Centering Prayer throws light on a new perspective of everything, to a new understanding of ourselves and all creation. It leads to a deep conversion of the heart.

Centering Prayer is the path to a radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Bourgeault cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyse what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality.

With this understanding in place, she takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness.

The Heart of Centering PrayerBourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice.

“A masterpiece of spiritual wisdom firmly rooted in the Christian mystical tradition. A brilliant analysis of nondual Christianity in theory and in practice and a major contribution to the Centering Prayer movement and to interspiritual dialogue.” – Thomas Keating, author of Open Mind, Open Heart

The Method of Centering Prayer. Part 2

This is a very ancient prayer, so old that many Christians seem not to know of its existence in the Christian Contemplative Tradition. It is only in recent times that it has seen a revival. Centering Prayer, is a new name for an old prayer and based on the inspired work of the unknown author of the 14th century spiritual classic on prayer called “the Cloud of Unknowing”.

The Method of Centering Prayer
This prayer builds on all our other ways of prayer helping us to develop a mature prayer life. Centering Prayer does not deny or do away with other forms of prayer such as vocal prayer, reflective prayer and responsive prayer. Rather these other forms of prayer are the foundations of Centering Prayer as is reading Scripture. Centering Prayer can cast a fresh light on these other forms of prayer and deepen them.

Prayer is more than just thoughts or feelings expressed in words. Prayer can exist without the need of words. It goes beyond conversation to communion, which is a very powerful prayer in which the Spirit guides. It is a prayer which, if we consent, opens our hearts and minds to God’s divine grace and contemplative prayer.

The Centering Prayer is very simple but also a very nuanced powerful form of prayer. Our intention is the heart and soul of the Centering Prayer practise. It is unique in its approach from other forms of meditation.

There are four guidelines for this method and it is advised to keep to these guidelines at the beginning and not to mix them with any other method or you will have a spiritual smorgasbord. This will lead nowhere.

Guidelines:

1.Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
We choose a sacred word of one syllable, as suggested by the author of “The Cloud of Unknowing”, such as “Love” or “God”.

The sacred word is not sacred because of its literal meaning but because of the meaning we give it as the expression of our intent to consent to God’s presence and action within.

Other sacred words could be “peace”, “joy”, “yes” or choose one you prefer. As long as it is short.

Having chosen a sacred word, we do not change it during the time of prayer as this would be to start thinking. It is best to keep the same word for this prayer so that it sinks into the psych and becomes so easy to remember that in time it says itself.

2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
Sitting comfortably means relatively comfy so that we don’t fall asleep!

Whatever position we choose we keep our back straight and supported and our feet on the ground. Do not cross your legs or arms as this may impede the blood flow to the limbs.

3. When you become aware you are engaged with “thoughts” return ever so gently to the sacred word.
If we become aware of thoughts during the time of prayer, we simply return ever so gently to our sacred word.

“Thoughts” in this method is an umbrella term which means any perception that goes across our stream of consciousness. These could be body sensations, sense perceptions, feelings, images, reflections, commentaries and even spiritual experiences. Just for this time of prayer we let them all go and return ever so gently to the sacred word. We do not get cross at having thoughts as this would be to start thinking. Thoughts are inevitable, integral and a normal part of Centering Prayer. What we are doing is letting them go not becoming attached to them.

The sacred word serves to cancel all other thoughts and distractions by its meaningless repetition, giving no thought to the literal meaning of the sacred word. A word without an emotional charge is also important. The sacred word is not a mantra keep repeating, though it may feel like this at the beginning.

During the time of prayer, the sacred word may become vague or even disappear and we are left with just our intention.

4. At the end of the prayer time, about 20 to 30 minutes, we remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
This is to enable our psyche to become use to our normal awareness again and to let the atmosphere of silence into our daily life.

If we are doing this prayer on our own, we can use a timer as long as it is not too loud or sharp. Or we can make a CD with quiet music or a short scripture reading to start the 20 or 30 minutes silence ending with some soft music.

If you are in a group, the prayer leader does the timing starting with a short prayer or short scripture reading and ending with a prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer said very slowly.

