Christian meditation finds a sanctuary at Georgetown University

Published: 2007-11-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the oldest building on the campus of the United States' oldest Catholic university, Christian meditation has found a place to take root. The structure -- also the smallest building on the Georgetown University campus -- is now home to a meditation center that had for two years before been based in a pair of adjoining row houses one block from campus. In the center, organized meditation is offered twice a day, although students, faculty and staff can walk into the building at all hours for some moments of silent meditation. "Ma-ra-na-tha," counseled Benedictine Father Laurence Freeman, a native Briton, at one recent midday meditation session. He was instructing those present to say the ancient Greek invocation for "Come, Lord" to themselves, inside their heads slowly and evenly, without putting emphasis on any syllable. "The best way to learn is to practice," Father Freeman said, as the meditation session had a few first-timers.

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