“This is the time of
fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand…”
‒ Mk. 1:15
Today my son would
have been thirty years old had he not died suddenly from an
accident at the age of seventeen. All these years since he died,
the grief I felt at his passing always intensified whenever his
birthday came. However, today, as my husband and I visited and
prayed at his grave, there was no grief anymore as I slowly came
to realize that his death brought about a meaningful turning point
in my life. It was because of this grief that I turned to the Lord
for consolation. It was only as my relationship with the Lord
deepened that I started to experience peace in my heart. In his
loving mercy, I was introduced to Centering Prayer and Lectio
Divina, leading me through contemplative prayer. I got a lot of
support from a loving community of co-pilgrims in the spiritual
journey. Today, for the first time in thirteen years, I feel very
peaceful as I seem to hear my son telling me it’s now time to move
on and do more by serving the needs of others. My first
inclination is towards the troubled youth of today. With more
prayers, I hope the Lord will show me how to go about doing good.
Thank you Lord for
leading me gently through my grief to a fulfilment of your design
for my life.
A
glimpse of Reality...
“If anyone loves
me, he will keep my word; and my father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our home with him."
‒ Jn. 14:23
As I was pondering on
Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” His humanity in the
way he reacted to Joseph’s death came to my awareness. This helped
me relate to Jesus in a personal way. At age 15, my father was my
whole life and his sudden death was devastating to me. How
comforting to relate to Jesus in this way, that he too experienced
the death of Joseph. The closer I get to him the more I see his
hands of love guiding and caring for me. He was there with me when
I lost my earthly father but I didn’t realize it.
Even now, sometimes I
tend to forget he is there with me and that’s when I get anxious
and fearful. Through prayer, scripture, community, and nature,
Jesus reminds me that he is with me.
Thank you, Lord, for
being always there for me.
The chief thing that
separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from
God. If we get rid of that thought, our troubles will be greatly
reduced. We fail to believe that we are always with God and that
God is part of every reality. The present moment, every object we
see, our inmost nature are all rooted in God. But we hesitate to
believe this until personal experience gives us confidence to
believe in it. This involves the gradual development of intimacy
with God. God constantly speaks to us through each other as well
as from within. The interior experience of God’s presence
activates our capacity to perceive God in everything else – in
people, in events, in nature.
‒ Thomas Keating
Open Mind, Open Heart
A
glimpse of Reality...
“…for those others
have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from
her poverty, had offered her whole livelihood.”
‒ Lk. 21:4
Ever since my
husband’s new job required that he live in another city away from
our present residence, I have been in a dilemma. Because of my
personal commitments, it is impossible for me to be by his side
always as a dutiful wife should be. Although he never demanded
that I be with him all the time, I still don’t feel right about
our situation.
The word that spoke to
me today was “whole”. Right away, I could see the Lord is making
me aware of my husband’s need for my whole presence and support.
Since my commitments here are mostly for my own spiritual
nourishment, the Lord seems to be showing me that I can also have
them where he is right now… it can also be a sign for me to
transfer my involvement and reach out to others and build up or
join another community in another place. To be half here and half
there needs such a balancing act that might render all my efforts
just that… half-baked. However, in the end, I heard… “but don’t be
anxious and just go with the flow.”
Thank you, Lord, for
making me aware of my bigger commitment as a wife and with your
grace, I hope to follow Your will for me where it might be.
A
glimpse of Reality...
“How blessed are all
who fear Yahweh, who walk in his ways.”
‒ Ps. 128:1
I’ve been praying over
a decision I made to go to a retreat in Colorado. The verse from
this psalm prods me to look into my motivations… is it to grow in
my spiritual journey or just to have a pleasant experience? I
honestly don’t know and I have decided to just do my utmost in
letting go of my controls and if it is God’s will that I go, doors
will open and I will find myself there.
Lord, purify my heart
that it may be inclined according to your will.
