Dear Group Leaders and Friends in Christian Meditation:
As Easter draws near, we have been journeying towards Jerusalem as Christian people. This holy time is a reminder that as Christians we have an outer journey of faith we travel as members of the Church. We live as members of a community. Through our baptism, we are initiated into something bigger than ourselves. I’ve always appreciated the image that Fr. John Main shared so prophetically; we are to be a community of love. This is what our Christian tradition has called us to be even when we don’t always experience each other as loving. We are always to strive for something more, something that is missed in its simplicity: God is love and we are to live that love with one another, with friends and enemies alike. We are even called to love our earthly home. This calls us to a deep metanoia. Metanoia is most often translated as repentance.
Recently I was able to stay at Bonnevaux, the center for peace which is part of the World Community for Christian Meditation. I attended a retreat led by the spiritual teacher and Episcopal priest, Cynthia Bourgeault. Cynthia reminded us on the retreat that a better translation of metanoia would be “to go beyond the mind.” Yet we can get stuck in repentance and think that Lent and even our lives of faith are just a continual beating up of ourselves realizing that we are never going to be perfect in our faith. What God seeks from us isn’t perfection. Father Laurence Freeman has reminded us that perfection is a virus. What God desires of us, our communities and our world is wholeness. Maybe the best way of seeing holiness is in the light of a faith that flows from a teacher who died on the cross and was raised on the third day — wounds and all. As we sit in mediation saying our mantra we are reminded, even by not thinking about it, that we are growing in our outer journey towards God and one another and we are also on an inner journey. An inner journey that leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven within each of our own hearts.
An important part of our community is the meditation group. Our groups come in all shapes, sizes, and locations. Over the last three years, we have experienced Covid together as a human community. It has shaken many of us and called us to find ways to adapt to the present moment. Meditation groups are coming back together. Some have gone to their original format with a short, recorded talk and a time of meditation. Others have found ways to be a hybrid with a group coming together and others joining virtually. Other groups have become entirely virtual. We are finding out that there are many ways for us to be a community of love. On our national website there is a place where groups are listed along with contact information. (wccm-usa.org) It is important for us to update this information as groups adapt. I would encourage all group leaders to check out this site to make sure this information is correct. If the information is wrong or outdated please let us know. If your group isn’t listed let us know that as well and we will add your group.
Thank you!
Warmly,
Kevin Maksym
