Our meditation is essentially a response to the direct summons of the gospel to leave self behind. It is heard by each one of us personally and uniquely because the Spirit of Jesus which makes the call felt, dwells within the heart of each person uniquely.
The fundamental call of the Gospel is to conversion, a turning from ourselves to the One who calls. Turning means precisely what it says, changing direction from our hopes and fears, turning away from the past and the future and, ultimately, to turn from our very self-consciousness.
Conversion is a process of spiritual growth by which we die to our own selves… It is an absolute call but it allows for a progressive turning. It does not expect a complete turnaround in go. It is an ongoing conversion, an on-going transformation of consciousness.
Our commitment to conversion is a commitment to growth and one that we make real and incarnate in our twice-daily meditation.
It is difficult to transmit, how the saying of our mantra reinforces our commitment to the conversion experience of the Gospel in every part of our life, in every relationship in every project we undertake, in every work we do…loss of self. Nonetheless it is absolutely true that simply saying the mantra commits us to living out the consequences of saying the mantra.
The moral reality of our life begins to mature… We can’t meditate every day and continue to pursue a policy of deception, of self-interest, of revenge.
However gradually, we must begin to commit ourselves in daily life to truthfulness, to love, to God. This is why it is our spiritual life which transforms our world. As our moral integrity begins to develop, our actions will inevitably begin to change and so the reality of the world we live in, the world of social, political or religious beings, begins to change as well.
The core of John Main’s teaching is that we must first learn to be and then we will know what to do. What we do is only changed deeply and permanently by what we are….
The mantra anchors us in the present moment. This mindfulness is Christian enlightenment: illumination by the mind of Christ, by his consciousness which has been transfigured into pure love, by the light of divine love.
We awaken to this presence at the deepest level of consciousness. It takes time for it to break the surface of our consciousness but as it rises to the surface, as the light begins to spread through our consciousness, so the depth of our mindfulness grows.
LIGHT WITHIN
Laurence Freeman OSB
We invite you to reflect on the excerpts from Light Within and how they resonate with the 12 steps of recovery and in particular the 11th Step – “ Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
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Transformed
Relieved of the alcohol obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed, they came to believe in a Higher Power, and most of them began to talk of God.” 12&12 p.28, Step Two
New Consciousness – He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. 12&12 p.107,
This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. BB p.130, The Family Afterward
As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. P.63 How It Works
Spiritual Awakening – When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. 12&12 p.106, Step Twelve
Ego Deflation The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego has built, through which the light of reason can shine. 12&12 p.46, Step Four
Progress – We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection – BB p.60, How It Works
