The Canadian Christian Meditation Community (CCMC) is part of the

World Community for Christian Meditation The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) is a registered charity founded in 1991 that promotes a form of Christian meditation developed by Benedictine monk and priest John Main, OSB. The current director of the WCCM is Fr. Laurence F ...

(WCCM), which was founded in 1991 to foster the teachings of

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk and priest, Fr.

John Main John Douglas Main OSB (21 January 1926 – 30 December 1982) was a Roman Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who presented a way of Christian meditation which used a prayer-phrase or mantra. In 1975, Main began Christian meditation groups w ...

O.S.B. , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

(1926–1982). Fr. Main taught a way of

Christian meditation Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word ''meditārī'', which has a range of meanings including to re ...

which he based on parallels he saw between the spiritual practice taught by

Desert Father The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The is a collection of the wisdom of some of the earl ...

John Cassian John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman ( la, Ioannes Eremita Cassianus, ''Ioannus Cassianus'', or ''Ioannes Massiliensis''; – ), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern c ...

and the meditative practice he had been taught by the

Swami Swami ( ; sometimes abbreviated sw.) in Hinduism is an honorific title given to a male or female ascetic who has chosen the path of renunciation (''sanyāsa''), or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavas. It is used eith ...

Satyanandain in

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. In 1977, Fr. John started a small Benedictine community in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, thus bringing this form of contemplative prayer to Canada. The Canadian Community's national office is located in Montreal. The current director of the WCCM is Fr.

Laurence Freeman Laurence Freeman OSB (born 17 July 1951) is a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk of Monastery of Sta Maria di Pilastrello, in Italy, a monastery of the Olivetan Congregation. He is the Director of the World Community for Christian Medita ...

O.S.B. , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

, O.C., a student of John Main and a Benedictine monk of the Olivetan Congregation. On July 1, 2009,

Michaëlle Jean Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

, announced the appointment of Fr. Freeman as an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. The Community is a "monastery without walls", a family of national communities and emerging communities in over a hundred countries. The foundation of the Community is the local meditation group, which meets weekly in homes, parishes, offices, hospitals, prisons, and colleges. The World and Canadian Communities work closely with many Christian denominations and other faiths. The Canadian Community sponsors retreats, schools for the training of teachers of meditation, lectures and other programs. A national quarterly spiritual and news publication of the Canadian Community is mailed to members and also available online. Information on current programs, connections to national coordinators and the location o
meditation groups
can be found on th
Community website
Medio Media is the communication and publishing arm of the World and Canadian Communities and offers a wide range of books, audio and videos to support the practice of meditation. The online bookstore is a
Medio Media
Fr.

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

taught the practice and discipline of

as follows:

Sit down. Sit still and upright. Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert. Silently, interiorly begin to say a single word. We recommend the prayer phrase
maranatha __NOTOC__ ''Maranatha'' (Aramaic: ') is an Aramaic phrase which occurs once in the New Testament (). It also appears in Didache 10:14. It is transliterated into Greek letters rather than translated and, given the nature of early manuscripts, the ...
. Recite it as four syllables of equal length. Ma-ra-na-tha. Listen to it as you say it, gently but continuously. Do not think or imagine anything - spiritual or otherwise. If thoughts and images come, these are distractions at the time of meditation, so keep returning to simply saying the word. Meditate each morning and evening for twenty to thirty minutes.

Footnotes

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External links

Canadian Christian Meditation CommunityWorld Community for Christian MeditationCanadian Christian Meditation Community Facebook page
Christian mantra meditation Christian organizations based in Canada Catholic organizations established in the 20th century