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As of July 1st, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Extraordinary Form (Latin) Mass community have moved to their new permanent home: St. Vitus Parish 607 4th St. San Fernando, CA 91340 Phone: (323) 454-1002

In John Main’s talk “The Way of the Mantra” he says that the invitation of the Christian life is to be one with Christ; to live your life in union with Christ.  Silent prayer is a communion in which we discover within ourselves a oneness with Christ.  This union takes us right out of ourselves as we become the people we are called to be; rooted and founded in love.

We hear John Main saying in his talk entitled, Set your mind on the Kingdom, “Jesus is at the center of our soul.”  By setting our minds on the Kingdom of God and establishing conscious contact with our own being, we are essentially maintaining our Christ Connection.

When I was a child, my family went on many car trips up and down the California coast.  Sometimes, my father would have to pull over at a rest area if he was getting too tired to drive, and the family would take a nap in the car.  I remember the sound of the freeway with the cars rumbling by loudly, and then the engine sounds trailing off into the silence of the night.  But even during the wee small hours of the morning, there is always the sound of cars on the freeway.

I saw a print advertisement for the city of Palm Springs.  It showed tanned, young people lounging in the sun by a majestic hotel spa façade.  The caption read, “Master the art of doing nothing.”  I thought about how so few of us practice this ancient art in these pressured and multi-tasking times.  I also thought of how so many new technological devices have made silence, solitude and leisure a thing of the past, or a privilege confined only to hospitals and rest homes.

What is the purpose of meditation? In the ”prayer of the heart”, we seek the deepest ground of our identity in God. We seek to gain a direct experience of finding ourselves in God’s truth. We return to simplicity and sincerity of heart. We listen for God’s will, in direct and simple attention to reality. Prayer means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, and for knowledge of his will.