In today’s world, our lives are full to bursting.

We have ever increasing opportunities for fun, friendship and growth.

So why do we sometimes feel empty inside or caught up in worries over the little things?

Why does the reality of life seem so far from our childhood imaginings?

Why does the divine peace and love we hear so much of, sometimes feel so far away?

Everyone needs a place of anchor in their lives. A place of stillness, a peaceful refuge

beyond the busyness and worries of day to day life.

For many people, Christian Meditation offers just that.

An ancient form of silent prayer, it’s incredibly relevant

to the busy and preoccupied citizens of the 21st century.

Silence in the City Young Christian Meditators´ Stories

Giovanni Felicioni: Meditation is a time of prayer which happens

without words, without movement, in solitude, where you are at rest, comfortable,

easy, relaxed and then, when you have this opportunity to give your attention to something.

And the something is in the silence; around you and within you; it’s not a thinking,

it’s not a praising or a thanking, it’s a neutral, simple place of anchor that gently teaches

you how to be in the present moment... and it’s there that we discover the Moment of Christ.

Be still and know that I am God. - Psalm, 46, 10.

Celia: My name’s Celia, I’m part of a Christian

meditation group in Sydney, Australia.

Our group meets each week at a church in Paddington, a busy shopping district.

In the center of all that busyness, we make time for silence.

We are quite a mixed group, our lives are all pretty different: some of us work, some

study and we have all sorts of interests. But when we sit down to meditate, our differences

fade away as we share in the silence which connects us to each other and to God.

After we’ve listened to some readings, we meditate in silence for 25 minutes.

Our practice is based on the internal repetition of a prayer word or mantra. Many people use

the Aramaic word MARANATHA, meaning "The Lord or the teacher comes".

When repeating the mantra, we don’t think of its meaning, it just helps us focus our

attention and be in the present moment.

Of course thoughts, of plans for tomorrow or dinner tonight, distract us. The key is

to return to the mantra as soon as we realize we are thinking. This is a way to move beyond

thoughts, words and imaginings. Through the simplifying silence, we let go of our own

plans and priorities and let ourselves to be open to the Divine.

Christian meditation was revived some 30 years ago by John Main, a Benedictine monk. He believed

that the ancient Christian tradition of meditative prayer should be available to all as a valuable

and relevant practice in today’s fast paced world.

John Main and fellow Benedictine Laurence Freeman began to teach others this way of

prayer by establishing small meditation groups. First in London and then in Montreal, Canada.

As groups began to appear around the globe, the World Community for Christian Meditation

was formed: an ecumenical monastery without walls.

Today our group is one of almost 400 groups in Australia and countless more worldwide.

In contemplative prayer we seek to become the person we are called to be. - John Main

John Shields: The main reasons why I meditate, really, initially

it was to stop the busyness of my life, to really just center myself and to try and be

living in the present. I found I was living too much in the future, even in the past at

times. I actually meditate on the train before I go to work and also in the afternoon on

the train, so I really try and blend the meditation into my lifestyle. It’s my own time which

I can spend with God and become closer to Him.

Meditation has really helped me in my own work practice, because it helps me to listen

and to be... to really be closer to the person who I’m actually helping.

I’m really passionate about my triathlons and about keeping fit, because I think keeping

fit makes you feel good, gives me a lot of confidence in my life, it gives me structure

and also I feel the discipline enables me to really use my time productively. Meditation

has helped me in my discipline with my sport.

We’re encouraged to meditate for 25 to 30 minutes in the morning and the same in the

evening and that’s a big commitment and it actually helps with my sporting commitments.

Life is a gift and I’m not here to waste it.

Utterly at home, God lives in our soul forever. - Mother Julian of Norwich

Claire: My name is Claire. I’m British and currently

living in Sydney. When I was growing up, Christianity was all around. My dad was an Anglican vicar,

and we lived in a vicarage next to the church. Christianity was there in the kitchen, as

my mum prepared for parish lunches, in the garden where we hunted for Easter eggs and

in the ringing phone coming from Dad’s study. As a child, I listened to people in church

and wondered what prayer was. To me it didn’t make much sense to speak to God as if He was

out there somewhere. Growing up, I distinctly remember feeling

that God was more inside than outside. As I got older, my questions about God remained,

but I put all my energy into trying to make a difference in the world, working on conservation

projects and community programs overseas. Despite working in some fantastic places with

wonderful people, I often felt unfulfilled.

I was upstairs, on a double-decker London bus when a friend first told me about Christian

Meditation. I knew then, that this was a missing piece in the jigsaw for me.

Learning about the Christian contemplative tradition validated my sense of a God who dwells within.

It also helped to me appreciate other forms of prayer and the tradition I grew up with.

Through meditating, I know that being is just as important as doing and the action to help

others grows out of silence. I love the sense of community and friendship that meditation

brings and the new places and people I’ve known because of it. But most of all, I meditate

because it’s how I feel closest to God.

We are one with the One. We are one with all. - John Main

Retreat: meditation & the body

Giovanni: The gorgeous thing about meditation is that

it gives us this opportunity to be really free, to be playful and to be ourselves. We

have this chance to reset everything, instead of having to believe all the things we’ve

been told to believe. In meditation it’s a chance to really check, to listen in to

God, to really listen to what it sounds like in the silence and what it feels like to be

ourselves

I mean you are totally and utterly loved, no matter your sexuality, no matter your addictions,

no matter what you may have done that you feel has really hurt someone else. All you

need to do is to say "I accept that I’m being loved, I totally accept to the bottom

of my breath, to the deepest muscle in my body that I forgive myself, that it's beautiful

to be me, to be quirky, to have the timbre of my voice or the shape of my body, to be

at this moment of my life. And meditation gives us that chance. We’re simply opening

to space, to silence, to rest and to presentness.