DOCSLIB.ORG

Derby City Deanery: NEWSLETTER

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Derby City Deanery: NEWSLETTER Derby City Deanery NEWSLETTER Rooted in Prayer, December 2017 /#009 Serving Derby, Sharing the Gospel From the Area Dean, Revd Canon Dr Simon Taylor: Dear friends, One of the marks of our Deanery strapline, indeed the foundation of it, is that we are Rooted in Prayer. So I am glad to commend this issue of the Deanery Newsletter with an emphasis on prayer, and articles that speak of mediation, a Rule of Life, and resources to help us to pray. Prayer is the lifeblood of Christian mission, and the heart of Christian life. Prayer together and prayer alone is one of the key features of what it means to be a Christian. As we enter the season of Advent, and begin to prepare ourselves to celebrate God coming to live among us in Jesus, perhaps we can each attend to our prayer. If we each were able to take one step that deepened our prayer lives, and draws us nearer to God then the impact on our churches and our city would be tangible. Please continue to pray for one another in the Deanery and for me. I continue to pray for you. With my prayers and best wishes for a blessed Advent, a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year. PS - Bishop Jan is coming to address a special gathering of the Deanery Synod plus others (Wardens, Readers and anyone interested) on 24th January 2018 at St Alkmund's Church. Do please make every effort to be there and to take part what Bishop Jan brings to us. Thank you. This bi-monthly newsletter comes from Derby City Deanery – the group of Anglican parishes which fall within the city boundary – and is for sharing around churches and communities. Please see the back page for details of future publications, deadlines, etc. Area Dean: Revd Canon Dr Simon Taylor [email protected] Deanery Administrator: Ms Jo Simister [email protected] 1 November 24, 2017 DERBY CITY DEANERY NEWSLETTER #009 DEANERY NOTICES: NOTIFICATION OF THE NEXT DEANERY SYNOD: The next Deanery Synod will take place on Wednesday 24th January at St Alkmunds, 40 Kedleston Rd, DE22 1GU. Papers will be sent out about three weeks before. For representatives not on email, papers will be sent to clergy and the PCC Secretary, Parish Administrator or other contact, so it might be wise to alert them that you will need a print-out. PARISH GIVING SCHEME In October, David Meredith and David Mundy, the two Diocesan Parish Resource Officers, launched the Parish Giving Scheme in the Diocese through three events (Buxton, Chesterfield, and Derby) hosted by Bishop Jan and led by colleagues from the national church. Although there was a good representation of parishes at the events they are aware of a number of parishes that were not represented. They would like to offer every Deanery the opportunity to have a smaller, local event so that as many parishes as possible are informed about the Parish Giving Scheme. These local events could be between mid-January and mid-March 2018. Jo will be arranging a meeting and if you have particular preferences about suitable days/times/dates, please contact her on [email protected] . STRATEGIC BUILDINGS REVIEW Please continue to liaise with Jo for this process: [email protected] . SEASONAL RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN From Sarah Brown ([email protected] ): Christmas is fast approaching and you can now download my new pack of children’s activities called, “A Question of Christmas” at http://derby.anglican.org/education/children-2/2-resources- available-to-you/ . You could use a couple of the activities in a Sunday session or it would work well as a Christmas themed morning or afternoon activity maybe giving Mum or Dad a chance to do some Christmas shopping! Last year’s “Christmas Constructions” is still on the site too, so take your pick! 2 November 24, 2017 DERBY CITY DEANERY NEWSLETTER #009 LUTHER’S LEGACY: Sermon preached in Derby Cathedral by the Revd Canon Dr Charlotte Methuen* on 5th November 2017. Micah 3.5-end; Matthew 24.1-14 May I speak in the name of God, who creates, redeems and sustains us. It’s been quite a week. Liturgically we have been celebrating All Saints and All Souls which mark the transition into the final four weeks of the church’s year, the kingdom season, the time before Advent, a season of remembering the dead and reflecting on judgement and the end of the world. But this year that transition has had a particular flavour because we have also been https://robinwoodchurch.files.wordpress.com/ marking 500 years since Martin Luther sent his 95 2010/07/martin-luther1.jpg theses against indulgences to the Archbishop of Mainz – his own Archbishop – and sparked off an enquiry into his theological position which led to the Reformation, which in turn brought about the church landscape of difference confessions and denominations that we are familiar with today. The establishment of those confessions and denominations was in part a recognition that Luther’s theology – and he theology of Zwingli in Zürich, Calvin in Geneva, and many other Reformers of that period – had caught aspects of the truth of the gospel which the authorities in Rome were finding it difficult or even impossible to acknowledge. But it was also a painful process, a process of defining people in terms of truth and falsehood, and of judgements as to who was preaching the true gospel. We have just heard Micah’s words read in which he warns about the kind of society in which he finds himself: “Its rulers give judgement for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us.’” Luther’s complaint in the 95 theses was precisely that the church was offering forgiveness for money. His first thesis picked up on the biblical text which introduced our confession this morning: ‘Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”’ (Matthew 4:17). Luther’s response was to affirm: ‘When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of penitence.’ That is, people were to amend their lives, not pay for remission of penance. And his comment in a later lecture on this passage hints that he saw his own experience reflected in it: “It causes us to see what sort of listeners the prophets had: very wicked people who nevertheless wanted to support this wickedness of theirs with a kind of sanctity.”1 The problem was, of course, that Luther’s opponents did not see it this way; they rather believed that he was claiming to be “filled with the spirit of the Lord, with justice and might,” but was in reality a false prophet, coming in Christ’s name, but leading many astray, as Matthew’s gospel warns. Down the centuries since the Reformation, this mutual rejection – even vilification – has led to conflict and disagreement, strife and even violence as different groups emerging from the 1 LW 18, 234. 3 November 24, 2017 DERBY CITY DEANERY NEWSLETTER #009 Reformation battled over the truth. The English Reformation, particularly under Elizabeth, sought not to take sides on some of the questions that were dividing Protestants, and the Reformation of the English church avoided some of the more stringent aspects of Reformed theology. But England – Britain – was not immune from these conflicts. We meet this morning on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Day, not marked in the church, very much still a community event, which commemorates a Catholic plot against James VI and I in 1605. The seventeenth century witnessed bitter civil war between groups with different religious allegiances, and some of those differences have continued into living memory, in Northern Ireland, or in sectarian allegiance or even violence in Glasgow or Liverpool. The Catholic-Protestant divide that emerged from the Reformation could be divisive, dangerous, violent. There were always, alongside this conflict, people who sought to live with one another in tolerance of difference. But the rhetoric was often of conflict and opposition. Against that history, it has been even more remarkable to see the extent to which the marking of the Reformation jubilee this year has been done ecumenically. In 1999, the Roman Catholic church and the Lutheran World Federation signed a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. In it, they proclaimed: Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.2 The doctrine that split the Catholics and the churches of the Reformation in the sixteenth century was recognised to be no longer a stumbling block in their relationship. In 2006, the World Methodist Council signed, and in 2017 so did the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Anglicans, Catholics and Lutherans never formally disagreed on the doctrine of justification, so the Anglican Communion chose not to sign the Joint Declaration, but to affirm its substance. That decision at the 2016 Anglican Consultative Council was marked and celebrated this past Tuesday – on 31 October 2017 – at a wonderful service in Westminster Abbey. I have been very privileged to be a part of that. The Reformation, then, laid the foundations for the church landscape we know today. And that is a landscape which reflects – and represents – considerable disunity amongst Christians.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Meditation Finds a Sanctuary at Georgetown
    Meditation finds a sanctuary at Georgetown WASHINGTON – In the oldest building on the campus of the United States’ oldest Catholic university, Christian meditation has found a place to take root. The structure – also the smallest building on the Georgetown University campus – is now home to a meditation center that had for two years before been based in a pair of adjoining row houses one block from campus. In the center, organized meditation is offered twice a day, although students, faculty and staff can walk into the building at all hours for some moments of silent meditation. “Ma-ra-na-tha,” counseled Benedictine Father Laurence Freeman, a native Briton, at one recent midday meditation session. He was instructing those present to say the ancient Greek invocation for “Come, Lord” to themselves, inside their heads slowly and evenly, without putting emphasis on any syllable. “The best way to learn is to practice,” Father Freeman said, as the meditation session had a few first-timers. Some sat in chairs, some sat on small pillows on the floor and a majority had their footwear off, as they meditated. The hum of an electrical unit – turned on to provide heat in the circa-1792 building – could not drown out the drone of jets taking off from an airport across the Potomac River from Georgetown, or all of the everyday hustle and bustle that goes with being on a college campus. Meditation, the priest asserted, is “simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.” Although anyone could meditate, not everyone does, said Father Freeman, noting that many Christians have lost touch with this ancient form of prayer.
