Meditation Resources

In the spirituality of the desert fathers and mothers, the Benedictine monk John Main discovered a tradition of contemplative prayer that he believed could re-energize the Church in prayer and restore its capacity to communicate a sense of wonder at the heart of creation. In his teachings on prayer, the contemplative power of early Christianity, which for centuries has been diverted to dogmatic issues and institutional structures, is once again released.

The short chapters in this book are based on talks that John Main gave, recorded and wrote for the many people who gathered to hear his teaching on this ancient way of prayer. Simple and practical throughout, this is not a training manual for spiritual athletes, but a basic companion for everyone who yearns for a deeper, truer experience of God.
from the Publisher

How is it possible that patients at the terminus of life have been known to say: "This last year has been the best year of my life?" Death is a truth we instinctively try to avoid or deny. But when confronted with the reality of it, we can only break down and disintegrate or break through and transcend. Fr Laurence shows how meditation opens the way to this breakthrough. In meditation, as we drop all immediate concerns and attachments and become silent, we experience loss and separation. We taste death, and our fear of it gradually loses its power over us leaving us free to see life's ultimate horizon. In that new vision we find meaning and the gift of wisdom.
from the Publisher

Since his death on December 30, 1982, John Main's teaching on Christian Meditation has spread around the world. Recognized as one of the twentieth century's major spiritual guides, his teaching on contemplative prayer has already transformed countless lives and his influence continues to grow.

The ten short talks included in this set are especially appropriate for newcomers to meditation. You can listen to these talks over a few days, each of the talks is approximately 20 minutes in length, and can also be used as you begin your meditation period.
from the Publisher

A series of nine talks on two CDs, with introductions to each CD. The sub-title is 'Spiritual Living with the Rule of Saint Benedict'.

Talks given at the Cametrigane Hotel, Castletownbere, Cork, Ireland in March 2006.

A lucid presentation on CD of the essential teaching on Christian meditation. Laurence Freeman gives simple instructions on how to meditate, explains its significance to the prayer life of the Christian, and describes the stages and fruits of the contemplative journey. At retreats, introductory sessions, day events, and group meetings, this CD can be used effectively to communicate the basic teaching to both newcomers and ongoing meditators.
from the Publisher

Talks given at Perth, WA. May, 2007
Fr Laurence challenges us with this powerful insight: for the first time in human history, humans are now in control of the environment. But we are not handling this very responsibly. An environmental crisis has been generated by economic activity driven by short-term gains. But if we made the crisis, then we can change it. To do this, we ourselves must be prepared to change radically. This, Fr Laurence says, is what meditation does. As the mantra sinks deeper into the heart, it opens within us the spirit of wisdom and compassion, the spirit of Christ who came to love the world and to heal it.

Meditation puts the ego back in its proper place, develops self-control and opens us to a new perception of universality: that we are one and interdependent, that our actions are mutually beneficial or mutually harmful. Meditation creates community on a planetary scale.
from the Publisher

An insightful exploration of the nature of meaning, love and healing, that makes us look at our life's priorities. Is it success or meaning; is it quest or nest? "Perhaps the best context in which we can evaluate meaning", Fr Laurence says, "is death." Against that ultimate horizon, our experience of meaning, he says, is inextricably connected with love. Love enables us to escape from the prison of the ego, the place of loneliness and isolation. And a regular practice of meditation, he says, could lead us to a greater sense of meaning. As we open ourselves to the love of God within ourselves, we come to harmony and integration with ourselves, and therefore with others, the world, the universe, and with God.
from the Publisher

"What is the meaning of life?" The universal question. In the fourth century, John Cassian and his companion Germanus travel to the Egyptian desert to seek the answer from Abba Moses. In a more ancient Indian story from the Upanishads, a father sends his son to Yama, the god of death, to ask the same. Laurence Freeman uses what we learn from these stories to explore the meaning for our time. He unifies these perspectives, ancient and modern with the image of a wave — a dispersion of energy from a point of origin, as when a stone drops into water; the sound from a musical instrument; communication as by radio or by gesture in greeting or to gain attention. Meaning is found most deeply he concludes in the wave-motion of stillness, the flow of love itself.
from the Publisher

The John Main Seminar, 2005
The habits of our lives, the patterns of learning, cannot change the unpredicability of human life. Yet, it is this unpredictability—our fallacies—that is our hope for growth, for understanding the essential human need for meaning. "We are all wired and we are all wirable", Laurence Freeman tells us. "It is hard slow work to get rewired to the truth, especially if it is staring us in the face...but truth is not something we look at, the truth that Jesus came to bear witness to is a personal reality."

