Our Mission
The John Main Center offers a contemplative sacred space in the heart of the Georgetown University campus. Through regular meditation sessions and special events, offered in a spirit of friendship and openness to all, the John Main Center shares the gift of the contemplative path with the Georgetown Community and beyond.
Contemplatives in Action Our Response to Racism and Racial Injustice
Now a full and active component of Campus Ministry, the John Main Center seeks to become more deeply engaged in the spiritual and intellectual life of Georgetown—offering a comprehensive, campus-wide approach to the teaching and practice of meditation that is consistent with its Jesuit identity and Ignatian values.
In light of the signs of these unprecedented times and in order to uphold the Jesuit value of being "Contemplatives in Action", the JMC wants to share Campus Ministry's Response to Racism and Racial Injustice.
Spring 2023 at the JMC!
Blessed New Year and Spring Semester 2023!
We would love to invite you to begin the 2023 New Year with the gift of stillness, silence and simplicity at the John Main Center for Meditation & Interreligious Dialogue (JMC) in Anne Marie Becraft Hall.
All are welcome -- no experience needed!
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
John O'Donohue
To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
Please note that attendance at the JMC will continue to be opened only to current Georgetown students, faculty and staff.
Current Health Protocols will be followed, including:
At the John Main Center at Georgetown University - Masking is Optional but Welcome.
Please no food or drink allowed.
Sign-In required each time upon arrival for all personal and hosted meditation sessions.
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Where is the JMC?
The JMC is located in Anne Marie Becraft Hall on the Main Campus near Dahlgren Quad across from New South at the corner of Old North Way and Library Walk.
We warmly welcome you all to enter into this present moment together in this new way of proceeding.
The door is open for you... Maranatha!
Sending you Peace in it all,
Lisa and the JMC Leadership Teams
New JMC Leadership Team 2022-2023
with JMC Alumni Leaders
JMC 12:30pm 2020-2022
Virtual Meditation
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Spring Semester Meditation Sessions
January - April 2023
For Upcoming JMC Offerings: jmc.georgetown.edu or @johnmaincenter
For Zoom Links Contact the JMC at meditationcenter@georgetown.edu
Good Morning Meditation
Monday - Friday
8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Come to the JMC
Anne Marie Becraft Hall
Midday Meditation
VIRTUAL
Monday - Friday
12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Request Zoom
IN-PERSON
Monday (NEW!)
12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
(separate from but synchronous with the virtual session)
HYBRID
Thursday
12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Request Zoom
Evening Meditation
Monday & Wednesday
6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Anne Marie Becraft Hall
Monday - Wednesday
9:00-9:30 p.m.
Come to the JMC
Anne Marie Becraft Hall or Request Zoom
Walk-Ins Welcome for Personal Meditation/Contemplation
(All Hoyas Welcome)
Monday - Friday
7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
photo by Pedro Ramos
JMC-MSB Meditation
TBD
with
Adi Patro (MBA '23)
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Alumni Meditation
VIRTUAL
TBD
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Spring Opportunities to Come!
JMC Senior Sessions
A contemplative space for students in their last semester
3 Mondays on March 13, 20, 27
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
JMC | Anne Marie Becraft Hall
The JMC is very excited to host this special offering for seniors. Based on the success of our inaugural cohort last year, we have decided to once again offer our Senior Sessions. These meetings will be held at the JMC and are focused on reflection on the transition seniors are currently experiencing as their time at Georgetown comes to a close. This will be a supportive space for contemplation. We request that those interested in participating sign up using this google form!
New Christian Contemplative Corner
Reading Between the Lines (Lectio Divina): Discovering Ancient Practices for Present-Day Meaning
3 Wednesdays on March 15, 22, 29
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
JMC | Anne Marie Becraft Hall
Our spirits and minds are constantly searching for meaning and signs to help us navigate the ups and downs of daily living. Lectio Divina is an ancient meditation practice of reading and listening deeply between the lines of sacred texts and passages which helps surface wisdom for our present day lives. Together, we will discover, explore and learn from each other in community what life-giving wisdom is held for each of us between the lines!
JMC Spring Events (Pending)
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Meet our JMC Fellow for Christian Contemplation 2022-2023
My name is Kenzie Knight. I am the John Main Center for Meditation and Interreligious Dialogue’s first ever JMC Fellow for Christian Contemplation for 2022-2023.
As a John Main Center (JMC) student leader in addition to my previous role as one of the student coordinators for the Catholic Faith Communities (CFC), I was selected for this inaugural fellowship role which is generously sponsored by the Trust for the Meditation Process whose aim is to “renew contemplative Christianity, promote health and wholeness, and bring silence and stillness to a hectic world.”
During the Fall semester, I studied abroad as a senior majoring in Biology of Global Health at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and explored ways of integrating the practice of meditation and contemplation with my vocational aspirations.
This fellowship experience also offers me the opportunity to grow in the formation and practice of contemplation in the Christian tradition and I look forward to sharing various forms of Christian contemplation and meditation with fellow Hoyas in the Spring semester.