INTRODUCTORY DAYS

facilitated by Elizabeth Smith

Date: Sat 8th April – St. Luke’s. Leagrave, Luton
Contact: Lesley Jones
E-mail: lesleyjones3167@icloud.com

Date: Sat 13 May – St. John’s, Burcsough, Lancs
Contact: Janice Richards and Sue Hodgkins
Tel: 01704 621 598 | 07590 066 607
E-mail: janrichards653@yahoo.co.uk | suehodgkins@hotmail.com

Date: Sat.15th July, Liverpool – St. Dunstan’s Parish Centre
Contact: Mark Waters
Tel: 07795 822 193
E-mail: marko.waters@gmail.com

CONTEMPLATIVE OUTREACH UK RETREATS AND WORKSHOPS 2017

This replaces all other dates and prices

Introductory Weekend to Centering Prayer
Date: February 10th to 12th 2017
Venue: Our Lady & St. Bernard’s Monastery, Stroud, GloucesterInfo: Come along and deepen your prayer life. For beginners and anyone who wishes to revise their practice or just a quiet weekend in beautiful, peaceful surroundings.
Cost: £110

Presenter Training
Date: March 14th to 19th 2017
Venue: Our Lady & St. Bernard’s Monastery, Stroud, Gloucester
Info: For more information, Contact infocouk@btinternet.com
Cost: £355 – cost includes accommodation, tutoring and Presenter’s handbook. – Only one place available

Heartfulness Retreat
Date: May 31st to June 5th 2017
Venue: Our Lady & St. Bernard’s Monastery, Stroud, Gloucester.
Info: For those who have been practising Centering Prayer for some time. The participants are guided by means of Thomas Keating DVDs towards an understanding of the contemplative dimension of the Gospel and its extraordinary implications and applications for personal freedom and global peace.
Cost: £316 – book early to avoid disappointment

Introductory Weekend to Centering Prayer
Date: October 20th to 22th 2017
Venue: The Briery, Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Info:Come along and deepen your prayer life. For beginners and anyone who wishes to revise their practice or just a quiet weekend in beautiful peaceful surroundings.
Cost: £135

Introductory Days will be announced as they are arranged. Please check here for more details.

If you would like to hold an Introductory Day, please contact E.M. Smith at infocouk@btinternet.com

The Contemplative Outreach Ltd. International Conference

DenverDate: September 21 – 24, 2017
Venue: Marriott Hotel, Gateway Park, Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado, USA

Registrations will open mid-May 2017; more details will be available at that time.

To help you plan for this very important gathering of the active community of Contemplative Outreach, the conference will begin at 4 PM on Thursday,21 September and concludes by noon on Sunday, 24 September. The hotel is located 10 miles from the Denver International Airport and offers complimentary shuttle to and from the airport. Hotel registrations with our discounted room rate will be available when we open conference registration.

This conference will provide an opportunity for listening, open discussion and planning for the future as we continue to experience a time of transition for Contemplative Outreach.

We are excited about this conference and hope you can join us in Denver next September.

Please refer all questions to Marie Howard, Conference Coordinator at MRHfamlife@aol.com or by calling 973 838 3384, x5.

“Thinking, which is the radical gift of rational consciousness, is of its nature controlling and inventing. It is limited in its capacities and bound by five senses and the thinking process. Putting this managing and controlling mind into the heart is a basic practice to awaken the divine presence within us.” – Thomas Keating, Contemplative Outreach Ltd. News, Dec.2014

What is Centering Prayer. Part 1

Door in to brick buildingCentering Prayer is a modern term for a very ancient prayer. It could be called Prayer in Secret (Mt.6, 6). This teaching of Jesus on prayer has roots in the Old Testament. Elijah’s experience of Yahweh on Mount Horeb is said to be the “sound of sheer silence”, (I Kings 19, 12, the New Revised Standard Version). Then there is the famous phrase from Psalm 46, “be still and know I am God”

In centuries past ways of cultivating contemplative prayer have been called Prayer of the Heart, Pure Prayer, Prayer of Faith, Prayer of Simple Regard, Prayer of Simplicity, Active Quiet and Acquired Contemplation. This form of prayer was practiced by the Desert Fathers and Mothers of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, people like Evagrius and John Cassian to name but two.

In the Middle Ages we have well-known names such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Guido the Carthusian, the Rhineland mystics such as St Hildegard, Meister Eckhart and Ruysbroek. In later times there is the English mystic of the 14th Century and author of “The Cloud of Unknowing” to which the method of Centering Prayer owes much. After the Reformation we have the mystics like St. Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross in Spain and St Francis de Sales and St. Jane De Chantel in France. Nearer to our own times we have the Benedictines, Dom Augustine Baker and Dom John Chapman and of course in the 20th Century the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton.

It is nothing new to rename an ancient practice to make it more appealing to a modern audience. Centering Prayer is an another attempt to present the teaching of earlier times in a modern way to make it suitable for ordinary people who wish to deepen their life of prayer and to have a support system to sustain it. It is a way of prayer which moves away from the ordinary psychological awareness to the interior silence of the spiritual level of our being and beyond. It can in time move in to the secrecy of union with the Ultimate Mystery within us.

Centering Prayer is a method for refining our faculties so that we can enter more easily into this interior silence which is contemplative prayer. Contemplative Prayer is both a gift and a mystery. It takes us to the very threshold so to speak where the door is always open. It does this by withdrawing our attention from the ordinary flow of thoughts, with which we tend to identify with most of the time. (Open Mind, Open Heart. p34).

Practicing Centering Prayer opens us to the spiritual level of our deepest being. It is also a way of letting go of our own agendas, preconceptions, misconceptions, prejudices, ideas, opinions and beliefs, so that we can become a channel for God’s grace. It is a practice to facilitate our desire to be totally open to God, the Ultimate Reality.

The method of Centering Prayer owes much to a classic book on prayer called “The Cloud of Unknowing”, written in the 14th century by an anonymous English writer, who is said to have come from the Midlands of England and be either a monk or priest. To find the method of Centering Prayer within “The Cloud of Unknowing” you do have to read the whole book for it is spread out within the book and not in an orderly fashion. However, it is an exercise well worth doing. Centering Prayer does not come out of a vacuum but it has put the method suggested by the author of “The Cloud of Unknowing” into a clear and ordered fashion. Centering Prayer is a way of prayer which follows most closely the method found in the “The Cloud of Unknowing” than any other method. Centering Prayer is totally Christian.

All Christian prayer is based on the Word of God in Scripture, and the person of Jesus Christ. Prayer is more than a shopping list we present to God. It is more a communion with God, a way to cultivate a relationship with God. Prayer is a relationship with God and this relationship can be expressed without words or thoughts, or feelings, by a simple silent intention to consent to God’s presence and action. The most traditional way of developing this relationship with God is Lectio Divina, the prayerful pondering on the Word of God in Scripture. It is important to situate Centering Prayer in the monastic tradition of Lectio Divina.

Lectio Divina was a natural way of prayer for everyone for the first twelve centuries. It consisted firstly in the prayerful listening to or reading of Scripture. This could be done in various ways, including gazing at stained glass windows which told the Scriptural story. In this way prayer was not confined to those few who could read. Naturally this led on to thinking about the words heard or read, then responding spontaneously with acts of sorry, hope, love and faith and finally resting in the Word, simply being in the silence.

Guigo the Carthusian in the 12th Century named the four moments or stages of Lectio Divina. The first part he called Lectio (reading/listening), then came Meditation (discursive meditation or reflecting) which lead into Oratio (responding) and the final stage Contemplation (contemplation/resting). The first three stages were the active preparation for contemplation and might all take place in the same period of prayer. These stages are interwoven. Contemplative Prayer is not a practice to make the mind a blank but to move beyond thoughts and the multiplication of various acts to the level of communing with God within, without words, thoughts or feelings. Lectio Divina is a very rich way of prayer which takes us from the early stages of prayer to the deeper stages required for a mature Christian life.

The last moment or stage of Lectio Divina was cut off from most people for historical reasons which are beyond the scope of this article. Centering Prayer was a way to help those who pray move from the third moment, oratio, to the fourth moment, contemplation. Centering Prayer is simply offered to those who feel called to a deeper way of prayer and who are looking for a way that will help them in the context of very active lives in the world. Centering Prayer did not come out of a vacuum and was always meant to be an aid in the development of a mature Christian prayer based on the Scriptures and the person of Jesus Christ.

It should also be noticed that in this tradition of Lectio Divina, meditation refers to discursive meditation, a reflecting or thinking on the words of Scripture. The term meditation is now loosely used and has even been inter changed with the term contemplation. This is causing much confusion in some people.

Meditation has many forms and a variety of uses. The popular idea is that it is a way to relax, to relieve the stress of everyday life. This is not prayer. However, unconsciously this seems to be the idea of many who approach Centering Prayer. It is partly due to the popular idea of “meditation” which conditions many people in to having preconceived ideas on this subject.

