Meditation Creates Community

The method involves the repetition of a single word faithfully and lovingly during the time of meditation. This is a very ancient Christian way of prayer that was recovered for modern Christians by the Benedictine monk John Main (1926 -1982).  He recovered this way of bringing the mind to rest in the heart through his study of the teachings of the first Christian monks, the Desert Fathers, and of John Cassian (4^th century AD). It is in the same tradition as The Cloud of Unknowing, written in England in the 14^th century.  John Main’s legacy inspired the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM), and his work is being carried on by Father Laurence Freeman, also a Benedictine monk. The WCCM continues John Main’s vision of restoring the contemplative dimension to the common life of Christians and engaging in the common ground shared with the secular world and other religions.

How to Meditate

The basic teaching on how to meditate passed on by John Main is:

• Sit down. Sit Still and upright. Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert.
• Silently, interiorly begin to say a single word. We recommend the prayer-phrase Maranatha.  Recite it as four syllables of equal length.  Listen to it as you say it, gently but continuously.
• Do not think or imagine anything  – spiritual or otherwise.  If thoughts or images come, these are distractions at the time of meditation, so keep returning to simply saying your word.
• Meditate each morning and evening for between twenty and thirty minutes.

More resources on how to meditate can be found on the WCCM international website.

The WCCM Community

The Community has its International Centre at the ancient Abbaye de Bonnevaux, Marçay near Poitiers, France, but is a ‘monastery without walls’, a family of national and emerging communities in over a hundred countries, each with local Christian meditation groups, supporting meditators on a weekly or monthly basis, in homes, parishes, offices, hospitals, prisons, schools and colleges – pretty well everywhere that people live and seek. The World Community is ecumenical and promotes unity through its dialogue with both Christian churches and other faiths.

To communicate and nurture meditation as passed on through the teaching of John Main in the Christian Tradition in the spirit of serving the unity of all.

WCCM Mission Statement

Individual meditators and groups can offer a range of support for those enquiring about Christian meditation. For local groups, see Search UK Christian Meditation Groups or contact your local group leader or regional coordinator.

This website provides information about the WCCM in the UK community. For information about the work of the communities in other parts of the world, see www.wccm.org.