Several times a year, the Religion Consultant for the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) sends out an invitation to educators to attend an overnight silent retreat for twelve teachers to learn the art of Christian Meditation for children at the home of the Sisters of St. Joseph in London, Ontario. In early February, twelve eager participants arrive to learn and practice the simple steps of Christian Meditation as taught by the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM).
Following a delicious dinner, comradery, and basic instructions, the group enters a world of silence and stillness in preparation for meditation. Cellphones and outside distractions are set aside to fully enter the retreat experience. Three Sister facilitators and their consultant companion, amid candlelight and stillness in a prayerful atmosphere, explain the age-old practice of the desert fathers and mothers. As early as the third century, these early meditators fled the noise, chaos, and commerce of their society to live a prayer-centered life. Similarly, teachers today know the noise, distraction, anxiety, and turmoil that surrounds our youth. Educators see that learning the art of Christian Meditation could be an antidote to present chaotic ills. Placing Christ at the centre of meditation raises simple meditation as a wellness to a spiritual encounter.
One by one, our retreatants shed their coat of fatigue and distraction to embrace an aura of silence. It is time to breathe deeply and experience the world of meditation. Step by step, a quiet, reverent voice leads the group in the rudiments of Christian Meditation. She instructs: “Sit still in your chair, your back straight; feet flat on the floor; place your hands quietly on your lap; gently close your eyes; notice your breath; slowly repeat the mantra, ‘ma-ra-na-tha’”. This word, in the language Jesus spoke, means, “Come Lord Jesus.”
A chime indicates that fifteen minutes of meditation have elapsed. The meditators quietly leave and peacefully proceed to their rooms for the night’s repose.
Throughout the following day, the participants begin with meditation and learn the background of World Community for Christian Meditation which Fr. John Main established in France in 1927. It is now a global movement with a centre in Montreal. Today, there are thousands of adults and children practicing Christian Meditation throughout the world.
At retreat’s end, the teachers leave looking forward to introducing Christian Meditation to their students. They know that pausing during the workday to embrace Centering Prayer is bound to bring personal and communal peace to the classroom and hope to our shaken world. As we wave goodbye to one group of educators, another one is waiting in the wings to join us in prayer and Christian Meditation.
-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ
IMAGES: Zoltan Tasi/Rebecca Peterson-Hall Unsplash