The Christmas-Epiphany
Mystery is the celebration of the transmission of divine light. The
liturgical season begins with Advent, a period of intense preparation to
understand and accept the three comings of Christ. The first is his
historical coming in human weakness and the manifestation of his
divinity to the world, the second is his spiritual coming in our inmost
being through the liturgical celebration of the Christmas-Epiphany
Mystery; the third is his final coming at the end of time in his
glorified humanity.
On the feast of Christmas,
the joyful expectancy, exemplified by the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist
and Isaiah – and shared by us in the Advent liturgy – come to
fulfilment. Christ is born anew in our hearts through the increase of
his light within us, and the consequences of our union with him begin to
unfold…
…Here is a summary of the
teaching of the liturgy in the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery:
Human
nature is united to the Eternal Word, the Son of God, in the womb of
the Virgin Mary: Advent.
The
Eternal Word appears in human form as the light of the world:
Christmas.
He
manifests his divinity through his humanity: Epiphany.
By
his baptism in the Jordan, he purifies the church,
the extension of his body in time, and sanctifies the waters of
baptism: Epiphany and the Sunday following
He
takes his people to himself in spiritual marriage, transforming them
into himself: Epiphany and the second Sunday following.
We
study the practical consequences of being members of Christ’s
mystical body: the Second Reading for the Sundays in Ordinary Time
following Epiphany.
…Jesus’ coming in grace is
his birth within us. This coming emphasizes the primary thrust of the
liturgy, which is the transmission of grace, not just the historical
commemoration of an event. Thus, the liturgy communicates the graces
commemorated in the liturgical seasons and feasts. These center around
the three great theological ideas contained in the revelation of Jesus:
divine light, life and love…
…The Liturgical Year begins
with the theological idea of divine light. And what is this light? You
find out by attending the liturgy, provided you are properly prepared
and provided that the liturgy is sensitively and reverently executed...
...Epiphany is the crowning
feast of Christmas. We tend to think of Christmas as the greater feast,
but in actual fact, it is only the beginning. It whets our appetite for
the treasures to be revealed in the feasts to come. The great
enlightenment of the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery is when we perceive that
the divine light manifests not only that the Son of God has become a
human being, but that we are incorporated as living members into his
body. This is the special grace of Epiphany. In view of his divine
dignity and power, the Son of God gathers into himself the entire human
family past, present and future. The moment that the Eternal Word is
uttered outside the bosom of the Trinity and steps forth into the human
condition, the Word gives himself to all creatures. In the act of
creating, God, in a sense, dies. He ceases to be alone and becomes, by
virtue of his creative activity, totally involved in the human adventure
He cannot be indifferent. Any theology that suggests that he is
unconcerned is not the revelation of Jesus. On the contrary, the meaning
of the life and message of Jesus is that the reign of God is “close at
hand”: the whole of God is now available for every human being who wants
him.
Epiphany, then, is the
manifestation of all that is contained in the light of Christmas; it is
the invitation to become divine. Epiphany reveals the marriage between
the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ. It also reveals God’s call
to the church (meaning us, of course) to be transformed by entering into
spiritual marriage with Christ and to become fully human.
The coming of Christ into
our conscious lives is the ripe fruit of the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery.
It presupposes a presence of Christ that is already within us waiting to
be awakened. This might be called the fourth coming of Christ, except
that it is not a coming in the strict sense since it is already here.
The Christmas-Epiphany Mystery invites us to take possession of what is
already ours. As Thomas Merton put it, we are “to become what we already
are.” The Christmas-Epiphany Mystery, as the coming of Christ into our
lives, makes us aware of the fact that he is already here as our true
self – the deepest reality in us and in everyone else. Once God takes
upon himself the human condition, everyone is potentially divine.
