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Unity: Local and Global

A reflection by Stefan Reynolds on the John Main Seminar,
held in August 2008 in Mainz, Germany.

The keynote speaker at the annual John Main Seminar this year was Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. The theme ‘Unity: Local and Global’ looked at the place of contemplative prayer in ecumenical dialogue. The presenters were from the Lutheran and Catholic traditions. The John Main Seminar is organised by The World Community for Christian Meditation which has mediation groups in fifty-four countries all around the world. Many of these groups are ecumenical and some offer a place of meeting for people of different faiths. Part of the work of the community has been in helping the ‘wider ecumenism’ of inter-religious dialogue. Every year the John Main Seminar has been organised to deepen the practice of the silent meditation taught by the English Benedictine monk John Main. This year’s seminar, held in Germany – the crucible of the reformation, was dedicated to exploring the place prayer and meditation has in healing the divisions between the Christian churches.

The Seminar was opened by Sr Katharina Klara Schridde CCR and Professor Dr Notger Slenczka who commented from a Lutheran perspective on the statement of the Jesuit theologian Carl Rahner that “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” They explained how the mystical tradition was not common to Reformation spirituality. However if by mysticism Rahner meant an emphasis on personal experience as against merely notional belief then this was one of the bedrocks of Lutheranism. Luther’s call was for each to take personal responsibility for their faith. Today Christians are called to relate to each other and the world not only from a conviction of faith but from the personal transformation that faith enables. Professor Slenczka followed these opening reflections with a talk on ‘Prayer from the Protestant Perspective’ in which he emphasised the importance of petitionary prayer: “Prayer is not so much earning God’s grace as opening ourselves to receive it. In order to receive it we simply have to ask. Petition and acceptance go together. That is why Jesus said ‘whatever you ask for in my name believe that you have already received it and it is yours’”.

The first half day of the Seminar ended with a time of silent meditation together where we held the rich paradox that ‘God knows what we need before we ask’ and yet we have to ask so as to receive. The Saturday likewise opened with meditation. The morning talks were given by two religious sisters from Catholic and Protestant communities in Germany. Sr Maire Hickey OSB spoke about how community and scripture are formative for the contemplative spirit: “We listen to the Word speaking in the liturgy, in those with whom we live, in our own hearts. Reverence for that Word, made flesh in us, draws us to attentive silence”. Sr Katharina Klara Schridde spoke about her experience of the poverty of silent prayer which as a Christian sister she practices in the discipline of Zen: “This is the desert where God leads his chosen people. For me it is the place where I can listen to the Scriptures as if welling up from their source. It is also the place where I can meet all those who are no longer satisfied with material riches but are searching for another homeland.”

Throughout the day we spent times in silent meditation allowing the poverty of the single verse to focus our attention and lead us into the promised land. It became clear that this homeland we long for is the fruit of Christ’s prayer that all who follow him may be one. It was on this theme that Cardinal Kasper gave the two final talks, on the afternoon of Saturday 16th August and on the morning of Sunday the 17th.

The first talk Cardinal Kasper gave was on ‘Prayer from the Catholic perspective’. He opened humbly by saying that he did not feel very qualified to talk about spirituality being a theologian by trade but every year he enjoyed going on a retreat in a Benedictine monastery: “I feel carried by the prayer there. For me the important thing is that my prayer finds its place within the broader and deeper prayer of Christ. The Spirit of Christ prays within us and in the community gathered in his name”. That is why for Kasper the heart of Christian prayer is inter-personal and communal. At the same time he recognised the need for growing self-knowledge in prayer: “Today we are in a kairos of interiority, however the Church easily becomes too busy, too intellectual, too external”. He spoke about the need for personal experience today, revival of interest in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, Taize prayer and the practice of meditation that has come out of the monastic tradition. We need, as St. Augustine said, to be restored to ourselves as to a stepping stone by which we might rise to God.

Christian prayer he said is based on the word of God in scripture which points to the Word made flesh in Christ. The heart of Christian prayer is the Incarnation. God is mediated to us through the physicality of the sacraments and through the community, the people who respond to his call. Meditation starts with coming home to ourselves but becomes “the route to the centre of life which is the fount of all life”. In prayer the Spirit ‘guides us into all truth’ and therefore the way is to love truth and life wherever it can be found.

Cardinal Kasper’s second talk spoke about the ‘Spiritual Ecumenism’ based on the prayer of Christ that ‘all may be one’. To open to that prayer in our hearts, he said, is to lead to its realisation in the world. “Prayer”, he said, “is a cosmic energy that brings the cosmos, God and humanity together in a unity of love. In prayer we are like scouts looking for that eschatological unity but we need a new impetus today. Communities like The World Community for Christian Meditation and other contemplative networks can take us to this great unity”. However part of this prayer, he said, is to suffer the pain of division; “False ecumenism suppresses pain but does not work a cure”. Still he ended by emphasising that as Christians we always have more in common than what separates us: “There is a new breath of the Spirit moving in the Churches. Young people in the church today do not have to carry the burden we in the older generation did. They quickly see the freedom and joy of the Gospel.”

The Seminar ended with a panel discussion with Fr Laurence Freeman (Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation), Cardinal Kasper and Professor Slenczka. The question of freedom of conscience was raised. It was recognised that the old model of Catholicism as ‘obeying the rules’ and Protestantism as ‘individualistic spirituality’ was no longer valid. As Christians we are never alone because we belong to the community of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian is free to choose their own spirituality and lifestyle but all Christians are carried by the Communio Sanctorum. It was also recognised that as Christians we can learn from other religions however the great contemplative wisdom of our own is the best ground for us to approach the wider spiritual ecumenism. It was this spiritual dimension which all agreed was so essential today if ecumenical dialogue was to make progress and continue to respond to Christ’s prayer that ‘all may be one’.

Stefan Reynolds is an oblate of The World Community for Christian Meditation.

JOHN MAIN SEMINAR 2008
August 15-17

Quotes from Cardinal Kasper at the John Main Seminar:

“It takes our full devotion to know Christ as truth.”

“Meditation is the route to the centre of life which is the fount of all life”.

“Today we are in a kairos of interiority but, as always, the church easily becomes too busy, too intellectual, too external.”

“We need a new impetus today. Communities like yours, contemplative networks that take us to this great unity.”

“Without a spiritual dimension ecumenical dialogue can make no progress.“

“Ecumenical means entering into the prayer of Jesus and realising his prayer for unity.“

“False ecumenism denies the pains of division. It suppresses pain but does not work a cure.”

“As Christians our meditation means we are never alone because we realise our belonging to the community of the Holy Spirit.”

“The traces of the Holy Spirit can be recognised outside Christianity. The centre of Christian reality is the Incarnation.”

“We can learn from other religions but must remember the great contemplative wisdom of our own.”

“Every Christian is free to choose their own spirituality but all Christians are carried by the great Communion Sanctorum."

“Young people in the church today do not have to carry the burden we in the older generation did. They quickly see the freedom and joy of the Gospel.”

“Prayer is a cosmic energy that brings cosmos, God and humanity together in a unity of love.”

“The one who prays is like a scout looking for the eschatological unity.”

“We have always more in common than what separates us.”

The Community is now directed by Laurence Freeman, a student of John Main and a Benedictine monk of the Olivetan Congregation. We have our International Centre and a Meditation Retreat centre in London. There are also many other Centres in other parts of the world that you are welcome to contact or visit.

The Community is a kind of 'monastery without walls', a family of national communities and emerging communities in over a hundred countries. The spiritual foundation is the local meditation group, which meets weekly in homes, parishes, offices, hospitals, prisons, schools and colleges - pretty well everywhere that people live and seek. The World Community is ecumenical and serves a universal 'catholic' unity in its dialogue both with Christian churches and other faiths. We encourage and try to support the daily practice of meditation knowing its power to change hearts and so to transform our world.

Each year we run the John Main Seminar and The Way of Peace. You can find previous Seminars and the upcoming ones on these pages. We also sponsor retreats, 'Schools' for the training of teachers of meditation and other programs. We contribute often to interfaith dialogue particularly, in recent years, with Buddhists and Muslims. A quarterly spiritual letter with global and local news is mailed by national communities and is also available online. Weekly readings can be sent directly to your email if you'd like to subscribe.

You can also link to many national community sites and sites with a particular focus such as children and meditation, how to start a meditation group, a site for the Eleventh Step in Recovery, and the spiritual search of young adults.

Information on retreats and other programmes, places to visit and stay, pilgrimages, connections to national coordinators and the location of meditation groups can also be found on this site. You can also find online audio talks for listening or downloading.

Medio Media is the publishing arm of The World Community. Our online bookstore is linked here offering a wide range of books, audiotapes, CD's and videos to support your practice of meditation.

We are always trying to improve the way this site can serve your spiritual journey and especially your regular practice of meditation. Feel free to share your comments or suggestions with us. Please.... come in and browse and feel welcome in our Community.

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05.25.08