we are led to the spiritual as we see themselves. The focus on this core teaching has helped the that it is more than our cholesterol that is affected. We are community to grow in many diverse and unexpected yet
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unified ways. Because the truly simple is also universal, simplicity is the single size that fits all. Keeping it simple and orienting the life of the community on it we have seen how this approach to meditation (not the only one on the market) has been able to touch and benefit a vast range of human beings in all cultures. On my recent trip to Asia I was told of even three year olds responding well to meditation. But we know from the extraordinary work begun in Townsville by Cathy Day and Ernie Christie supported by Bishop Michael Putney that school children of all ages can meditate, like to and benefit from it. We know from Georgetown that a place of regular daily meditation on the campus of a university benefits students. As you can see from the Christian Meditation as an 11th Step Practice page on the website people in recovery from alcohol or drugs understand and take to meditation intuitively. More needs to be done in bringing meditation into the business and financial worlds but a pioneering start has been made by Peter Ng and Sean Hagan of our community. As we will again witness through the Meditatio Seminar in January 2012 in Singapore - on Common Ground: The Contemplative Dimension of Faith- meditation opens the depth dimension of inter-religious dialogue as of action for social justice. Our community website – upgraded for this anniversary year by Adriano Massi our ever-creative IT coordinator – is showing how technology is part of the building of a modern, global spiritual community. Meditatio, an integral part of our developing community outreach, has shown how we can bring the spiritual fruits of meditation into contact with the lives of secular institutions. As we sat, twenty years ago, listening to Fr Bede and meditating in the roofless church I do not think we imagined all this. It would not have seemed likely that this flowering of a teaching so simple (and yet for that reason so challenging), would occur in so many ways. But looking back, beyond this anniversary, to the last days of Fr John, nine years before, I can sense how the seeds of this community were already sown. His own plunge into the depths of silence and communion was more evident and palpable as December 30th drew closer. He spoke to me often of his experience of being pulled into deeper centres
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of light and ever stronger vortices of love. This is the energy of the community. * During this anniversary year I have met with all our national coordinators in a series of six regional meetings made possible and more fruitful by the skills and dedication of Pauline Peters who is the liaison between the national communities. Each meeting was a revelation of the energy and creativity within our community and above all of the boundless love that flows from meditation. The national communities drew closer together geographically, with more developed countries helping those still in need of resources. In Jacksonville, it was a wonderful thing to see the richest and the poorest countries of the northern hemisphere speaking about their different forms of poverty and enriching each other. Priorities in the Meditatio program were discussed and many communities adopted the challenge of bringing meditation to children as well as increasing the translation of our resources. We discussed the importance of preserving the simple format of the weekly meditation group, still the basic building block of how we communicate and encourage the practice. The School, skilfully coordinated by Kim Nataraja and her team, continuously adapts to changing patterns, listens to feedback and seeks new ways of helping people begin and follow the path. As I finish this letter I have on my desk two new publications which awaited me on my return home. One is the fruit of the Roots Course which continues to lead many into a personal experience of the Christian mystical tradition in which we meditate: Journey to the Heart: Christian Contemplation Through the Centuries. It is a beautiful book and our new contribution to raising awareness of the contemplative dimension of Christianity. The other is the first Meditatio Journal on Education which will be a valuable addition to our resources for bringing meditation into schools. They are significant signs of our ongoing direction. Thus, in ways that celebrate the gift we share with others as well as the talents of our community, we ever try to keep it simple. Simplicity, in our daily practice and in all the teaching patterns of the community, is the heart of meditation and also of the community it creates. Because we wish to grow in depth as well as breadth we learn and re-learn the basic teaching with ever-greater clarity. Simplicity is the most direct way. It leads to those higher layers of love which Fr John penetrated and where our true meaning awaits all of us. Every blessing for Christmas and the New Year and for the next twenty years, With much love,
