Fr. Laurence Freeman began his June 12 talk to a group that numbered just under 40 youth and young adults at St Paul University, Ottawa, by speaking of a young Australian Aboriginal who approached him after giving a talk on Christian meditation. The young man had thanked Fr. Laurence for the talk and noted how it reconciled, for the young man as a Christian, the 40,000 year didjiri tradition of the Australian Aboriginal people, where they face the direction of a river and let go of all thoughts and distractions. The young man said he knew that through their practice his ancestors were “listening to the word of God sounding at the heart of creation”—words Fr. Laurence said he will never forget.
Within the context of our modern society, where questions of identity and meaning plague not just the young, and a sense of crisis continually looms (e.g. environmental, economical, and political), Fr. Laurence spoke of how a twice-daily meditation practice has the ability to change the way we think, the way we act and change our “self”, which in turn has the ability to positively effect and change our society. Through Christian meditation we are offered a sense of belonging to our self, to a community, to our own time and place, and to a tradition—a human spiritual tradition. These gifts have the ability to respond to our questions of identity and meaning.
Following a 20 minute meditation and a question and answer session between event participants and Fr. Laurence, Tim Casey, director of the John Main Centre for Meditation and Inter-religious Dialogue at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, gave a brief overview of his work with the Centre and his current work with youth. The event ended with fellowship and more one on one discussions over food graciously provided by the Ottawa-area Christian meditation community.
The event highlighted what is best about our community, an opportunity to let go of the frenzied world outside and the on-going inner-monologue while coming closer with the presence of God that dwells within and sharing authentic experiences from the heart.
Krister Partel