My meditation experience began as a nervous first year student at Georgetown University. Feeling overwhelmed, I would find myself at the John Main Center for Meditation & Dialogue (JMC) seeking silence, simplicity, and stillness. At first, meditation was an escape from the hecticness of college. I was looking for a moment of rest in the midst of such a huge transition. What I did not realize at the time was the invitation to which God was calling me.
Through my experience at the center and exploration of the teachings of John Main, Laurence Freeman, and many others, I learned that meditation is a call to prayer and to find rest in God. Meditation can be summarized for me in the phrase “mutual gazing,” as Fr. Martin Laird, O.S.A. beautifully expressed– reflecting the meeting between God and me.
I have deepened my practice this fall as the JMC Fellow for Christian Contemplation for 2022-2023, which is generously sponsored by the Trust for the Meditation Process. My biggest observation has been the nonlinear nature of the practice. That is, I have noticed sometimes distractions are constant and at other times I can be attuned to God's presence so clearly. I sometimes experience both on the same day!
I discovered that I have brought expectations of a perfect practice to meditation. I assumed my meditation practice would be a linear progress with distractions becoming less and less as I meditated more. But this has not been the case. I have noticed distractions are frequent still after years of practice. And I am learning to be okay with that -- that God is not asking me to be perfect but just to simply be.
Even still, this nonlinearity can be frustrating and disheartening at times. So, I am learning how to sit with this frustration and my distractions in meditation, welcoming them as guests and not intruders, because accepting the presence of these feelings is as much a part of the process of the practice as finding stillness is. I remind myself of the words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” The invitation of meditation is to find rest in the restlessness, to embrace the difficult nature of letting go. It is not about perfecting the practice but a way to be with the messiness of life. It is about reorienting the way we think about our relationship to God, ourselves, and others.
Meditation is simply the invitation to meet God within us and recenter on that love – to sit in mutual gazing. No matter how the practice unfolds, God and you are there – and that is all that matters in the present moment.
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WCCM Meditation Offerings
Sunday Meditation
with Dr. Gene Bebeau
7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Request Zoom Link
Thursday Meditation
with Prof. Dennis McAuliffe
6:15 - 7:15 p.m.
Request Zoom Link
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Remembering the Remarkable Legacy of Anne Marie Becraft
Our JMC Leaders Celebrate Anne Marie Becraft!
https://www.instagram.com/
@johnmaincenter
I stumbled across the Anne Marie Becraft Hall while on campus recently and it gave me joy. The space, virtually and physically reminds me of the places where I felt safe, grounded and in community with those around me. My undergraduate experience at a women's college granted me several opportunities to dig deeper within and find my true self. Joining the online weekly meditation sessions with the John Main Center, connects me to my true self in similar, newer ways, while also connecting me with Georgetown students, faculty, staff and community members. I appreciate the fact that there is a designated space to the legacy of Anne Marie Becraft, particularly because she is remembered for establishing an academy for Black girls and I'm a Black girl/woman at this institution. This space reminds me that my Blackness & woman-ness belong here at Georgetown and it is precious to me for this reason.
Michaella Mentu
Master's in Management '21
Georgetown University MSB
The Meditation House (as I called it) was my favorite place on campus, well before I knew its history or that the university was considering changing its name. The building was once named after a former Georgetown leader who was involved in the sale of 272 enslaved people. To have the place where folks are invited to communally meditate and reflect be named after a Black woman, a woman of service through education, is inspiring. Anne Marie Becraft accomplished so much before passing at 28; I, at 29, hope to create positive, lasting change through my work as well. The space [JMC - my addition] feels more inviting and is somewhere I went (pre-COVID) to bask in the energy of someone like Anne Marie Becraft as a Black woman who serves through education.
Jaime Brown
Associate Director,
Center for Student Engagement
MBA '23
Georgetown University MSB
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"For three years, I resisted going into John Main Center because the idea of meditating and being in silence for more than 2 minutes was the most daunting of concepts. However, my curiosity got antsy and propelled me to try what the media crowned the newest wellness fad– meditation. Over the course of my senior year, I not only was able to discover and deepen my meditation practice but I also became part of such a special community. The center pulls together people from all corners of campus and the world to come together with the common interest of meditation. A simple and profound connection proved to build a foundation for a community so welcoming and loving. So, while it once used to be just that tiny building across from New South, now the John Main Center serves as both an oasis and a home. "Katherine Altman C'19
"The John Main Center has been instrumental for the wholeness of my Georgetown experience. Not only has it become a space of peace and calm but also it has helped me grow spiritually and emotionally. I feel like having the Meditation Center on campus can be a great addition to any student -- whatever it is the faith tradition that he or she comes from. Being part of the JMC is an opportunity to each day enhance our lives personally, spiritually, physically, and academically."Gabriel Donato Gonçalves C'19
Partners
We are grateful for the support of the following:
