| CHRISTIAN MEDITATION AS AN ELEVENTH STEP PRACTICE |
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The World Community for Christian Meditation 11th Step Practice St. Mark's, Myddelton Square London EC1R 1XX England, UK +44 0207 278 2070 Email: info@christianmeditation11step.org www.christianmeditation11step.org |
| “The discipline of meditation will lead you to a liberty that intoxicates with the joy and peace of the Spirit and sets all your life-experience in the supremely Christian framework of hope……Here is the Christian invitation, therefore, no longer to live at the surface, not to live at the level of glitter and triviality, but to be filled with the peace and the love of God…….” John Main OSB |
JOHN MAIN, OSB
In 1926, Main was born in London, England as Douglas Main. In the late 1940's, he
joined the Canons Regular of the Lateran, and studied at the Diocesan seminary of
St. Edmund's College, Ware in England before being chosen to pursue theology
studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He then
began to doubt his vocation to the priesthood and decided to leave Rome to go to
Dublin, Ireland (where his family now lived). In Dublin, he studied law at Trinity
College. He graduated in 1954, and joined the British Colonial Service.
He was assigned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he met the Swami Satyananda,
who taught him meditation utilizing a mantra as the means used to arrive at
meditative stillness. The Swami taught him to meditate by giving him a Christian
mantra.
In 1956, Main returned to Dublin, and taught law at Trinity College. In 1959, he
decided to join the Benedictines at Ealing Abbey in London. He took the name of
John, in honor of John the Apostle. He was ordained a priest in 1963.
In 1970, Fr. Main was appointed the headmaster of St. Anselm's Abbey School in
Washington, D.C.. It was here that Fr. Main began to seriously study the writings
of Desert Father John Cassian for the first time. Fr. Main 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, Fr. Main left Saint Anselm's Abbey in Washington and returned to Ealing
Abbey in London, where he began Christian meditation groups at an old house on
the monastery grounds. Fr. Main was assisted by Fr. Laurence Freeman, also a
Benedictine at Ealing Abbey. In 1977, Fr. Main and Fr. Freeman were sent to
establish a new Benedictine monastery in Montreal, Canada. Here, too, they
taught Christian meditation groups.
In 1982, Fr. Main died of cancer. Fr. Freeman continued Fr. Main's work, traveling
widely to establish Christian mediation groups across the world. In 1991, these
Christian mediation groups were networked together into the World Community
for Christian Meditation (WCCM).
In 1926, Main was born in London, England as Douglas Main. In the late 1940's, he
joined the Canons Regular of the Lateran, and studied at the Diocesan seminary of
St. Edmund's College, Ware in England before being chosen to pursue theology
studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He then
began to doubt his vocation to the priesthood and decided to leave Rome to go to
Dublin, Ireland (where his family now lived). In Dublin, he studied law at Trinity
College. He graduated in 1954, and joined the British Colonial Service.
He was assigned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he met the Swami Satyananda,
who taught him meditation utilizing a mantra as the means used to arrive at
meditative stillness. The Swami taught him to meditate by giving him a Christian
mantra.
In 1956, Main returned to Dublin, and taught law at Trinity College. In 1959, he
decided to join the Benedictines at Ealing Abbey in London. He took the name of
John, in honor of John the Apostle. He was ordained a priest in 1963.
In 1970, Fr. Main was appointed the headmaster of St. Anselm's Abbey School in
Washington, D.C.. It was here that Fr. Main began to seriously study the writings
of Desert Father John Cassian for the first time. Fr. Main 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, Fr. Main left Saint Anselm's Abbey in Washington and returned to Ealing
Abbey in London, where he began Christian meditation groups at an old house on
the monastery grounds. Fr. Main was assisted by Fr. Laurence Freeman, also a
Benedictine at Ealing Abbey. In 1977, Fr. Main and Fr. Freeman were sent to
establish a new Benedictine monastery in Montreal, Canada. Here, too, they
taught Christian meditation groups.
In 1982, Fr. Main died of cancer. Fr. Freeman continued Fr. Main's work, traveling
widely to establish Christian mediation groups across the world. In 1991, these
Christian mediation groups were networked together into the World Community
for Christian Meditation (WCCM).
| THE WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION |