Caring

Caring

Laurence Freeman, OSB

Silent Retreat at Monte Oliveto, Italy (June 2011)

In these talks on the centrality of caring in human life, Laurence Freeman explores how we can all learn to care better for each other and to realize that we are ultimately cared for. Care has two general meanings: the sense of sorrow and the sense of caring for, for oneself, for example; is not merely self-indulgent. It is part of a spiritual path that leads to transcendence of the ego and so to a fuller degree of life. Meditation is caring for oneself, and becomes a discipline freeing us from the tendency to slip into fantasy. Coping better with the daily cares of life, which cause stress when we don't handle them well, is a fruit of meditation that therefore opens us to the ultimate care which is the divine love.

CD Titles:

CD1: Caring

1.  Introduction

2.  Am I a caring person?

3.  With care, with attention

4.  To be caring towards others

CD2:  Caring at the heart of reality

1.  Influence of the media

2.  Accepting ourselves in truth

3.  Discerning our suffering

4.  Transformation of cares and suffering

CD3:  Human consciousness

1.  Caring for oneself

2.  Understanding true care

3.  From the Rule of St. Benedict

4.  The corporal works of mercy

CD4:  The care of the whole person

1.  Self help

2.  The search for integrity and balance

3.  Friendship

4.  The simplicity of saying the mantra

CD5:  Jesus as the model of caring

1.  Caring in the universe

2.  Fear that there is no one to care

3.  Contemplative teaching on prayer

4.  Personal experience

CD6:  Summary

1.  Carefulness, caring for, suffering

2.  Learning what is simple

3.  Each of us as the body of Christ