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| Dom John Main in Montreal, 1978 |
Through the centuries, people have sought teachers to inspire them and have formed communities of pilgrims with whom to journey. One such community is the Christian Meditation Community in Canada, founded and inspired by Fr. John Main O.S.B.
John Main (1926-1982) first encountered the universal tradition of meditation in the far East when he met a Hindu monk. Later, after he became a Benedictine monk of Ealing Abbey in London, through study and research he discovered a tradition of meditation rooted in Christianity, dating back to the early Desert Mothers and Fathers of the 4th century.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that there was a close connection between the "oratio pura" of Christian monastic tradition and the particular style of meditation practice that he had been introduced to by the Hindu monk.
The common factor was the use of a "mantra" or holy word that is continuously repeated interiorly to achieve a state of mental stillness devoid of distracting thought. It is within this stillness that one can overcome the ego and all those distractions which keep us from the knowledge of our true self and the experience of the in-dwelling Christ.
In 1977, Fr. John was invited to start a small Benedictine community in Montreal. Soon after his arrival, his influence was demonstrated by the increasing number of meditators who arrived each day at the monastery to practise this newly-found "prayer of silence." His "method" of contemplative prayer gave lay people access to one of the great spiritual traditions of the Church.
After his death in 1982, Fr. Bede Griffith, who had also immersed himself in the "east-west" spiritual dialogue, described John Main as the "most important spiritual guide in the church today."
His work is being carried on by Fr. Laurence Freeman O.S.B., the World Community for Christian Meditation, London, England, and thousands of meditators around the world. In Canada, the Canadian Christian Meditation Community and the Méditation Chrétienne du Québec perform this work.