    [Show full text]
  • Summer 2011 Vol
    Canadian Christian Meditation Community NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2011 VOL. 20 NO. 2 THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION Canadian Christian Meditation Community 2011 Biennial National Conference: John Main and 20th Century Mystics An event of central importance to Canadian Christian session on CCMC developments across Canada, including meditators, the 2011 CCMC National Conference was held presentation of the new National Council. The Confer- at St. Paul University in Ottawa from June 10 to 12. The ence ended with Sunday Eucharist, induction of three new keynote speakers were Fr. Laurence Freeman, Director of Oblates and meditation. Through the keynote speakers and the World Community for Christian Meditation, and Rev. the workshop presenters, the conference introduced John Glenda Meakin who has Main in resonance with long nurtured and served each of the following the Canadian Commu- 20th century mystics: nity. Several other leading Simone Weil, Evelyn figures in the community Underhill, Bede Griffiths, led workshop sessions. Thomas Merton, Swami The fully booked weekend Abhishiktananda and had 160 participants, Henri Nouwen. while an additional 130 We are all grateful to fitted into the auditorium the organizing team in for the Friday evening Ottawa who worked hard opening address. for months to make the On Friday morning prior Conference the success to the Conference, about that it turned out to be: 70 clergy of various Flora Benoit, Ron Dicks, denominations attended Kevin Flynn, Michel a colloquium and, on Legault, Simon Losinger, Sunday afternoon, some Jean Murray, and Liz 30 young people took Tyrwhitt. part in a youth retreat. Fr. Fr. Laurence and the Rev. Glenda Meakin While it is impossible Laurence led both these to give a comprehensive “bookend events.” account of all that was said in the various sessions, the arti- General sessions at the Conference were interspersed with cles which follow in this newsletter, prepared by volunteer workshops, prayers and readings.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to Christian Meditation
    John Main, OSB Rev. John Main, OSB (1926-1982) first encountered How to meditate the universal tradition of meditation while living in Sit down. Sit still and upright, relaxed the East, before becoming a monk. Upon returning home, he entered a Benedictine order, completed but alert. Close your eyes lightly. An Introduction studies in Rome and served as headmaster of a Breathe calmly and regularly. Silently, Benedictine school. He studied the teachings of the interiorly begin to say a single word. Desert Tradition, finding an emphasis on intentional We recommend the prayer-phrase to Christian periods of silent prayer and contemplation. MA-RA-NA-THA. Recite it as four John Main taught Christian meditation to many people. Since his death in 1982, his work has syllables of equal length. Listen to it as Meditation been continued by Rev. Laurence Freeman, OSB, you say it, gently but continuously. who established and currently oversees the World Do not think or imagine anything – Community for Christian Meditation. spiritual or otherwise. If thoughts The World Community and images come, these are for Christian Meditation distractions, so keep returning to In order to support their daily personal commitment simply saying the word. Meditate to meditation, people frequently join a weekly each morning and evening for meditation group. These groups meet in over 120 between twenty and thirty minutes. countries of the world. The silent meditation period is the focal point and main purpose of the meeting. In 1991, the World Community for Christian Suggested reading list Meditation was established to communicate John for beginning meditators Main’s teaching on this way of prayer.
