Welcome to WCCM in the United Kingdom
The World Community for Christian Meditation aims to communicate and nurture meditation as passed on through the teaching of John Main, in the Christian tradition, in the spirit of serving the unity of all. We practice and promote contemplative prayer in the form of silent meditation. The UK is the original home of this now international, ecumenical community which began in London in 1975, led by Benedictine monk Dom John Main.
For more information on what Christian Meditation is, its history and its teaching, please click on the doves to the left to access the World Community's site. If you are looking for UK-specific information it is all on this site. You can find details of local groups, and up-coming events and retreats.
We also have a number of special interest groups that organise events and provide advice on Christian meditation and:
- Recovering from Addiction
- Improving Mental Health
- Children and Schools
- Young Adults
- Prisons
- Clergy
- Benedictine Oblates of WCCM
- Meditatio Community
If you are looking for greater support as an individual meditator; books or CDs on meditation, or guidance towards becoming an oblate, please contact the London Centre.
We hope you find that this site helps deepen your understanding of meditation and supports your daily practice.
In love and peace
The World Community for Christian Meditation in the UK
Click the Facebook icon to find our weekly meditation readings, news, photographs and videos of Father Laurence Freeman's latest events, a meditators blog, and much more!
Integral Spirituality - Open Session
24th January 2012
Integral Spirituality is a course of monthly evening meetings that explore the intersection of faith, spirit, society, psychology and human relationships. It comprises talks, practical exercises, readings and meditation.
Although grounded in the Christian tradition, this programme is open to people of any or no formal faith. It's an ideal companion to our regular programme of workshops, and provides an on-going source of spiritual growth, support and direction through the year. Previous participants have said "It's opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at the world" "There's nowhere else that I've really been able to talk about my faith in such a safe, non-judging environment" "I've appreciated the chance to share and learn with very different, but like-minded people"
The facilitator is Jonathan Males, who draws on his experience as a psychologist, executive coach, spiritual director, meditator and parent.
This will be our third Integral Spirituality programme and we are offering a free 'taster session' to help you decide whether you'd like to join for the rest of the year.
Venue: Benedictine Centre for Spirituality, Cockfosters, London
Time: 7.00 pm – 10.00 pm
There are then a further 9 monthly evenings through the year, £15 per session.
To register for a free place on the Open Session, phone 020 8449 2499 or email retreats@bcsuk.wanadoo.co.uk
You can download a flyer about this event here.
The John Main Seminar - 2012
The 2012 John Main Seminar will take place in Brazil. If you are interested in attending, then you can download a flyer in PDF format here.
The seminar website for it will be soon available at: http://www.johnmainseminar2012.com
UK National Retreat 2012
There will be no UK conference, as such, in 2012 but we are planning a 5 day retreat to be led by Fr Laurence, held at the Belsey Bridge Conference Centre, near Bungay in Suffolk. See www.cct.org.uk.
There will be room for approximately 100 to attend and the retreat will last from Friday evening October 12th through to Wednesday lunchtime on the 17th.
Priority will be given to people able to commit to the whole session. A flyer and booking form with more details will be available in early 2012.
News Flash
Advent Readings from Father Laurence Freeman
Advent Week 4
"From a divine son will rise a human race and a hero will dominate the world and his fame will spread over the earth." These words from a 7th century Tibetan hymn suggest how deep and universal is the anticipation for one among us who will come and lead us beyond ourselves in order that we may at last find ourselves. This one we await will be both familiar and a stranger.
The run up to the Christmas celebrations are rituals, religious, cultural and domestic. Year by year we repeat them and their familiarity is of their essence. But they are a front for a deeper level of meaning in our relationship with the one who makes his appearance in a transhistorical 'today', every day, with every breath. This one is as strange as he is familiar. He is like a fully expressed, well-chosen statement or a thought that that is not spoken casually or unconsciously but is well-considered and articulate and accurate - a true and powerful word that comes from the real silence and brings the reality of that silence with it.
'Even when manifest he is still a stranger' (Maximus the Confessor) and 'in whatever way he is understood he remains mysterious' (Dionysius the Areopagite). His coming has been worth waiting for because it is not only a gift from outside. It also implodes the awakening of our own true nature, making us conscious of the gift of our own being. Its familiarity is that it entirely human. Its being ever strange is due to its elusive divinity. When it is recognised and when it fully opens the parcel of the soul, everything is changed because we see everything as it really is.
Father Laurence OSB
Download Messages from Previous Weeks

Meditatio is the outreach and sharing of the fruits of meditation with the wider world and with the problems and crises of our time.The three year programme includes a series of seminars and workshops on themes of Education, Business and Finance, Mental Health, the Environment, Inter-Religious dialogue and Citizenship.
You can visit the Meditatio page on this website here or their view their external website at www.wccmmeditatio.org.
You can also look for forthcoming events organised by Medtitatio at the foot of this page.
Meditation and Young People
We now have special events and retreats specially arranged for young people.
Find out about this here.
Meditation and Children
Children soon take to meditation and it has profound benefits to offer them. Some of the evidence for this is explored in the two articles below.
Small pockets of Quietness (from The Tablet)
An article appeared in The Tablet on 5th February 2011 about the success of the Community's work on Meditation with Children. You can download it here.
Children need more meditation and less stimulation (from The Guardian)
An article by Shirley Lancaster which appeared in the online Guardian newspaper on 11 January 2011 following the
Meditatio Seminar which was held in London last December can be downloaded here.
Updated:29-11-2011