Centering Prayer does not replace or exclude any other form of prayer but it is a specific method and it is not the same as or interchangeable with any other modern method of prayer. This is not to say there is anything wrong with any other method. I simply want to stress that Centering Prayer is different. Each person must find the way of prayer that suits them. We pray as we can, not as we would wish. It is important to find a way that will help us do that. Each method has its own dynamic and this needs to be respected.

Centering Prayer has its own dynamic which has to be understood and followed for its fruits to be fully realised and experienced. Centering Prayer is not a way of escaping from the realities of the world but rather becoming aware with greater empathy and meeting the world with extra ordinary love. It is not selfish navel gazing. If our intention is to consent to God’ presence and action within it becomes a true channel of interior transformation and thus benefits all of creation.

Free App

The free Contemplative Outreach app for Centering Prayer is available for iPhones, iPad and Android phones. This app supports one’s daily prayer commitment. Beautiful and peaceful with an adjustable timer, opening and closing prayer options. Brief instructions for learning Centering Prayer are also included.

You can find the app in iTunes App Store or Google Play Store if you have an Android, search for Centering Prayer, select the one by Contemplative Outreach.

New Book by Thomas Keating

1. Consenting to God as God is.
This collects the intimate talks and daily presentations given by Thomas Keating to members of “Extension Conteplativa International” – the Spanish and Portuguese branch of Contemplative Outreach – on various aspects of the spiritual journey.

2. Reflections on the Unknowable
This is a distillation of over seventy years as a monastic and more than three decades of writing on Centering Prayer is Thomas Keating’s latest volume on how we might develop our intimacy with God and our experiences on the Christian Contemplative Tradition. The first part of the book is a lengthy interview with Thomas Keating in which he examines concepts of the divine available to individuals willing to open the door to God. The second section consists of 31 brief homilies with a wide range of diverse topics.

What is Contemplative Outreach?

Contemplative Outreach was founded by Fr. Thomas Keating specifically to support those who are practicing Centering Prayer as he envisaged it. To this intention he set about creating a systematic teaching which would make accessible to modern people the rich and long tradition of the Christian Contemplative teachings.

There has always been a long tradition of various types of prayer groups. However, few groups, if any, have had the advantage of a systematic spiritual education. Many depended on the wisdom and learning of the leader. This has also applied to many of the different prayer movements of the past centuries. In depth, guided study especially of the Western Christian tradition was in the past fairly rare and open to only a few.

Fr Thomas Keating saw a need to meet the growing interest in contemplation among lay people and religious. The latter also suffered from a truncated education as far as contemplative spirituality was concerned. This situation came about for various historical reasons beyond the scope of this article to cover. Thomas Merton is perhaps one of the more famous instigators of the contemplative renewal.

I became very interested in the teachings of Fr. Thomas Keating because he did seem to be someone who was presenting a very solid basis for a renewal of the contemplative spirit in the Church based on a sound Christian theology and spirituality. I have spent the past twenty-seven years practicing Centering Prayer, studying and training with Fr Thomas. This has involved trips to the USA once or twice a year.

Over the course of these years, Fr Thomas has become my mentor and I stay in regular contact with him.

The main purpose of Contemplative Outreach is to teach the practice of Centering Prayer, but at the same time to pass on the Western Christian Tradition in the hope that it will educate Christians in their own tradition and encourage them to study some of the sources of this tradition, e.g. The Cloud of Unknowing, St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, and St Francis de Sales, to name but a few. (**cf. Fr Thomas Keating’ article, A Traditional Blend in the Contemplative Outreach Newsletter June 2000 Vol.14 Number2). An important element of this tradition encourages the follower to find a wise mentor.

Centering Prayer has its scriptural inspiration from Matt.6 v 6. It also comes out of the Christian Contemplative Heritage, inspired in the first instance by the Desert Mothers and Fathers and the Hesychastic tradition, both of which cultivate interior silence and purity of heart. Centering Prayer is a passage from concentrative practices to an alert receptivity through consenting to God’s presence and action within, which places the emphasis on purity of intention.

Centering Prayer is now increasing in popularity and many are trying to interpret the method and Fr Thomas’s teaching for themselves, but it is best taught by a trained Presenter.