    [Show full text]
  • John Main: Biography | the School of Meditation
    John Main: Biography JOHN MAIN 1926-1982. The mystical tradition has its source in a God who makes him/herself known through human experience. There is a great richness and variety as the experience of God takes shape within particular lives and historical epochs. The 'Word' is constantly being 'made flesh' within the uniqueness of individuals and eras in which they lived. There is diversity but also a common thread. Tradition is passed on, it develops, and it is this that makes it a true doctrine, a living word. The continuity and adaptability of the mystical tradition can be seen in the case of John Main. Drawing on the teaching on prayer of the early desert fathers he took monastic spirituality beyond its traditional boundaries. He showed that 'pure prayer' beyond thought and image was a universal calling, the birthright of all Christians and a normal flowering of baptismal grace. The purpose of the monastic channel was always to overflow its banks and make its teaching accessible to all people. The universal relevance of the monastic teaching on prayer took on a further and more expansive dimension in the relation http://presenters.theschoolofmeditation.org/content/john-main-biography 2019-03-23, 815 PM Page 1 of 15 between Christian meditation and the meditation practices of eastern religions. In the 1950's John Main learnt the art of meditation with a mantra from a Hindu monk in Malaya and later discovered the Christian tradition of meditation in the Conferences of the desert fathers recorded by Cassian. John Main's teaching on prayer was never theoretical but always a way of experience.
    [Show full text]
  • John Main Morning Prayer Wednesday, 30 December, 2020
    John Main Morning Prayer Wednesday, 30 December, 2020 Monk and Master of Christian Meditation (1926-1982) Psalm 34:1-8 1 I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth. 2 I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice. 3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together. 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me * and delivered me out of all my terror. 5 Look upon him and be radiant, * and let not your faces be ashamed. 6 I called in my affliction and the LORD heard me * and saved me from all my troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encompasses those who fear him, * and he will deliver them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; * happy are they who trust in him! 1 First Reading - Acts 2:42-47a 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemplation Schoenstatt Scotland
    Contemplation Schoenstatt Scotland T: 01360 312 718 No2 Our Launch on the 4th April of the School of Meditation at Schoenstatt features the method of John Main. John was born in London. In the 1940s he joined the Canons Regular of the Lateran and studied at St. Edmund's College, in England before pursuing theological studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum, Rome. He began to doubt his vocation to the priesthood and decided to leave his order to go to Dublin (where his family then lived), where he studied law at Trinity College. He graduated in 1954 and joined the British Colonial Service. He was later assigned to Kuala Lumpur in Malaya, where he met Swami Satyananda, who taught him meditation using a mantra as the means to arrive at meditative stillness. The swami taught Main to meditate by giving him a Christian mantra. In 1956, he returned to Dublin and taught law at Trinity College. In 1959 he decided to join the Benedictines at Ealing Abbey in London. He was ordained a priest in 1963 and following his ordination he taught at St Benedict's School, Ealing. In 1970, he was appointed the headmaster of St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, D.C., and began studying the writings of the desert father John Cassian for the first time. Fr. John saw parallels between the spiritual practice taught by Cassian and the meditative practice he had been taught by the swami in Kuala Lumpur. In 1974, Main left the Abbey in Washington and returned to Ealing Abbey in London, where he began Christian meditation groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Download from Cassian to Main
    FROM CASSIAN TO MAIN FROM CASSIAN TO MAIN century Desert Fathers and Mothers in the wilderness of Egypt and Palestine, to John Cassian who imported the Desert APPENDIX 5 wisdom to the West in the early fifth century, to the develop- Presentation Notes on The Contemplative Tradition ment of Western monasticism through Cassian's foremost pupil St Benedict and his Rule promulgated widely in the sixth century, to the anonymous and amazing Cloud of Un- From Cassian to Main: knowing in the late 14th century, to the English Benedictine Meditation and the Christian Tradition Augustine Baker's Holy Wisdom in the 17th century, and so by CARLA COOPER on. Through all this time, the Eastern Church kept contem- plative practice at the centre of the church, by nurturing the he title of this talk is ‘From Cassian to Main’ but it could prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer. And, of course, that T just as easily be ‘From Main to Cassian’. This is so tradition's repository of wisdom, the Philokalia, remains a because we can't learn about John Main's personal journey great and constant companion for our journey. to meditation without learning about John Cassian's own John Main's own rediscovery of the tradition began when journey. These two journeys, one at the very beginning of he was introduced to the practice of meditation and the the tradition and the other during our lifetime, are key mantra in Malaya during his stint in the Foreign Service in moments in what Fr Laurence calls the ‘living line’.
