John Main (1926-1982), an English Benedictine monk, pioneered the practice of Christian meditation. His genius was to recover a way into the contemplative experience for ordinary people within the Christian tradition. Hailed by Bede Griffiths as the "most important spiritual guide in the church today, " Main's work inspired the foundation of the World Community for Christian Meditation and a network of hundreds of meditation groups around the world.

John Main introduces the practice of Christian meditation for modern people who wish to deepen their spiritual lives.

Much of today's fascination with and attraction to the Rule of St. Benedict can be attributed to John Main, a Benedictine monk, who first saw that this rule of life for monastic communities could be relevant for Christian living in the secular world. He founded a community of lay people who shared his vision and from this small beginning has grown. The World Community for Christian Meditation which today is active in numerous countries around the world and has thousands of members and associates. Its work, and its emphasis on meditation, derives directly from the Benedictine focus on prayer and lectio divina or holy reading. Right up to the end of his life in 1982, John Main wrote a series of remarkable letters of spiritual direction to WCCM's growing family. Two collections have previously been published and are now out of print and the complete letters are now published in this single volume. Together they constitute a volume of remarkable spiritual wisdom and insight, as fresh and relevant for today as when they were first written. LAURENCE FREEMAN osb is a Benedictine monk who worked with John Main from the beginning and is very much his successor. He runs the London Christian Meditation Centre and travels the world giving seminars and workshops on the work of John Main. He is based at the Monastery of Christ the King, Cockfosters.

While many people have problems with the church - including most churchgoers - the person of Jesus is an indispensable force in the achievement of any authentic spirituality. The conflict between faith and experience is eased in the rediscovery of the essential unity and simplicity at the heart of Jesus' teachings. Embarking on this journey of rediscovery, this book takes as its starting point a question that Jesus himself asked his disciples, 'Who do you say I am?' For the many Christians who have never taken this question seriously, Laurence Freeman explores this question in the light of some of the big issues of religious understanding:the historical reality of Jesus, the experiential reading of the Scriptures, personal conversion,the inner journey.

The contemplative tradition in Christianity traces its origins back to Jesus himself, who frequently withdrew to quiet places to pray, and it has nourished and challenged disciples in every generation since. Journey to the Heart is an in-depth and richly illustrated exploration of Christian spirituality by some of today's leading spiritual writers. From New Testament times to the present day, it reveals the life and teachings of the greatest Christian mystics including: * Jesus, St John and St Paul * The Early Church Fathers - Clement, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa * Desert Mothers and Fathers * the Monastics - Benedict, Francis * the early English mystics - Julian of Norwich, Marjorie Kemp and Walter Hilton * the European tradition - St John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart * the poets - Traherne, George Herbert * modern day mystics - Merton, Bede Griffiths, John Main Winner at the Catholic Press Association Awards: Popular presentation of the Catholic faith 2nd prize

The author is Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation and a renowned speaker, writer and retreat leader

We take it for granted that aspects of monastic life can sustain our daily lives in the world, but we owe this understanding to John Main, a Benedictine monk who pioneered the idea that the desert tradition of meditative or contemplative prayer, which had largely been forgotten in the West, was for all Christians. At his monastery in London, he started teaching this way of prayer to lay groups and a network of meditation groups came into being, quickly spreading throughout the world and renewing a sense of the Church as a fellowship rooted in prayer and contemplative action. Bestselling books soon grew out of his talks. This simple, practical guide to 'pure prayer' teaches that by ceasing to struggle to find words and images by which we all too easily try to control God, we give God freedom to be himself in our hearts and we begin to pray with 'the mind of Christ', as St Paul teaches. In a nervous world saturated with image and endless self-commentary, this is a nourishing, life-giving stream of hope and refreshment.

This compilation of the mystical writings of Hadewijch of Antwerp is best described, in Andrew Harvey's words, as a "heroic song" of love. The book presents an honest picture of love from every angle, stripped of sentimentality, not disguising the high price love demands if it is to be taken or given seriously.

In a world torn by division, indifference and chaos, to read Love is Everything is to be awakened to the full potential and dignity of being human, and to be changed. Hadewijch of Antwerp was one of Christianity's greatest Christian mystics, a Beguine who lived in the 13th century.