This 3-day silent retreat with Fr Laurence focuses on growth and transformation, changing the habits of our lives into the habits of our heart and using the practice of meditation as the bridge.
from the Publisher

The tracks on this CD have been arranged so that the talks and meditation periods can be introduced and followed by music. To take full advantage of this feature, it is necessary to have a CD player with a 'pause' (||). Start the CD the track before the talk you wish to play, and 'pause' the player after the music that follows the talk. Resume play after meditation.
from the Publisher

Silent Retreat, Monte Olivetto, Italy. 21–28 July, 2007.
A profound understanding of losing and finding that points us to the gospel way of seeing things. Losing and finding are not irreconcilable opposites, Fr Laurence says. They form the rhythm of life. If we can accept this rhythm of losing and finding, and stand within it, we will come to the stillness that will allow us to see the divine nature, to see God. "Be still and know that I am God." God is love. In love we give, and in the giving we find ourself in the other. This is voluntary renunciation, the call of all spiritual teaching. Jesus' life, Fr Laurence explains, is the full human expression of this call. We must lose in order to find. To find we must seek. The mantra, he says, opens the way to this ultimate growth, the poverty of spirit that is the refrain of all Jesus' teaching.
from the Publisher

Talks at Houston, Texas, February 2008.
Our ability to see reality is often obscured by the fears and desires of the ego, and by the speed and anxieties of modern culture and institutions. We need clarity and purity of heart today in new, more urgent ways. In these talks, Father Laurence teaches that meditation is the daily practice the purifies our seeing and transforms our whole way of living. It gives us the power to see through illusions and addictions that once seemed as solid as reality itself. The result is reality: simplicity and truth reflected in the supreme human gifts of forgiveness, love and the peace that passes understanding.
from the Publisher

Silent Retreat, Monte Olivetto, Italy. September, 2006.
Fr Laurence explains the human hunger for wholeness as something even deeper and broader than our personal healing. Relating it to the Genesis story, he says we have a collective sense of losing a primal wholeness and innocence as we awake to the sense of individual identity. With this comes a sense of shame and guilt, and a search for restoration. These talks show how meditation is a spiritual path that helps us achieve this re-integration.
from the Publisher

A spirituality that does not occupy 24 hours of the day is not a full spirituality. Laurence Freeman shows in these talks how the Christian tradition teaches us to live mindfully—in the present moment—practising the presence of God in all we do and say. In the present moment, he says, we recover that sense of the sacred which every society and individual needs in order to live healthily. With characteristic humour and fresh insights into scripture and tradition, these talks offer a new sense of what it means to live today and everyday in the mind of Christ.
from the Publisher

How to meditate:
Sit down. Sit still and upright. Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert. Breathe calmly and regularly. Silently, interiorly begin to say a single word. We recommend the prayer-phrase MA-RA-NA-THA. Recite it as syllables of equal length. Ignore all distractions. Meditate each morning and each evening for 20 to 30 minutes.
from the Publisher

Talks at Melbourne, Australia. March, 2008.
In these talks, Laurence Freeman OSB relates how love of self and love of neighbor both arise from our experience of the love of God. This love of God creates the sense that our very being is a gift and can be fully understood in the divine gift of self that occurs in Jesus. Poverty of spirit is needed to receive this manifold gift, which then empowers us to make the gift of our self to others. Meditation is entering into poverty of spirit, where we can let go of the abstract riches of thought and imagination and move into the fullness of reality.
from the Publisher

Silent Retreat, Monte Olivetto, Italy. August, 2008.
We are all waiting for something to happen; perhaps with desire or fear, or maybe with openness and alertness. To wait fruitfully means to pay attention. To pay attention is to love—it is to sustain our un-selfcentred gaze at the other, and to be open to their gaze towards us. The ego's reflexes—fear and desire—can block our capacity for waiting with the gaze of love. But we can learn that the patterns the ego has created are capable of change. Being a disciple of truth in reality leads to more than a temporary change. It opens up the permanent transformation which listening to the mantra reveals.
from the Publisher

These talks on meditation by Laurence Freeman are the second in a new ongoing series of talks given to meditators as a preparation for the period of meditation. In the tradition of John Main's talks to groups, Laurenece Freeman continues to develop the teaching in the light of the changing pattern of modern thought and life. The talks are clear and use ideas and examples that speak to the daily experience of people learning to meditate.
from the Publisher

This set of CDs is the third in a series of short talks given by Laurence Freeman to meditators as a preparation for a meditation period. In the tradition of John main's talks to meditation groups, each of these talks can serve to prepare you for a period of meditation as well as inspire your daily practice. They are useful for both beginners and regular meditators who understand the need for preparation and for deepening insight into the journey of meditation.
from the Publisher

We all have basic human needs. When a basic human need is not met, we experience a wound and pain follows when that wound is not healed. We then try to take the pain away by imagination or fantasy, and soon we are indulging in distractions conjured up in our minds. These may temporarily take the pain away but the deeper unmet need that caused the pain stays unfulfilled. This, Fr Laurence Freeman suggests, is a way to understand the origin of addiction. We compulsively repeat what once brought us temporary relief from pain. Over time this becomes an addiction, and with addiction comes loss of freedom. This talk not only explores this process but relates it to the wisdom of the Twelve Steps. In particular, Fr Laurence shows how the simple practice of meditation offers a way to break this vicious cycle of addictive desire and regain wholeness.
from the Publisher

Fr Laurence Freeman is a Benedictine monk of the Monastery of Christ the King, Cockfosters, London, and the spiritual guide for The World Community for Christian Meditation. These talks reflect the theme of his latest book Jesus the Teacher Within — that the only way to 'see' Jesus is by becoming spiritually self-aware.
from the Publisher