Laurence Freeman OSB
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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
WCCM 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS IN MALAYSIA
WCCM EVENTS CALENDAR 2012 JANUARY 7-8: Meditatio Seminar - Common Ground - Singapore
FEBRUARY 3-5: National Conference - France 10-12: National Conference - Poland
MARCH 1-11: 10 day Silent Retreat - Bere Island
APRIL 1-8: HolyWeek Retreat-Bere - Island
BERE ISLAND HOLY WEEK RETREAT Patricia Por, WCCM Malaysia Meditation groups from Penang and Ipoh joined those in and around Kuala Lumpur to spend a day of recollection at the Pure Life Society Orphanage to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of WCCM on the first Sunday of advent. We made our way up to the Temple of the Universal Spirit to begin the morning advent liturgy themed ‘ ‘Come Lord Jesus’ lead by our School Co-ordinator and soon to be first oblate in Malaysia, Niloufer Harben. Music from the Eastern traditions by Gorakh Kalyan (Hindu) Hafiz (Sufi mystic), Tibetan flautist Nawang Khechog as well as Margaret Rizza was intertwined with readings from St. Symeon, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Luke with 25 minutes of meditation. Silence was observed as we descended from the hillock for a power point presentation on ‘Jesus the Teacher Within’ . Taking excerpts from Fr. Laurence’s book, Niloufer gave a sharing of personal anecdotes that mirrored the explanation of why it was important for us to be ourselves and to allow God’s unconditional love to immerse us totally in order for us to overcome our weaknesses and grow to be like Him. After mid-day meditation and a sumptuous vegetarian lunch, one of our members in the prison ministry spoke of her experience in teaching meditation to convicts and she was gratified that many found solace through meditation. Mother Mangalam, the Swami’s successor and current President of the Pure Life Society welcomed the group and stayed to view the first part of the DVD ‘Pilgrimage’ . The day ended with meditation and the Eucharist celebrated by our spiritual director Fr. Paul Cheong, OFM Cap. In his homily, Fr. Paul quoted from the ‘Gethsemani Talks’ relating Fr. John’s encounter with the Swami in his own words which was most appropriate as we had ‘Come home’ to where our daily practice first took seed.
Sun, April 1th - Sun, April 8th Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB
Contact person for the young meditators: Stefan Reynolds - E-mail: ym.bereisland@gmail.com Tel: 079 30679905 Others for the Holy Week Retreat: registration is handled through Theresa Hobbs at the Bere Island Heritage Centre - Email: biheritage@gmail.com
MAY 22: Meditatio Mental Health Seminar -York 25-1 June: School of Meditation - Silent Retreat - US
JUNE 9-16: WCCM Retreat - Monte Oliveto 21: Meditatio Interfaith Dialogue -London
SILENT MEDITATION RETREAT AT MONTE OLIVETO Led by Laurence Freeman, OSB and Giovanni Felicioni Siena, Italy, Saturday 9 June - Saturday 16 June, 2012
The Book of the Heart - Stages of Contemplation A retreat experience rooted in silence, friendship and the beauty of the monastery and surrounding countryside. Further information from welcome@wccm.org or +44 (0) 20 7278 207
10 AUGUST 13-19: JOHN MAIN SEMINAR 2012 - BRAZIL Spirituality and Environment Leonardo Boff, Frei Betto OP, Laurence Freeman OSB 13-16 August - Retreat with Fr. Laurence Freeman 16-19 August - JMS2012 19-22 August - Pilgrimage to Foz do Iguacu More information: www.johnmainseminar2012.com or Jms12info@gmail.com
SEPTEMBER 14-16: California Retreat 28-30: Holland Retreat
OCTOBER 2: Meditatio Seminar - Meditation with Children - Dublin 12-17: UK Retreat * The full Calendar is on www.wccm.org
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
of great importance, therefore we need excellent translations.The practise and the clear understanding are the motor for the personal motivation, growth. This is the formation of the building". José Pype, Belgium 3 - South European National Coordinators Meeting April 1-3, Geneva, Switzerland "This conference truly helped to create community by giving us the opportunity to speak, face to face, and to realise the extent to which we are all faced with the same basic challenges and joys". Deborah Walton, Switzerland 4 - WCCM national coordinators from Central and Eastern Europe October 14-16, Auschwitz , Poland "We have recognized the importance of strengthening the ties between the national coordinators on one level and the national communities on the other. We decided to exchange information on programs organised in the neighbouring countries for the national coordinators to encourage the members of their own communities to visit each other’s events". Andrzej Ziolkowski, Poland
