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The Saint Victor’s Christian Meditation Group will not be meeting starting tonight, Monday, March 16th, March 23rd, and March 30th due to Corona Virus safety precautions.

Join us in the church garden as we give thanks to God for the creation of your pet that will receive an individual blessing and sprinkle of holy water. Dogs, cats, fish, birds – all are welcome on leash or in a carrier.

As of July 1st, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Extraordinary Form (Latin) Mass community have moved to their new permanent home: St. Vitus Parish 607 4th St. San Fernando, CA 91340 Phone: (323) 454-1002

In John Main’s talk “The Way of the Mantra” he says that the invitation of the Christian life is to be one with Christ; to live your life in union with Christ.  Silent prayer is a communion in which we discover within ourselves a oneness with Christ.  This union takes us right out of ourselves as we become the people we are called to be; rooted and founded in love.

We hear John Main saying in his talk entitled, Set your mind on the Kingdom, “Jesus is at the center of our soul.”  By setting our minds on the Kingdom of God and establishing conscious contact with our own being, we are essentially maintaining our Christ Connection.

When I was a child, my family went on many car trips up and down the California coast.  Sometimes, my father would have to pull over at a rest area if he was getting too tired to drive, and the family would take a nap in the car.  I remember the sound of the freeway with the cars rumbling by loudly, and then the engine sounds trailing off into the silence of the night.  But even during the wee small hours of the morning, there is always the sound of cars on the freeway.

I saw a print advertisement for the city of Palm Springs.  It showed tanned, young people lounging in the sun by a majestic hotel spa façade.  The caption read, “Master the art of doing nothing.”  I thought about how so few of us practice this ancient art in these pressured and multi-tasking times.  I also thought of how so many new technological devices have made silence, solitude and leisure a thing of the past, or a privilege confined only to hospitals and rest homes.

“Now, my sisters, you will go to the chapel for your last prayers before you enter our blessed community.  Tomorrow is the day.  You will pray for the help you need, each one speaking to God in her own way.  Ask Him now to give you the things of the spirit. Ask Him in silence for strength in the practice of silence.  Remember interior silence is the very marrow of perfection as told in our Holy Rule.”  “My Waterloo, Gabrielle said again to herself.  But I’ll smother every voice that talks back to destroy my inner quiet.”  (Excerpts from the book The Nun’s Story by Kathryn Hulme, 1956).

What is the purpose of meditation? In the ”prayer of the heart”, we seek the deepest ground of our identity in God. We seek to gain a direct experience of finding ourselves in God’s truth. We return to simplicity and sincerity of heart. We listen for God’s will, in direct and simple attention to reality. Prayer means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, and for knowledge of his will.

As Christians, we are called to go deeper; to think on a deeper level; to live on a more mindful level.  Meditation makes this possible.  It is in meditation that we move beyond the frivolities, amusements and distractions of our busy thoughts and begin leading more meaningful lives of contemplation.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I heard Fr. Laurence Freeman speak at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Long Beach, CA.   His talk, Changing the World, Changing Yourself:  Contemplation Today included a 20 minute meditation session and Q & A.  Here are some of the highlights: We began with the prologue: Be still and know that I am God. We recited it together, dropping one word each time until the only word left was “Be.”

The Hebrew word Torah, means “instruction or teaching.” The Torah was given by God exactly 50 days after the crossing of the Red Sea.  Shavuot (Pentecost) is called the season of giving because this is the day that God revealed Himself to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

July 23, 2015  #42 “Basic Meditation” Reflections on John Main’s Christian Meditation Lectures Presented by The World Community for Christian Meditation www.wccm.org or www.wccm-usa.org By Mary Sargent