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Christian Meditation: The Practice
The Mantra and Silence in Christian Meditation
(Adapted from a formation talk by Rev. Dom Pachomius Ma. San Juan, OSB on November 18, 2017) Christian meditation, as originally practiced by the desert fathers and taught by John Main, is essentially a mantra-based prayer. Because of its similarity to Eastern meditation practices and the foreignness of its approach to most Christians, it might easily be dismissed as an exotic method, just a therapy for relaxation. This is an unfair judgement. The tradition of the mantra The mantra is…
Advent: God’s Story As Ours, and Advent Wakefulness
Last December 3, the Heartspace Manila community had its annual Advent Recollection, given by Rev. Fr. Pachomius Ma. San Juan, OSB. In his morning talk, Fr. Paco spoke on the gospel readings this Advent as being not just God’s story, but our story as well. All liturgical celebrations, he said, are an expression of love, and Advent is a time when God’s longing for us and ours for Him is manifest. In his afternoon talk, Fr. Pacho stressed the importance,…
A Recollected Heart, and the Second Coming
Last December 12, 2021, our founder Rev. Fr. Pachomius Ma. San Juan OSB blessed Heartspace Manila with a full day of recollection for Advent. His first talk addressed distraction, not just as a challenge for meditators, but as an obstacle to living one’s fullest life. The antidote he proposed to distraction was a disposition of recollectedness, not merely as an Advent exercise but as our daily attitude of living. Christmas is, of course, our commemoration of the First Coming of…
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year 2/B)
A homily by Rev. Dom Pachomius, OSB: In today’s Gospel Jesus returns to His home village of Nazareth. This is not a social visit. This homecoming of Jesus is so unlike the rock star welcome given to a local boy who wins a title at an overseas boxing event and returns home a celebrity, or a barrio lass who gets crowned as beauty queen and is paraded around town on a float, standing next to the mayor. Like other towns…
Easter Sunday Year 2/B
An Easter message from Rev. Dom Pachomius, OSB: Dear sisters and brothers, He has risen, as he said. With these solemn words, the angel of the resurrection proclaimed the central tenet of our Christian faith. All the other doctrines of the Church and all the good works we do derive their significance from our faith in the resurrection of Christ. As Christians we view and interpret everything in its light. From loss to new life In our practical, daily life,…