Through the Incarnation of his Son, God floods the whole human family —
past, present and to come — with his majesty, dignity and grace. Christ
dwells in us in a mysterious but real way. The principal purpose of all
liturgy, prayer and ritual is to bring us to the awareness of his
interior Presence and union with us. The potentiality for this awareness
is innate in us by virtue of being human, but we have not yet realized
it. All three comings of Christ are built on the fact that we are in God
and that God is in us; they invite us to evolve out of our human
limitations into the life of Christ. Christ has come, but not fully:
this is the human predicament. The completion of the reign of God (the
pleroma) will take place through the gradual evolution of
Christians into the mature age of Christ. Meanwhile, every human being
and every human institution, however holy, is incomplete.
In the light of the
Christmas-Epiphany Mystery, we perceive that union with Christ is not
some kind of spiritual happy hour. It is a war with the powers of evil
that killed Jesus and that might kill us, too, if we get in their way.
Because we live in the human condition, the divine light is constantly
being challenged by the repressive and regressive forces within us as
individuals and within society, neither of which want to hear about
love, certainly not about self-giving love. The Gospel message of
service is not one that is easily heard. Hence, we need to deepen and
nourish our faith through a liturgy that empowers us with the energy to
go on showing love no matter what happens. This power is communicated to
us in the Christmas-Epiphany Mystery according to our present receptive
capacity.
‒ Taken from the book
"The Mystery of Christ, The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience"
The Christian Contemplative
Tradition
Though it has acquired other
meanings and connotations in recent centuries, the word contemplation
had a specific meaning for the first 16 centuries of the Christian era.
St. Gregory the Great summed up this meaning at the end of the 6th
century as the knowledge of God that is impregnated with love. For
Gregory, contemplation was both the fruit of reflecting on the Word of
God in scripture and a precious gift of God. He referred to
contemplation as "resting in God." In this "resting," the mind and heart
are not so much seeking God, as beginning to experience what they have
been seeking. This state is not the suspension of all activity, but the
reduction of many acts and reflections to a single act or thought in
order to sustain one's consent to God's presence and action.
In this traditional
understanding, contemplation, or contemplative prayer, is not something
that can be achieved through will, but rather is God's gift. It is the
opening of mind and heart - one's whole being - to God. Contemplative
prayer is a process of interior transformation. It is a relationship
initiated by God and leading, if one consents, to divine union.
Christian Contemplatives and
Contemplative Practices Throughout History
Contemplative prayer is by
no means a modern addition to Christianity. Contemplative Christian
prayer has representatives in every age. A form of contemplative prayer
was first practiced and taught by the Desert Fathers of Egypt, Palestine
and Syria including Evagrius, St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great in
the West, and Pseudo-Dionysius and the Hesychasts in the East.
In the Middle Ages, St.
Bernard of Clarivaux, William of St. Thierry and Guigo the Carthusian
represent the Christian contemplative tradition, as well as the
Rhineland mystics, including St. Hildegard, St. Mechtilde, Meister
Eckhart, Ruysbroek and Tauler. Later, the author of The Imitation of
Christ and the English mystics of the 14th century such as the
author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle,
and Julian of Norwich became part of the Christian contemplative
heritage.
After the Reformation, the
Carmelites of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese
of Lisieux; the French school of spiritual writers, including St.
Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal and Cardinal Berulle; the Jesuits,
including fathers De Caussade, Lallemont and Surin; the Benedictines,
like Dom Augustine Baker and Dom John Chapman, and modern Cistercians
such as Dom Vital Lehodey and Thomas Merton, all cultivated practices in
their lives that they believed led to the spiritual gift of
contemplation.
Modern Contemplative
Practices
In the 20th and 21st
centuries, initiatives have been taken by various religious orders,
notably by the Jesuits and Discalced Carmelites, to renew the
contemplative orientation of their founders and to share their
spirituality with laypeople. In addition, several monks, such as Fathers
Thomas Keating and John Main, have pioneered efforts to answer
the call of Vatican II to return to the Gospels and to biblical theology
as the primary sources of Catholic spirituality. The product of these
initiatives is a myriad of modern prayer practices based on historical
contemplative teachings.