NATIONAL COORDINATORS MEETINGS 2011
1 - Meeting of WCCM Asian National Coordinators February 10-13, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia “The meeting was held to coordinate and strengthen the regional perspective for Christian meditation.” James Loh, Singapore
5 - North and Central America and Caribbean Meeting October 28-30, Jacksonville Florida, US “I experienced a great sense of wonder and gratitude as I attended the International Regional Coordinators meeting in Jacksonville, FL. I am, constantly, amazed at how John Main's teaching of Christian meditation inspires people to travel long distances, and spend their money and resources to be in Community and help others experience and share this teaching. I thank God everyday for The World Community for Christian Meditation". Eugene Bebeau, US
2 - Northern European National Coordinators Meeting March 11h – 13th, London, UK "The first need is to understand the simplicity of meditation on a deep and faithful level. Therefore faithful practise is very important. Consequently the sources are
6 - Latin American Meeting November, 9-11, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil "The openness and generosity of all coordinators to share their experiences in an atmosphere of deep respect and love". Teresa Decker, Uruguay
This year, a series of six global-regional meetings of National Coordinators have taken place. They served to exchange experiences, discuss problems and possible solutions and are an important tool for designing the future of the community. See below, some comments about the meetings:
MEDITATIO NEWS MEDITATION WITH CHILDREN: A VERY FRUITFUL YEAR Francisco Wulff * One year after the first Meditatio Seminar, on the theme of "Meditation with Children", the Fruits of the Spirit are great indeed. The UK National Community responded to the call by establishing a national Working Group that immediately set out to follow up on all the expressions of interest received from teachers and schools in
the country. Currently they are working with 97 UK schools (primary and secondary) that are implementing meditation programs with the students in the classroom, and they continue to receive new requests from other schools. The Working Group built on the Australian experience presented at the Seminar (see also the first issue of the Meditatio Journal, on the subject of Education, now available for sale), and went on to develop a specific approach and a set of supporting materials tailored to the needs of the schools in the UK, working closely with head teachers and meditators of the Community around the country. The innovative approach includes the role of "adopters", individual meditators or meditation groups that volunteer to accompany a specific school in the implementation of the meditation
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
program, providing their experience with meditation as a support for teachers and following up on the progress of the program. The first year "pilot" program is now entering a final assessment process, which will collect the materials developed and testimonies of the experience into a package that can be made available to other National Communities interested in starting up their own program. For more information of this experience, please contact the Meditatio team: meditatio@wccm.org * Francisco is part of Meditatio Team, London Interview: Charles Posnett* Q: “What was most important in 2011 for the work with meditation with children?” A: “The amazing dedication and duty of care to the children by the Head Teachers, Teachers and Assistant Teachers – they are amazing and would do almost anything to pass on their ‘Spiritual Capital’ to the next generation. They have welcomed Christian Meditation with open arms and made it ‘live’ in the school environment. Q: “What are the major challenges facing you in the next year?” A: “Keeping up with the Holy Spirit !” “It seems that the Good Lord has an ambitious plan to roll this out to as many
11 schools as possible; so we will need to be open to new ideas and new ways of spreading the word – but most importantly we will need to grow the size of the operation whilst maintaining the divine simplicity of the message”. * Charles, with his wife Patricia Posnett, lead Christian Meditation with Children in UK
THE MEDITATIO JOURNAL: JUST PUBLISHED To order: meditatioresources@wccm.org To order online visit: www.wccm.org Cost UK £7.00 USA $10.50 Contents include * Presentations and discussions held at the Meditatio Seminar: Meditation with Children Experience & Promise * Current research on meditation, mental health and young people * Reports from the practice of teaching Christian meditation in educational settings around the world * A range of resources and pathways to further growth in this vital field of education * An emphasis throughout on the full development of the child’s humanity.
