Moment of Christ
John Main's "Moment of Christ" emerged from his years of teaching Christian meditation at his monastery in Montreal, where he had established a community devoted to the ancient practice of contemplative prayer. Writing in the early 1980s as interest in Eastern spirituality was growing among Western Christians, Main sought to recover the church's own contemplative tradition and make it accessible to contemporary believers seeking deeper spiritual experience.
The book presents Main's understanding of Christian meditation as a return to the desert fathers' practice of repeated prayer, centered on the continuous recitation of a sacred word or phrase—what he calls a "mantra." Main argues that this form of prayer leads practitioners beyond thoughts and images to encounter Christ directly in the silence of the heart. He draws extensively on the theology of the early church fathers, particularly Cassian and the desert tradition, while connecting their insights to modern psychological understanding of consciousness and prayer. The work emphasizes that meditation is not an escape from ordinary life but a way of discovering Christ's presence in every moment, transforming how one sees and responds to daily experience.
Main's influence on the contemporary Christian contemplative movement has been substantial, with meditation groups following his teaching now found worldwide through the World Community for Christian Meditation. His integration of ancient monastic wisdom with accessible modern language has introduced countless Christians to contemplative practice, while his theological grounding has provided a distinctly Christian alternative to purely secular or Eastern approaches to meditation.
Who should read this: Christians drawn to contemplative spirituality who want to explore meditation rooted in their own tradition, particularly those seeking practical guidance rather than abstract theology. This is not suited for readers looking for intellectual analysis of mysticism or those uncomfortable with repetitive prayer practices.