Fr Keating’s intention was to develop courses and retreats to train people in his teaching and this is an ongoing process. Centering Prayer, as taught by Fr. Keating, is a subtle method beginning a process that is different from other methods of meditation which are popular at the moment and would at first glance appear to be similar.

Centering Prayer is a specific method and it has its own dynamic and it has to be done according to that dynamic for its fruits to be fully realised and experienced

Fr Thomas Keating , Spiritual Journey. Part One

It often takes about three years of a regular faithful practice for people to become aware of some of the subtleties. (**cf. Fr Keating’s article, Resting in God’s Presence. Contemplative Outreach Newsletter, Spring 1998 Vol.12 Number 1.)

As you can see, this can be a slow process and requires commitment not only to the practice, but in attending the courses and retreats designed by Fr Keating to lead the practitioner into greater depths of understanding and practice.

The system he devised is as follows:

• An Introductory Day over a day or weekend followed by six weeks of study of the extended introductory materials.
• After the Introductory Day, one is encouraged to attend a Lectio Divina Day or Weekend
• People are also encouraged to attend a Ten Day Intensive Retreat within their first year or two of practice. This helps firmly establish the practice and is a real help in understanding the teaching materials.

Following on from these there are a number of retreats which follow in sequence:

• The Post-Intensive Retreat. This is primarily a silent retreat with longer periods of Centering Prayer.
• An Advanced Retreat. This can be of various lengths.
• Heartfulness Retreat. This is the latest retreat and is aimed at those who have been practising for eight to ten years.

As those who have attended these Retreats can attest, they hear the materials in an atmosphere of silence and solitude in a very different way to those who only hear the materials in the everyday environment of daily life. We recognise that this can be a problem to many who cannot afford the time or finances to follow this recommended structure. Contemplative Outreach is looking at ways to broaden this approach, but the experience of the regular Ten Day Intensive Retreat cannot easily be reproduced in shorter sections, though the teaching containing the background material of Centering Prayer could be. The regular Ten Day Intensive is very important for those who wish to become staff members of Contemplative Outreach.

There are also training courses for those who wish to share the method:

• Facilitator Training
• Presenter Training for those wishing to give the Introductory Day.
• Leadership training, aimed at those who wish to become coordinators.
• Practices to bring the Fruits of Centering Prayer into daily life, especially the Welcoming Prayer.

As can be seen the above is a huge programme which takes training, study and time to implement. It also requires a certain level of maturity both emotionally and spiritually. This is helped by the practice of Centering Prayer plus the deliberate practice of dismantling the False Self system as outlined in the teachings of Fr Keating.

There are also the various enrichment programmes which can run alongside the core materials of the curriculum:

• The United in Prayer Day with groups around the world. This is a yearly event which normally takes place in March. The materials, usually a DVD with Fr Keating and sometimes a guest speaker, e.g. Richard Rohr, can be viewed again and again as is true of all Fr Keating’s materials.
• Quiet Days or half days of prolonged Centering Prayer periods with possible discussion of difficulties or sharing of experiences of the benefits of Centering Prayer.
• Centering Prayer Weekends covering a particular topic from Fr Keating’s teachings, e.g. The False Self, The Human Condition, The Welcoming Practice, or other practices for daily life.
• Centering Prayer Intensive Retreats. Short retreats of four or five days or a weekend, again aimed at a particular section of Fr. Keating’s teachings.

While we recognise the good in other methods and insights they bring to the spiritual journey, Contemplative Outreach has its own focus, which has been briefly described above.

We affirm our solidarity with the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred tradition. Theological Principles of Contemplative Outreach.

Of course there is always room for improvement. However it would seem wise to run these new ideas past either Fr. Keating himself or the body he has appointed before they are introduced or integrated into the original teaching. This would be in keeping with the long Christian Tradition of referring to a wise teacher or group.

Contemplative Outreach is always designing new programmes and courses to support those who practise Centering Prayer. These are always done in consultation with Fr. Keating and by a group of teachers he himself has appointed. It is the purpose of Contemplative Outreach to maintain the integrity and purity of his teaching, which is embodied in the Western Christian Tradition.

It is unfortunate that in this want it now  society, people are always looking for an instant fix even in spirituality. There is no quick fix. It takes time and dedication or as St Teresa of Avila says, a determined determination. Anything worth doing well always requires effort and commitment. The spiritual journey is the one thing that is worth following not only for ourselves but for the benefit for all humanity and this beautiful universe of ours.