No. 9 April 2006
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Fr Laurence is visiting Ireland as we go to print! A retreat in Larne
24/26March, a public talk in Belfast on 26 March and a weekend in Dzogchen
Beara, Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Centre, West Cork on 31March. The theme
for the Cork retreat is Spiritual Community when Fr Laurence will lead
participants in a meditative exploration into the nature of spiritual
friendship.He will do this from his knowledge of the Rule of St Benedict,
his experience as a spiritual guide of The World Community for Christian
Meditation, and his personal insights from a lifetime of dedication to
a contemplative approach to Christianity.
(We hope to have a report on his visit in our next Newsletter.)
Remember: 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.
Thoughts and images will likely come, but let them pass.
Just keep returning your attention—with humility and simplicity—to
saying your word in faith, from the beginning to the end of your meditation.
Fear is a suffering that oppresses us.
But look at the immensity of love.
St. Augustine
Moved like Jesus with compassion for the crowds, the Church today
considers it her duty to ask political leaders and those with economic
and financial power to promote development based on respect for the dignity
of every man and woman.
An important litmus test for the success of their efforts is religious
liberty, understood not simply as the freedom to proclaim and celebrate
Christ, but also the opportunity to contribute to the building of a world
enlivened by charity.
These efforts have to include a recognition of the central role of authentic
religious values in responding to man’s deepest concerns, and in
supplying the ethical motivation for his personal and social responsibilities.
These are the criteria by which Christians should assess the political
programmes of their leaders.
Taken from MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2006
( From WCCM.org website, Reading for 19 Feb 06)
By meditating. . .we are facing death every day. And if we face death every day, if we allow ourselves to die a little more each day, then the experience of death will allow us to live each day more fully. Death faced with faith takes us beyond the fear of death and has us live each day with the certain hope of eternal life. That hope is why meditation is a way of life. Because it is a way to die. Death cancels out our sense of the future and so forces us to concentrate wholly in the present moment. Where else is there to go? When we really face death we are totally in the present moment. We enter eternity before we die, if we can face death with this unevasive attentiveness. But we always try to escape the present moment.
We usually evade the present, either by living in the past, or by creating a world of fantasy. But when we are meditating, the saying of the mantra closes off those two options or escape routes. There is nowhere to go except to be here. The mantra points in one direction, towards the center. It is a narrow path, but it is the path of truth. As we follow the way of the mantra, as we learn to say it with courage and humility, it leads us along a way in which everything in us dies that would hold us back from fullness of life. We die each day in faith and that is the supreme preparation for the hour of our death. But as a way of dying in faith it inevitably brings us to confront two very powerful forces that we must also be prepared to face. They are the forces of fear and anger. [. . . .]
[But] anger, and the fear that it springs from, is everything that meditation
is not. The deepest anger comes from our deepest fear—of death.
But it comes from all sorts of secondary causes too, from everything that
makes up our psychological history. We need to be aware when we meditate,
and as we cleanse ourselves of that anger, that it is not our immediate
concern to trace where it comes from. All that is really important is
that we are shedding it. . . What is important is that the love active
in the faith of the mantra casts out anger from the heart. We begin to
meditate with a great advantage if we start with a developed faith because
we begin by being able to understand that anger is cast out by the power
of Christ. . Christ in the power of the Spirit can cast out anger because
he is the one who has overcome the primal fear of death and who is now
empowered to free us from that fear. . . .
In the words of 1 John 4:16-18,
"God is love; he who dwells in love is dwelling in God, and God
in him. This is for us the perfection of love, to have confidence on the
day of judgement, and this we can have, because even in this world we
are as he is.
There is no room for fear in love;
perfect love banishes fear."
Laurence Freeman OSB,
The Selfless Self 1989
The cancellation of the Dublin Spring (April) conference due to the ill health of Fr William Johnston S.J. (Tokyo) was a great disappointment to all. Now we send Fr. William an assurance of our prayerful support at this time.
There is a continued growth in the interest in Christian Meditation around the country with the slow but steady emergence of new groups (eg Kilkenny, Greystones, Celbridge, Skibbereen, Baltinglass, Ransboro, An Spidéal, Castleconnell) and the strengthening of existing groups. As always, the role of the local Co-ordinators remains very important to the support and development of the groups. A warm welcome to Karla Kyne, the new Co-ordinator for the Galway area.
The continued arrival of the Meditation CD’s has been greeted with enthusiasm, though clearly some of the talks have proved more popular. The next set is due shortly. These talks will be by the late Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.CS.R.
We also send best wishes to Monsignor Tom Fehily, recovering from a leg injury, and to any meditators who are ill at this time.
April – June
Ballinskelligs Centre open to residents.
10-17 April
Week- long retreat over Easter with Fr. Pat Murray in Meditation Centre,
Ballinskelligs.
28-30 April 2006 (Note: fully booked)
Seminar with Wanda Nash/Fr. Pat Murray
Meditation Centre, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry,
Booking: William Main 066-9479387
26 - 28 May 2006
Retreat with Fr. Pat Murray.
Meditation Centre, Ferbane, Co. Offaly
Booking: Patsy Burke 09064 54314
2-4 June
Conference with Sr. Monica Clare.
Theme: The Desert Tradition.
Meditation Centre, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry,
Booking: William Main 066-9479387
6-7 Oct
Retreat with Kim Nataraja
Benedictine Monastery, Rostrevor
Non- residential (Hotels & B&B’s nearby) Numbers limited
to 50.
Booking: Kieran Murphy, 72 Rathfriland Rd., Hilltown, Co. Down BT34
5YW
Note: A full copy of Fr. Pat Murray’s Course/ Retreat list is
available by sending an SAE to Mary Garry, 223 Seapark, Malahide,
Co. Dublin. Tel. 086 8111942
"Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show
him love
makes me sensitive to God as well.
Only if I serve my neighbour
can my eyes be opened
to what God does for me and how much he loves me."
Deus Caritas Est
(First encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI)
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