Contemplative Christian

The primary organized body teaching the discipline of Christian meditation is the World Community for Christian Meditation, birthed in London in 1975 by John Main.  John Main was a monk whose early life brought him into contact with Buddhist meditation, and who became later convicted of the need to renew the contemplative tradition in the church.  He found the use of the mantra in the teachings of early church fathers, and developed a practice of meditation to supplement the Christian prayer life.  Main saw the contemplative dimension of the Christian life as a means to create compassionate community.

Laurence Freeman, a Benedictine monk, studied under John Main beginning in 1977, and after Main’s death in 1982, continued teaching Christian Meditation.  The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) took on its present form and name in 1991, under Freeman’s leadership, and grew to influence the spiritual lives of Christians in 100 countries. ¹

Christian Meditation teaches that holiness is the bringing together of wisdom and compassion into ordinary life, and that meditation is a means to develop holiness. The method suggested follows this outline, published on the WCCM website.

- Choose a quiet place.
- Sit down comfortably, with your back straight.
- Close your eyes lightly.
- Sit as still as possible.
- Breathe deeply, staying both relaxed and alert.
- Slowly and interiorly, begin to say your mantra or prayer word. Listen to the word as you say it.
- Continue repeating it gently and faithfully for the whole time of the meditation.
- Return to it as soon as you realize you have stopped saying it.
- Stay with the same word during the meditation and from day to day

You don’t have to evaluate your meditation. The fruits will appear in your self and in your life and in all your relationships. Don’t be discouraged or disappointed by finding how distracted you are. That’s why we meditate, to go through the distractions. So there is no need to try to repress or blank out your thoughts or images. Just let them come and go but keep your attention on the mantra – the prayer word or sacred word.

The mantra we recommend is maranatha, an ancient Christian prayer from the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic. It means ‘Come Lord’. Repeat the word in four equal syllables, ma-ra-na-tha. Listen to the word as you say it and give it your full attention, but don’t think about its meaning. Distractions will come and go but don’t try to repress or fight them. Simply let them pass. When you do find that you have got distracted again, some thought or daydream has hooked your attention, simply return, in faith and love, to the word. This is what the Cloud of Unknowing calls the ‘work of the word’. Cassian taught to say the word in prosperity and in adversity”. Meditate twice a day, ideally in the early morning and early evening. The optimal length of time for meditation is thirty minutes, but you can begin with twenty and gradually increase to twenty five minutes or the full half hour. Be patient, simple and practice. ²

¹Source: World Community for Christian Meditation

²Source: World Community for Christian Meditation