Prayer of Faith, Prayer of
the Heart, Pure Prayer, Prayer of Simplicity, Prayer of Simple Regard,
Active Recollection, Active Quiet, and Acquired Contemplation are all
names of modern practices based on historical practices and meant to
prepare their practitioners for contemplation. The practices around
which Contemplative Outreach was built, Centering Prayer and
Lectio Divina, are two such practices. Centering Prayer and Lectio
Divina are closely derived from ancient contemplative Christian
practices and are attempts to present these practices in updated formats
that appeal to the lay community.
In many cases, modern
Christian contemplative practices serve as a bridge in East/West
dialogue as well as a way home for many Christians who have gone to the
East in search of spiritual wisdom.
(From CO e-News Bulletin,
June 2010)
Advent begins on Sunday,
November 27, 2011.
Faith: An Advent Companion is a 105-page booklet based
completely on the teachings and writings of Thomas Keating. It is
intended to serve as a daily companion for moving ever deeper into a
life of pure faith in relationship with the living God during the sacred
season of Advent. Scripture passages used each day are part of the
rotation of liturgy for the season and are complemented by beautiful
images, Fr. Keating’s writings and a mini-practice on which to focus for
the day. An excellent praxis to keep attention and intention on God
during a time when society tends to be busy and distracted. $10 USD
digital download (PDF). Or $20 USD plus shipping for hardcopy booklet.
Order online.
NEW.
Centering Prayer: A Prayer of Consent.This new praxis booklet
is for mature practitioners of Centering Prayer, for those who have been
praying in silence for years and for whom silence has become as
necessary as breathing and eating. It celebrates transformation in
Christ through this simple four-step method of consenting to God’s
presence and action within. This beautiful, 131-page booklet contains 40
days of daily teachings and practices to deepen understanding, consent
and surrender to the Trinitarian mystery within and without - and to
encourage practitioners to live out the Spirit-infused fruits of silence
in every day life. $10 USD for digital download (PDF). Hardcopy booklet
on sale for $17 USD (normally $20).
Order online.
In this year of "ReAwakening to the Contemplative Dimension of Life,"
the
Contemplative Life Program (CLP) offers booklets on 17 different
practices or attitudes for a deepening experience of the contemplative
life.
NEW.
Open Heart, Open Mind ‒ an audiobook ‒
7 CD set
Originally published in 1986, Open Mind, Open Heart is considered a
spiritual classic in renewing the Christian contemplative tradition, now
having sold over half a million copies in English, and translated in ten
foreign languages. Read by Paul Ilecki, a former priest and monk at St.
Benedict’s Monastery, Snowmass, CO.
This audio book also includes a reading of The First Letter of John by
Fr. Thomas Keating, which was recorded at a small gathering in Austin,
TX, in February 2009. He precedes the reading with his reflective
thoughts on contemplative listening, and he follows the reading with his
commentary on the Letter. A deeply contemplative passage rendered from
the heart, moving and inspiring. 7 CDs: $32 USD.
Order online. Downloadable MP3s of the audiobook will be available
soon.
Invitation
from God - DVD and Booklet
A wonderful introduction to the subject of contemplation and the
spiritual journey and its implications for personal and global freedom.
A beautiful and moving film for individual enjoyment, or as enrichment
on retreats or for prayer groups.
Centering Prayer is a simple, no-frills form of meditation in the
Christian tradition. Since it was first developed by Christian
contemplative monks in the 1970s, it has allowed tens of thousands of
practitioners worldwide to “return home,” developing an authentically
Christian meditation practice which not only delivers the healing and
quieting of the mind typical of all meditation paths, but also
reconnects directly to Christianity’s hidden treasury of mystical and
transformational wisdom.
As a meditation practice, Centering Prayer is both traditional and
innovative. Like all meditation methods, it aims at breaking the vicious
circle of compulsive thinking. But it does so not by stilling or
concentrating the mind, but simply by learning to release thoughts
promptly before they get a toehold. This simple but revolutionary
technique has allowed thousands of people who had considered themselves
failures at meditation to successfully establish a practice.