REVIEWS - FILMS, BOOKS, ART THE WAY The Way is a movie about the pilgrimage route called Camino de Santiago. It’s a story about Tom Avery, an American doctor that travels to France to reclaim the body of his estranged son who died in a storm at the start of the famous route in the Pyrenees. Avery cremates his son’s remains, placing them in his backpack, and starts off on the journey his son never made to Santiago. Below, Henriette Hollaar and Francisco Wulff, both who made the "Camino" in 2007, talk about the movie, starring Martin Sheen. They are members of the WCCM and currently part of the Oblate Community in Meditatio House in London: IN: What did you think about the movie "as a movie" (actors, story, photography, etc)? Francisco: The first thing I should say is that is very difficult to go wrong with photography in "El Camino de Santiago". It is the most astonishing place. Just beautiful, no matter what the weather is. And the movie captures that very well. I think is a good movie. Henriette: I think it captures the landscape. Not the places, but the landscape. As a movie… I think is tricky to say. Because everybody knows that Santiago is something about miracle, and this movie it was even a little bit more… IN: Do you think the movie was too superficial, that the "Camino" is too complex.. that a simple movie could not show the "magic thing" in the Camino? Francisco: The main side of the story is father-and-son
relationship, and the father trying to understand why his son would do this (the Camino). And then, he honours his son by doing the Camino. And I think was a beautiful way to take the audience into an experience that is always a challenge to explain. There are as many caminos as people who have done the Camino. Each one’s experience in the Camino is unique. So, they chose four stories, put them together, obviously artificially. But I think they did it in a nice way. And you have all these other characters, like the police officer, who had done the Camino three times, and was going to do it also when he turns 70. And the woman that had never done the Camino but runs the hostel. And the old man that is also a hostel keeper. Those characters are more "real". The Camino is full of people that live "El Camino". Because they are part of it, they live there. You walk through their lives. IN: You both did the Camino a few years ago... now, how did you feel after seeing this movie? Francisco: I want to go back to the "Camino" (laughter). Henriette: I want to do it from Portugal or deep down from France. Or another Spanish Camino. And not as much for the people. But I think we have something in common as human beings. We have our lives and we have to live our life the best we can. And deep down, everybody wants to live. And you look for tools: how to do it? The Way (2010) 123 min Director: Emilio Estevez Writers: Emilio Estevez (screenplay), Jack Hitt (book) Stars: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen and Deborah Kara Unger ONLINE: * Listen all the interview in www.wccm.org * Have you seen The Way? Tell us your opinion on Facebook
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MEDIO MEDIA - NEW TITLES
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, VOL. 35, NO 4; DECEMBER 2011
JOURNEY TO THE HEART
THE HUNGER FOR DEPTH AND MEANING
Edited by Kim Nataraja This well-illustrated and stimulating book will be a long-term friend for many seekers of all traditions as well as those without a named path. In new ways it guides us along the rich stream of Christian Mysticism and opens pathways to further study. By using key spiritual teachers as stepping stones along this way we form a person-centred overview of the great tradition that has helped shape us. From Laurence Freeman’s opening chapters on Jesus and the New Testament we move directly into the stream for which this is the spring. It leads us to discover the great Patristic teachers, then on through the Desert Fathers, Meister Eckhart, the English Mystics, the Spanish Mystics and up to modern times. Canterbury Press (UK), Orbis (USA), Novalis (Canada) ISBN 9781848251083 Paperback book 352 pages Retail price £25.00 US$29.95
Learning to meditate with John Main Edited by Peter Ng I know of no other teaching in this form that carries the spirit of the gospel, the living Word, so directly and purely straight into the heart. Laurence Freeman OSB Sixty-nine talks arranged thematically as both a book and 10-CD set (purchased separately). They offer a clear and comprehensive overview of John Main’s teaching on Christian prayer for people in all walks of life. The talks retain the authority, simplicity and humour with which Fr. John taught. 10-CD set #8143 £13.00 US$30.95 208 pp book #6324 £7.00 $12.95
TO ORDER: Please contact your resource center or supplier for the price in your local currency MEDIO MEDIA INTERNATIONAL
UK: email: welcome@wccm.org Tel: +44-20-7278-2070 CANADA: www.meditatio.ca email: christianmeditation@bellnet.ca Tel: +1-514-485-7928 ASIA: email: enquiries@mediomedia.com Tel: +65-6469 7671
USA: www.contemplative-life.org Tel:+1-520-882-0290 AUSTRALIA: jpanetta@energy.com.au Tel: +61 2 9482 3468 (also) Rainbow Book Agencies rba@rainbowbooks.com.au Tel: +61 3 9470 6611
NEW ZEALAND: Pleroma Christian Supplies www.christiansupplies.co.nz email: order@pleroma.org.nz Tel: 0508 988 988
Words by John Main.... "On the spiritual journey it takes more energy to be still than to run. Most people spend their waking hours rushing from one thing to another, often because they are afraid of stillness and silence. If we can find the courage to face this silence and be still, we enter the peace beyond all understanding".
LEASE MAKE A CONTRIBUTION ACCORDING TO YOUR MEANS TO THE COST OF THIS NEWSLETTER AND IF YOU CAN TO THE WORK OF THE COMMUNITY WORLDWIDE.
Go to “Donate” at www.wccm.org
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