Andrew Harvey is a world-renowned poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, spiritual teacher, and the founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism. He saw in Hadewijch's writings a promise and hope for a broken world and felt called to make it accessible to more people by presenting it in daily-reading format.

"All around the world a resurgence of Christian contemplative living is creating a new framework for spirituality inside and outside of formal religion. Building on and expanding from the thoughts and works of such as Richard Rohr, Thomas Keating, Tilden Edwards, Laurence Freeman, and other founding members of the modern contemplative movement, a new movement carries on the work of their mentors. This collection brings together the diverse voices who have emerged as new leaders of the contemplative movement. Exploring a multitude of themes, such as silence, imagination, meditation, embodiment, community and social action, this volume introduces the new voices who reflect globally on the gifts, challenges, differences and commonalities of Christian contemplation today for communities and people of faith."

As the leader of the World Community for Christian Meditation, Laurence Freeman's calling takes him all over the world to teach and lead groups who want to practice contemplative prayer. In this spiritual travel memoir, he recounts timeless, memorable and moving stories of people, places and events in which he has encountered God 's transformative presence. The title of the book comes from a Shakespeare sonnet and the book explores how the life of God can be found in the most unlikely places, not only in the world's beauty but even in its tragedy. Slum priests quietly bringing hope to the favelas of Brazil, the gloriously fat stone ladies of Malta which are the world's oldest depictions of God, the different effects of a mountain-top retreat on an investment banker, a tired social worker and a cancer patient, the impact of a child's death on a whole community - these and many more stories movingly reveal how the sacred strains to find expression in every life, every place, every day.

The Benedictine monk and writer, Laurence Freeman, took over the mantle of John Main after his death in 1982 and continues the work that he began, teaching Christians from all traditions the simplest way of prayer - meditation. It is simple in that it requires no words, yet encountering God without the safety barrier of our own thoughts and ideas is to open ourselves to total transformation. This collection of talks on Christian meditation is full of practical advice and great spiritual insights in equal measure. It shows how discovering the presence of Christ within through meditative prayer can give shape and purpose to everything we do and are: our actions, emotions, fears, longings, failings and dreams. As John Main taught, the point of this kind of prayer is to allow God's presence to become not just a reality, but the reality of our lives.

Much of today's fascination with and attraction to the Rule of St. Benedict can be attributed to John Main, a Benedictine monk, who first saw that this rule of life for monastic communities could be relevant for Christian living in the secular world. He founded a community of lay people who shared his vision and from this small beginning has grown. The World Community for Christian Meditation which today is active in numerous countries around the world and has thousands of members and associates. Its work, and its emphasis on meditation, derives directly from the Benedictine focus on prayer and lectio divina or holy reading. Right up to the end of his life in 1982, John Main wrote a series of remarkable letters of spiritual direction to WCCM's growing family. Two collections have previously been published and are now out of print and the complete letters are now published in this single volume. Together they constitute a volume of remarkable spiritual wisdom and insight, as fresh and relevant for today as when they were first written. LAURENCE FREEMAN osb is a Benedictine monk who worked with John Main from the beginning and is very much his successor. He runs the London Christian Meditation Centre and travels the world giving seminars and workshops on the work of John Main. He is based at the Monastery of Christ the King, Cockfosters.

Contemplation can and will transform the lives of busy working men and women in a turbulent world. Books on meditation and contemplation are numerous but the huge success of Laurence Freeman's book and his organisation show that he has something to offer which is entirely distinctive. God for the author is not a funk hole or an oxygen tank. We cannot escape the realities of our lives by swallowing pills or lying on a psychiatrist's couch talking endlessly about ourselves. Christianity needs to restore its contemplative dimension, and stop arguing about women priests, civil partnerships and the apostolic succession. God is within and is accessible to all. Through 'The World Community for Christian Meditation' as in this book, Fr Freeman goes out to meet busy people involved in industry, education, ecumenism, the caring professions. For he believes that society can be transformed by the transformation of the hearts and minds of ordinary mortals, who do not have to be cloistered behind monastic walls.