In this one-month online retreat you will learn everything you need to
know to get your own practice of Centering Prayer up and running — or if
you’re an old hand, to learn some new approaches to refresh and reboot
your practice.
Cynthia Bourgeault, our retreat leader, has worked closely with Fr.
Thomas Keating, founder of the Centering Prayer method, for nearly 25
years and is the author of the acclaimed book Centering Prayer and Inner
Awakening, as well as many other books, articles, and CDs on Centering
Prayer and the Christian contemplative path. Her teaching closely
follows the methodology developed by Contemplative Outreach, the
worldwide organization founded by Fr. Keating to further the practice of
Centering Prayer, but she brings to this her own distinctive nuances
coming from her unique perspective as a student of the Christian Inner
tradition and a pioneer in InterSpiritual work.
The Centering Prayer Online Retreat consists of the following elements:
·
Emails on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for one month in which
Cynthia Bourgeault will discuss what Centering Prayer is and what it is
not, the value of intention, the four guidelines to the practice, and
the fruits of the practice.
·
Audio recordings from Cynthia's workshops.
·
A guided Centering Prayer meditation with step-by-step instructions.
·
One-hour teleconference with Cynthia, which will also be recorded.
Sunday, November 20, 8-9 pm ET
·
Online Practice Circle for community sharing and Q&A with Cynthia.
Whether you are new to Centering Prayer or an experienced practitioner,
this Online Retreat and Practice Circle is bound to enrich your
practice.
Contemplative Outreach Circle of
Service
Seated left to right:
David Muyskens, Fr. Keating, Fr. Carl Arico, Mark Novak
Standing left to right:
Ron Barnett, Susan Rush, Marie Howard, Gail Fitzpatrick Hopler, Susan
Komis, Bonnie Shimizu, Mary Ann Best
We are not our thoughts*
All
methods that lead to contemplation are more or less aimed
at bypassing the thinking process. The reason is that our thinking
process tends to reinforce our addictive process - our frenzy to
"get something" from the outer world to fuel our compulsions
or to mask our pain.
If we can just rest on a regular basis for 20 to 30 minutes
without thinking, we begin to see that we are not our
thoughts.
We have thoughts, but we are not our thoughts.
Most people suffer because they think that they are their thoughts
and if their thoughts are upsetting, distressing,
or evil, they are stuck with them. If they just stopped thinking
for a while every day as a discipline,
they would begin to see that they do not
have to be dominated by their thoughts.
[*Please
remember that the term "thoughts" in our explanation of Centering Prayer
includes not just concepts or images, but feelings, sense impressions
from within and without, and even spiritual sensations. Every perception
whatsoever goes under the umbrella of "thoughts."]
(Contemplative Outreach e-News Bulletin, July 19, 2011)
VISION /
MISSION
Fr. Thomas Keating
Fr. William Meninger
Fr. Basil Pennington
Vision
Statement
Contemplative Outreach is a spiritual network of individuals and small
faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the
Gospel in everyday life through the practice of Centering Prayer. The
contemplative dimension of the Gospel manifests itself in an
ever-deepening union with the living Christ and the practical caring for
others that flows from that relationship.
The
purpose of Contemplative Outreach is to support one another in the
process of Divine transformation through the practice of Centering
Prayer. We also encourage the practice of Lectio Divina,
particularly its movement into Contemplative Prayer, which a regular and
established practice of Centering Prayer facilitates.
In the
Philippines, this mission is being carried out by Contemplative Outreach
Philippines (COP). In addition to conducting workshops, retreats
and other programs on Centering Prayer, COP guides and facilitates
support groups for persons in the practice. Since its
establishment in 1990, the Outreach has shared Centering Prayer with men
and women, religious and lay alike. It has also sponsored
recollections and retreats conducted by the founders themselves- Fr.
Thomas Keating, Fr. William Meninger and the late Fr. Basil Pennington -
all Trappist monks. Commissioned presenters also conduct retreats
and workshops.
Mission
Statement
The
primary purpose of Contemplative Outreach Philippines is to teach the
method of Centering Prayer and to offer practices that bring its fruits
into daily life. The Outreach also teaches Lectio Divina
(Sacred Reading), particularly its movement into contemplative prayer as
facilitated by a regular practice of Centering Prayer. The
ministry offers workshops, retreats, and formation programs designed to
present the richness of the Christian contemplative heritage in an
updated and accessible format.
Contemplative Outreach Philippines is authorized to use the formats of
Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., founder of Contemplative Outreach Ltd. In
the United States and one of the three Trappist monks who developed
Centering Prayer. The Archdiocese of Manila recognizes the
Outreach as the official organization authorized to teach Centering
Prayer and its formation programs through its bona fide
commissioned presenters.
Centering
Prayer is a prayer of interior silence and alert receptivity to the
Divine Indwelling, the center of one’s being. Together with the
daily practice of Lectio Divina, growth in Prayer awakens the
spiritual level of one’s consciousness. One’s will is cultivated
to constantly and repeatedly consent to God’s presence and action as one
becomes increasingly aware of them in day-to-day living.
History of
Contemplative Outreach
Contemplative Outreach has
its roots in the wish of three monks living at St. Joseph's Abbey in
Spencer, Massachusetts in the early 1970s. Inspired by the decree of
Vatican II, the monks wished to develop a method of Christian
contemplative prayer that was appealing and accessible to laypeople.
With no idea that their wish would eventually result in an international
organization, Fathers Thomas Keating, William Meninger, and Basil
Pennington embarked on an experiment. Today their experiment is called
Contemplative Outreach.
As abbot of St. Joseph's
Abbey, Fr. Keating attended a meeting in Rome in 1971. At the meeting,
Pope Paul VI called on the members of the clergy to revive the
contemplative dimension of the Gospel in the lives of both monastic and
laypeople. Believing in the importance of this revival, Fr. Keating
encouraged the monks at St. Joseph's to develop a method of Christian
contemplative prayer with the same appeal and accessibility that Eastern
meditation practices seemed to have for modern people. A monk at the
abbey named William Meninger found the background for such a method in
the anonymous fourteenth-century classic The Cloud of the Unknowing.
Using this and other contemplative literature, Meninger developed a
simple method of silent prayer he called The Prayer of the Cloud.
Meninger began to offer
instruction on The Prayer of the Cloud to priests who came to the
monastery for retreats. The prayer was well received and as word got
out, more people wanted to learn the prayer, so Fr. Keating began to
offer workshops to the lay community in Spencer. Another monk at the
abbey, Basil Pennington, also began to teach The Prayer of the Cloud to
priests and sisters at retreats away from St. Joseph's. At one retreat,
someone suggested that the name of the prayer be changed to Centering
Prayer, alluding to Thomas Merton's description of contemplative prayer
as prayer that is "centered entirely on the presence of God...His
will...His love...[and] Faith by which alone we can know the presence of
God." From then on, the prayer was called Centering Prayer.
In 1983, Fr. Keating gave
the first "intensive" Centering Prayer retreat at the Lama Foundation in
San Cristobal, New Mexico. One of the participants of the retreat,
Gustave Reininger, previously had met with Fr. Keating and a man named
Edward Bednar to discuss starting a contemplative network. After their
meeting, Bednar wrote a grant proposal, which he called Contemplative
Outreach, and received funds to start parish-based programs in New York
City that offered introductions to Centering Prayer. This marked the
beginning of the Contemplative Outreach Centering Prayer Program and a
milestone in Contemplative Outreach's birth as an organization.
Other participants of the retreat at the Lama Foundation also played a
large part in the growth of Contemplative Outreach. In 1985,
participants David Frenette and Mary Mrozowski, along with Bob Bartel,
established a live-in community in the eastern United States called
Chrysalis House. For 11 years, Chrysalis House provided a consistent
place to hold Centering Prayer workshops and retreats. Many Centering
Prayer practitioners and teachers who now carry on the work of
Contemplative Outreach were trained and inspired at Chrysalis House.
In 1986, the three monks'
experiment was incorporated as Contemplative Outreach, LTD., and the
first official board of directors was named. Fr. Keating served as the
first president, Fr. Carl Arico as vice president, Gustave Reininger as
treasurer, and Mary Mrozowski and Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler as directors.
At first, the organization was run from Gail Fitzpatirick-Hopler's
dining room table. After several necessary expansions, the network's
international headquarters now offices in 2000 square feet of space in
downtown Butler, New Jersey with the help of seven full-time employees,
two part-time employees, five volunteers, and, of course, the continued
support and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
̶ From Contemplative Outreach
E-News, Oct. 2009
ABOUT THE
PRAYER
The intent of Contemplative
Outreach is to foster the process of transformation in Christ in one
another through the practice of Centering Prayer.
A
glimpse of Reality...
“The wind blows
where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do
not know where it comes from or where it goes…”
‒ Jn 3:8
I am a recovering
alcoholic and at present struggling through the twelve step
program of rehabilitation. It is a day to day struggle with the
ever present fear that in one unguarded moment I would slip and
fall again into the gutter where for many years I had wallowed
before I had been rescued by the grace of the merciful God of My
Understanding. Because I have undergone so much counseling, I got
into the habit of analyzing what had gone wrong in my life… the
traumas inflicted on me, knowingly or unknowingly, by people close
to me…my needs that were not met from early childhood. There was
so much unforgiveness in me…both for myself and for others.
Today the above
passage tells me to stop thinking and analyzing my past life and
not be fearful of what the future might be… “The wind blows where
it wills” tells me that I am not in control and all I can do is
trust… to live one day at a time and appreciate what I have today.
I now realize that there is so much to be thankful for…that life
can be beautiful and I can be at peace…especially since I have
gone into the practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina.
I know the Lord is
leading me on a new path and has given me new friends who are very
supportive, giving me the strength I need in my daily struggle.
Thank you Lord, for
your love and protection…
History of
Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer was
developed as a response to the Vatican II invitation to revive the
contemplative teachings of early Christianity and present them in
updated formats. In this way, the method of Centering Prayer is drawn
from the ancient practices of the Christian contemplative heritage,
notably the traditional monastic practice of Lectio Divina and the
practices described in the anonymous fourteenth century classic The
Cloud of Unknowing and in the writings of Christian mystics such as
John Cassian, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross,
Therese of Lisieux, and Thomas Merton. Most importantly, Centering
Prayer is based on the wisdom saying of Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount:
"...when you pray, go to
your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And
your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you."
Matthew 6.6 (New American
Bible)
In the 1970s, answering the
call of Vatican II, three Trappist monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in
Spencer, Massachusetts, Fathers William Meninger, Basil Pennington and
Thomas Keating, looked to these ancient sources to develop a simple
method of silent prayer for contemporary people. The prayer came to be
known as Centering Prayer in reference to Thomas Merton's description of
contemplative prayer as prayer that is "centered entirely on the
presence of God." The monks offered Centering Prayer workshops and
retreats to both clergy members and laypeople. Interest in the prayer
spread, and shortly after the first intensive Centering Prayer retreat
in 1983, the organization Contemplative Outreach was formed to
support the growing network of Centering Prayer practitioners.
Today Centering Prayer is
practiced by people all around the world, creating local and global
networks of Christians in communion with Christ and each other and
contributing to the renewal of the contemplative dimension of
Christianity.
Taken from CO Website
A Meditation on Centering Prayer
We begin our prayer by
disposing our body. Let it be relaxed and calm, but inwardly
alert.
