From Fr. Laurence Freeman: Dearest Friends, January 1997 WCCM International Newsletter
[M]editation is about living in the moment of Christ as John Main understood so deeply. It is not about thinking of Christ or how he will come again but about being with Christ now and being transformed in his being. This is not a static historical moment, but a flowing, a flowering and an unfolding of the mystery of Being itself. . . .
To practice meditation is the only way to learn what meditation means and how its meaning is much more than it may seem to those who want to get something short-term out of it; and much more than those who think that by meditating they are making something happen. By learning to meditate we come to understand how we should say the mantra and the way we say the mantra is very much the way we are, the way we love and the way we love day by day.
We should say the mantra without impatience, without force or any intention of violence. The purpose of the mantra is not to block out thoughts. It is not a jamming device. If thoughts attack us while we are meditating we turn the other check. In saying the mantra gently we learn from Him who is gentle and humble of heart. . . .
Our lives will, day by day, become the commentary on our prayer. Our prayer will then no longer consist in endlessly commenting on our lives. We will ourselves permanently have become prayer. . . .
After meditation: Hafiz, “With That Moon Language” in LOVE POEMS FROM GOD: Sacred Voices from the East and West, ed. Daniel Ladinsky (New York: Penguin Compass, 2002), p. 175.
WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE
Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, “love me.”
Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a
full moon in each eye that is
always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in
this world is
dying to
hear?
