To live in faith is to live in love. That is the new understanding of faith Laurence Freeman opens us to in this profound examination of the subject. Faith, he says, is not reducible to belief, or to orthodoxy, morality, or culture, although these will be coloured by their faith context. The essence of faith is self-transcendence. Faith is our capacity to go beyond the self-centred priorities our ego advances, and to centre in another, in God, where we find unity, love. So faith is a way of living and also a process of growth, requiring not just time but also the will. The person of faith makes this growth process the central value in all they do and in all their relationships. Faith therefore is an important determining factor not just for our personal and spiritual lives but also for our social life, our political life, and our civilisation. 

Meditation, Laurence Freeman says, makes us see the meaning of being a faithful human being. Every time we sit down to meditate it is an act of faith. Repeating the mantra, returning to it throughout the meditation, takes us beyond self-consciousness to a place of union, where the prayer of Christ is fulfilled: ‘May they all be one as we are one.’ 

These talks were given at a weeklong silent retreat at Fara Sabina, Italy, in May 2009.