    [Show full text]
  • Laurence Freeman Was Born in England in 1951 Where He Was Educated by the Benedictines and Studied English Literature at New College, Oxford University
    Laurence Freeman was born in England in 1951 where he was educated by the Benedictines and studied English Literature at New College, Oxford University. Before entering monastic life, he had experience with the United Nations in New York, and in the fields of banking and journalism. Now a Benedictine monk at the Monastery of Christ our Saviour (Turvey, England), a monastery of the Congregation of Monte Oliveto, Fr. Laurence is director of the World Community for Christian Meditation. In the monastery, his spiritual teacher was John Main. He helped Fr. John to establish the first Christian Meditation Centre in London. At the invitation of the Archbishop of Montreal in 1977, he accompanied John Main to establish a Benedictine community of monks and laypeople dedicated to the practice and teaching of Christian meditation. Fr. Laurence studied theology at the University of Montreal and at McGill University. He made his solemn monastic profession in 1979 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. After the death of John Main in 1982, Fr. Laurence continued the work of teaching meditation that had already begun to coalesce into a global community. In 1991, he returned to England to establish the International Center of the newly formed World Community for Christian Meditation, now present in more than a hundred countries—a 'monastery without walls’ in which he travels and teaches widely. In addition to his work in the Christian contemplative life, Laurence Freeman has conducted dialogues and global peace initiatives such as the historic Way of Peace with the Dalai Lama. He is active in interreligious dialogue.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to Christian Meditation with Students: Let's Pray Together
    AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN MEDITATION WITH STUDENTS: Let’s Pray Together EDUCATORS’ GUIDE Opening Remarks Dear Catholic Educators, In recent years Ontario’s Catholic Schools have been journeying into the prayer of Christian Meditation with energy and enthusiasm. Our Ontario Catholic Bishops are embracing this prayer practice along- side our Catholic educators and students. The Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) is pleased to work with the Ontario Catholic Bishops and Ontario Catholic School boards, in collaboration with the Canadian Christian Meditation Community, and offer this resource to support the prayer of Christian Meditation as it enters your classrooms and/or grows in your school communities. Inspiration to begin to introduce the prayer of Christian Meditation in the province has come from two primary sources. These include: The World Community for Christian Meditation and its Director, Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB (http://wccm.org/content/laurence-freeman-osb) and the Christian Meditation practice of Catholic schools in Townsville, Australia as led by Ernie Christie and Dr. Cathy Day (https://www.tsv.catholic.org.au/diocese/ministries/christian-meditation/). Their witness and teachings have given tremendous support to our provincial Christian Meditation journey. Provincially, Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board has been a leader as this prayer grows and begins to enter many of our Catholic classrooms. They have created a video which gives a lovely portrait of Christian Meditation in the classroom that is available in several languages. To view the BHNCDSB video on titled ‘Something is Growing’ please click here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2CK8h3E9f0 In Ontario, we are witnessing the beautiful impact that this prayer of stillness, simplicity and silence is having on all participants.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Introduced Us to Christian Meditation
    We are an ecumenical Christian meditation prayer group, which serves the parishioners and the community at large. We meet as a group "to nurture and communicate meditation as passed on in the Christian tradition through the teachings of Father John Main (a Benedictine monk) in the spirit of serving the unity of all." Who introduced us to Christian Meditation Father John Main, OSB Father John Main OSB was a Roman Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk who presented a way of Christian meditation that used a prayer- phrase or sacred word. In 1975, Main began Christian meditation groups which met at Ealing Abbey, his monastery in West London, England and, later, in Montreal, Quebec. Since then there are Christian meditation groups in over 120 countries around the world, 23 in British Columbia. Father John said: “This is what the path of meditation is about: To come into full harmony, to full union with the Spirit of Jesus who dwells in our hearts.” The all important aim in Christian Meditation is to allow God’s mysterious presence within us to become more and more not only a reality, but the reality which gives meaning, shape and purpose to everything we do, everything we are. Meditation is not something new to the Christian experience but is deeply rooted in Christian tradition. However many Christians have lost touch with this ancient tradition of prayer. Meditation, also known as contemplative prayer, involves coming to a stillness of spirit and a stillness of body. The extraordinary thing, says John Main, is that in spite of all the distractions of the modern world, this silence is perfectly possible for all of us.
    [Show full text]
  • Methuen, C. (2018) the English Reformation in Wittenberg: Luther and Melanchthon’S Engagement with Religious Change in England 1521– 1560
    Methuen, C. (2018) The English Reformation in Wittenberg: Luther and Melanchthon’s engagement with religious change in England 1521– 1560. Reformation and Renaissance Review (doi:10.1080/14622459.2018.1505204) This is the author’s final accepted version. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/161708/ Deposited on: 04 May 2018 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk The English Reformation in Wittenberg: Luther and Melanchthon’s engagement with religious change in England 1521–1560 Charlotte Methuen TRS No 4 The Square, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G41 2NW 0141 339 2501 [email protected] Word count 15477 (overall, including abstract, cover sheet, bibliography) 13941 (article including footnotes) Contributor note Charlotte Methuen is Professor of Church History at the University of Glasgow. Abstract Historians have long been puzzled by the character of the English Reformation, but how did contemporaries view it? This article explores the reception of the English Reformation in Wittenberg, focusing on the reactions of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon as revealed by their correspondence. Luther and Melanchthon’s responses to events in England in this period show that they were generally well-informed. Although the Wittenberg Reformers cherished hopes of winning England for the Protestant cause, the theological ambiguity of the Henrician Reformation represented a real barrier to England’s negotiations with the Schmalkaldic League. The executions of Thomas More, Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell caused the Wittenberg Reformers to regard Henry VIII with increasing suspicion.
    [Show full text]
  • John Main 1926-1982
    John Main 1926-1982 A Celebration by The World Community for Christian Meditation of His Life and Spiritual Legacy A Memorial Eucharist at Westminster Cathedral December 29, 2007 Celebrated by Dom Laurence Freeman OSB with members of The World Community for Christian Meditation and their friends. Heavenly Father, Open my heart to the silent presence of the spirit of your son. Lead me into that mysterious silence where your love is revealed to all who call. John Main OSB In Special Memory of Five Teachers of Our Community Peter Broadhurst, Patricia Ng, Eileen O’Hea, Gerry Pierse, and Doreen Romandini 2 I am delighted that you are gathering to celebrate the life and teaching of John Main in Westminster Cathedral. Dom John Main signi!cantly expanded the wisdom of the Christian monastic teachers into the experience of the universal church especially through their teaching of oratio pura or ‘pure prayer’ within his own teaching on meditation. He was a monk of great depth and historic importance. Dom Michelangelo Tiribilli OSB, Abbot General of the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Oliveto Looking back over 25 years we recognize John Main‘s teaching on meditation has a universal appeal embracing all ages and cultures. His teaching and in"uence continues today in over 1700 groups in our world community through the teaching of Laurence Freeman OSB and through his books and CDs. During this anniversary year meditators in over 100 countries from Argentina to Australia, from China to Canada, Moscow to Mexico, Indonesia to Italy, Switzerland to Singapore, US to the UK have celebrated the life of this great teacher of prayer for our time.
    [Show full text]