Head of worldwide Christian meditation community honoured as an officer
By Deborah GyapongFather Laurence Freeman, OSB (left), honoured by Governor General David Johnston.
Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA

Father Laurence Freeman, OSB, the head and founder of the Montreal-based World Community for Christian Meditation, was named an Officer of the Order of Canada May 25.

Governor General David Johnston recognized Father Freeman for "a lifetime of achievement and merit of a high degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large" and as "an internationally recognized spiritual leader and proponent of peace and interfaith dialogue and understanding."

Father Freeman told CCN he sees a role for Christian meditation in the new evangelization and hopes the Catholic Church will recognize the teaching of meditation and contemplative prayer as an evangelizing work, "because it's bringing the fruits of the Spirit within the motivation of Christian faith to people in need."

"And God knows the world is in need of these fruits of the Spirit," he said. "In the same way in the past religious orders brought hospitals and education where there were none, I think today as Christians we can bring the healing of the soul, the hope of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit."

"We're not hiding in any way the inspiration or origins of our teaching, but we're saying it's a gift that is so simple and so universal it can be of value to everyone in every walk of life," he said. "I really believe that when teaching meditation with Christian faith we are bringing the Gospel to those people."

"The Christian tradition has always flown on two wings," he said. "One wing is what we can say about God and what we believe. The other wing is that we know God is mystery and that all our words fall short."

Father Freeman said both the present Pope and Blessed John Paul II emphasized the contemplative nature of prayer and of liturgy.

The Order of Canada citation described Father Freeman as regularly circling "the globe to introduce meditation as a means of inner transformation and connection between peoples and religions."

"He works at all levels of society, engaging world leaders as well as the poor, and the organization has expanded to more than 100 countries," it said.

"A committed advocate of non-violence, he co-founded the Way of Peace gatherings, which bring together Buddhists and Christians, as well as those who have been on the violent ends of religious divides. In addition, he is a respected speaker, author, and theologian."

Father Freeman said he was "astounded" and "honoured" to be named, but he said he would receive it "on behalf of the Canadian Christian meditation community."

The movement began when fellow Benedictine Father John Main opened the first Christian Meditation Centre in London, England, in 1975 after he had studied the teachings of the desert fathers and the "Conference" of John Cassian.

Father Main had studied meditation under an Indian Swami while in Malaya and found a similar discipline of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition.

In 1977 the Archbishop of Montreal invited Father Main and Father Freeman to set up a Benedictine community of monks and lay people dedicated to Christian meditation and contemplative prayer.

Father Freeman became the community's prior after the death of Father Main in 1982. Ten years later he founded the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM).

Father Freeman estimates there are 300 to 400 Christian meditation groups in Canada alone, predominantly in Catholic, Anglican, and United Church settings. He also teaches meditation in a variety of non-Christian settings: among prisoners, homeless people, alcoholics, the mentally ill, or school children.

He recently returned from a trip introducing meditation in schools in Australia, one of 17 countries to do this.

"We speak about the benefits, the psychological and the physical benefits which are well described by science," he said. "But our main focus is on the spiritual fruits. The spiritual fruits according to St. Paul are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control."

"These are qualities you can't measure in the same way you can your cholesterol or even your anxiety level," he said.

Many people start to meditate for psychological or physical reasons, he said, but the community teaches it as a spiritual discipline, "as a way of prayer."

"Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom; you find it in all the great religious traditions," he said. "We teach it from the Christian tradition."

Like his predecessor, Father Freeman uses meditation as a way of opening up common ground with all religions. "Interreligious dialogue is a very important part of our work as well."

He will be meeting again with the Dalai Lama against in June and will participate in an interreligious dialogue with him in India in January.

"Meditation is a very simple teaching, a simple practice, and that's never more clear than when you are meditating with young children," he said. "Because it is so simple it goes to the very depth of human experience. It brings healing, enlightenment, and hope to people in every condition of life."

Dr. Balfour Mount, considered the father of modern palliative care in Canada, has been a lay member of the Christian meditation community in Montreal since 1980. For the past 12 years he and his wife have hosted a meditation group in their home twice everu weekday.

"Laurence is completely remarkable human being," Dr. Mount said of Father Freeman. "He's a scholar and a great with an amazing sense of humour; a great teacher and a man of extraordinary focus and deep spirituality. He's truly amazing."

Dr. Mount said it is important to "get the word out" to Catholics that meditation is not just an eastern practice but one that has its roots in the Christian tradition right back to the first century.

"Right back to the first century it was an integral part of the Christian tradition, and then sadly it became lost," he said. Meditation is present in all the world traditions from Judaism to the Islam Sufi tradition, to Buddhism, he said. It's also alive in Eastern Orthodoxy.

Meditation is a simple practice. "I always joke that it's the world's greatest non-event," he said. "In my experience over the past 30 years, it's absolutely a non-experience; however, it is the most important thing I do. There's a paradox there."

The website of the World Community for Christian Meditation is wccm.org.