Catholic Priest Uses Transcendental Meditation To Help Orphans In Latin America

“The basic therapy is love. Love is the imperial medicine for any illness or disorder…. When a child closes his eyes and begins to meditate they open themselves to the field of all possibilities, as Maharishi says. The world opens for the child. And then the child discovers their essential nature, which is love.” – Father Gabriel Mejia

It is impossible to imagine the horrors that are visited upon millions of abandoned children who live in abject poverty on the streets of cities throughout the world. What can be done to transform the lives of these “disposable ones?

Watch this 6-minute video. It’s a preview of a documentary, “Saving the Disposable Ones,” directed by Stuart Tanner, an award-winning documentarian formerly with BBC and now executive producer with David Lynch Foundation Television.

Father-Gabriel-SmileFather Gabriel Mejia, a man filled with love—and the unbounded energy and creativity to change lives—opened the first “Center de Hogares Claret” in 1984 in Medellín, Colombia. His center was a sanctuary for children to come for a good meal and a safe place to sleep.

Then, a few years later, during a visit to the United States, Father Mejia learned the Transcendental Meditation technique. He knew immediately that he had found a valuable tool to help his children overcome the traumatic stress they suffered from living on the streets, and to enable them to live fuller lives.

Father Gabriel MejiaAs the power of the drug cartels waned, and word of his successful program for helping abandoned children grew, the number of orphan shelters under Father Mejia’s care increased. Now, in 2011, his Fundacion Hogares Claret, has 52 centers for abandoned children and young offenders spread across Colombia and throughout Latin America.

The Centers serve more than 3,500 children at a time. Through the years Father Mejia’s centers have helped tens of thousands of children to find a way to live productive, healthy and happy lives.

The David Lynch Foundation’s video production team (DLF.TV) traveled through the streets of Medellín and visited several of Father Gabriel’s centers to document this remarkable story.

To date, the David Lynch Foundation has provided funding for more than 150,000 underserved, at-risk young people to learn the TM technique around the world, including tens of thousands in Latin America. The Foundation’s goal is to make the TM technique available to every school and student.

(The full-length documentary premiered in the United States last year. If you are interested in hosting a screening of this truly inspiring film please contact docs@dlf.tv.)

Web references:

[1] David Lynch Foundation

[2] Father Gabriel Mejia Hosts Conference on the Transcendental Meditation Program in Rehabilitation