Laurence Freeman gave an introductory talk on Christian Meditation at the Major Seminary of Coimbra on Sunday, 3 May, in the presence of the Bishop of Coimbra, Virgílio do Nascimento Antunes. Following Fr Laurence’s teaching, the Bishop offered these words of encouragement:
“I have long been interested in the monastic tradition of both East and West, especially that of the early centuries, which is always something new, always a discovery. Tonight was yet another occasion on which I felt this deeply. Indeed, the human person — and more specifically our Christian tradition — offers us the fundamental elements through which our hearts may become calm and peaceful. And it also helps us to calm and pacify the hearts of others.
So let us commit ourselves to this. Let us turn to Christian meditation, because it truly does transform us, transform the way we see things, and then, as Fr Laurence said, perhaps it may transform the world. I would go even further and say that I am convinced it does transform the world, because the world itself is transformed through the transformation of the heart, of life, and of the mind.”
“The final point I would like to make concerns this challenge which, it seems to me, is of the greatest relevance: introducing children, young people, and adults alike to the art of Christian Meditation.Considering everything that has been said here — about artificial intelligence, about the internet, about people who are not even really people, but images circulating through our minds, and so on — in the light of all this, one realises the importance and relevance that this time of deep prayer, as it has also been called, the prayer of the Heart, has, can have, and indeed should have.”
