Centering Prayer


For God alone my soul in silence waits. Ps 62:1

Centering prayer is the discipline of listening. It is emptying the mind and opening the heart to the transforming love of God.

The roots of this contemplative prayer come from the Desert Fathers of early Christian monasticism. These people were hermits, ascetics and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt, beginning around the third century.

In modern Christianity the origins of centering prayer can be traced to Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, in the 1970s. One on these, Fr. Basil Pennington has delineated the guidelines for centering prayer:

1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed, relax, and quiet yourself. Be in love and faith to God.

2. Choose a sacred word that best supports your sincere intention to be in the Lord's presence and open to His divine action within you (i.e. "Jesus", "Lord," "God," "Savior," "Abba," "Divine," "Shalom," "Spirit," "Love," etc.).

3. Let that word be gently present as your symbol of your sincere intention to be in the Lord's presence and open to His divine action within you.

4. Whenever you become aware of anything (thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, associations, etc.), gently return to your sacred word, your anchor. Ideally, the prayer will reach the point where you are no longer engaged in your thoughts as they arrive on your stream of consciousness. The time suggested for each prayer period is twenty minutes.

Centering prayer is a popular method of contemplative prayer or Christian meditation, placing a complete emphasis on interior silence.

Though most authors trace its roots to the contemplative prayer of the Desert Fathers of early Christian monasticism, to the Lectio Divina tradition of Benedictine monasticism, and to works like The Cloud of Unknowing and the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, its origins as part of the "Centering Prayer" movement in modern Catholicism and Christianity can be traced to several books published by three Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts in the 1970s: Fr. William Meninger and Abbot Thomas Keating, as well as. Fr. Basil Pennington.

 The purpose of centering prayer is to clear the mind of rational thought in order to focus on the indwelling presence of God, whereas other methods have some contemplative goal in mind: with the rosary, the Mysteries of the Rosary are contemplated; with Lectio Divina, the practitioner thinks about the Scripture reading, sometimes even visualizing it; and with hesychasm as understood in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the practitioner seeks to "see" the energies of God which appear as "uncreated light".

The Book of Common Prayer describes seven kinds of prayer (BCP 856-7). But here, in contrast, the focus is on silence, emptying. Compare this to the meditational walk on a Labyrinth where you let go as you enter and experience what comes to you. All of these are tools in spiritual discipline.

Father Thomas Keating, tells us that we have shared Centering Prayer to an extent never dreamed possible and we will continue to meet the deep spiritual hunger of people around the world. We share in the fruits of this special ministry and likewise support it and enable it to flourish.

At Saint Gregory’s, we have two groups meeting for Centering Prayer. The Tuesday group meets in the library Tuesdays 3 to 4 PM. They include a discussion of a book on the subject. Two of the books they have studied are Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault and A Taste of Silence by Carl Arico. The second group meets in the Chapel for one twenty minute session on Thursdays at 9:45 AM. Speak to the Reverend Debbie Self to learn more.

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