The root of prayer is
interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings
expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Deep
prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind
and heart, body and feelings – our whole being – to God, the Ultimate
Mystery, beyond words, thoughts and emotions. We do not resist
them or suppress them. We accept them as they are and go beyond
them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by.
We open our awareness to the
Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than
breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing – closer than
consciousness itself. The Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which
our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every
moment.
We are totally present now,
with the whole of our being, in complete openness, in deep prayer.
The past and future – time itself – are forgotten.
We are here in the presence
of the Ultimate Mystery. Like the air we breathe, this divine
presence is all around us and within us, distinct from us, but never
separate from us. We may sense this Presence drawing us from
within, as if touching our spirit and embracing it, or carrying us
beyond ourselves into pure awareness.
We surrender to the
attraction of interior silence, tranquillity, and peace. We do not
try to feel anything, reflect about anything. Without effort,
without trying, we sink into this Presence, letting everything else go
by. Let love alone speak the simple desire to be one with the
Presence, to forget self, and to rest in the Ultimate Mystery.
This Presence is immense,
yet so humble; awe-inspiring, yet so gentle; limitless, yet so intimate,
tender and personal. I know that I am known. Everything in
my life is transparent in this Presence. It knows everything about
me – all my weakness, brokenness, sinfulness – and still loves me
infinitely.
This Presence is healing,
strengthening, refreshing – just by its Presence. It is
nonjudgmental, self-giving, seeking no reward, boundless in compassion.
It is like coming home to a place I should never have left, to an
awareness that was somehow always there, but which I did not recognize.
I cannot force this
awareness, or bring it about. A door opens within me, but from the
other side. I seem to have tasted before the mysterious sweetness
of this enveloping, permeating Presence. It is both emptiness and
fullness at once.
We wait patiently; in
silence, openness, and quiet attentiveness; motionless, within and
without. We surrender to the attraction to be still, to be loved,
just to be.
Centering Prayer
List
A Contemplative Living
Community in the Christian Contemplative Tradition
CENTERINGPRAYER / A
Contemplative Living Community in the Christian Contemplative Tradition,
is an unmoderated ecumenical (Christian) mailing list grounded in the
Christian contemplative heritage. The list members are committed to the
renewal of the contemplative dimension of the gospel through the
teaching and practice of Centering Prayer and LectioDivina as taught by
Father Thomas Keating, OCSO and his worldwide organization called
Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. It is dedicated to those who are BEGINNERS
and would like a community to teach, encourage and support them in their
practice.
The list was founded on
March 7, 1994, in honor of Abbot Thomas Keating's birthday. Father
Keating is our mentor, friend and inspiration.
We hope to be able to
welcome you to our cyberspace community.
Currently we are presenting
an introductory workshop on Centering Prayer.
Centering Prayer is
patterned on the formula given by Jesus in Matthew 6:6
If you want to pray,
enter your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in
secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
NEW.
Centering Prayer: A Prayer of Consent. This new praxis booklet
is for mature practitioners of Centering Prayer, for those who have been
praying in silence for years and for whom silence has become as
necessary as breathing and eating. It celebrates transformation in
Christ through this simple four-step method of consenting to God’s
presence and action within. This beautiful, 131-page booklet contains 40
days of daily teachings and practices to deepen understanding, consent
and surrender to the Trinitarian mystery within and without - and to
encourage practitioners to live out the Spirit-infused fruits of silence
in every day life. $10 USD for digital download (PDF). Hardcopy booklet
on sale for $17 USD (normally $20).
NEW.
Open Heart, Open Mind ‒ an audiobook ‒ 
Invitation
from God - DVD and Booklet
ALPHA AND OMEGA - Symbol of God-the beginning and the end.
THE CROSS - The symbol of our salvation.
THE FLOWERS - Symbol of the abundance of life – the resurrection.
CIRCLE -
Sign of ongoing process.