Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to receive this gift. It presents ancient Christian wisdom teachings in an updated form. Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; rather it casts a new light and depth of meaning on them. It is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. This method of prayer is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with him. The method formed as a direct result of the experiences reading the Cloud of Unknowing by the community at the Trappist St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts where three brothers in particular helped the method come into being; those brothers were: Fr. William Meninger, Fr. M. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating.
The name was taken from Thomas Merton's description of contemplative prayer, from which Centering Prayer draws, as prayer that is "centered entirely on the presence of God". [web 1] In his book Contemplative Prayer, Merton writes "Monastic prayer begins not so much with 'considerations' as with a 'return to the heart,' finding one's deepest center, awakening the profound depths of our being in the presence of God". [1]
The 20th-century Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton renewed Christian interest in contemplative practices. In addition to traditional Trappist practices, late in his life he was influenced by Buddhist meditation, particularly as found in Zen. He became a friend of Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, praised Chogyam Trungpa who founded Shambhala Buddhism in the United States and was also an acquaintance of the current Dalai Lama. His theology attempted to unify the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith with other philosophical trends including existentialism [web 2] In this context, he was an advocate of the non-discursive style of contemplative prayer, which he saw as a direct confrontation of finite and irrational man with his ground of being.
Cistercian monk Thomas Keating, a founder of Centering Prayer, was abbot all through the 1960s and 1970s at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. This area is thick with religious retreat centres, including the well-known Theravada Buddhist centre, Insight Meditation Society. Keating tells of meeting many young people, some who stumbled on St. Joseph's by accident, many of them born Catholic, who had turned to Eastern practices for contemplative work. He found many of them had no knowledge of the contemplative traditions within Christianity and set out to present those practices in a more accessible way. The result was the practice now called Centering Prayer. [web 3]
Seeds of what would become known as contemplation, for which the Greek term θεωρία theoria is also used, [2] were sown early in the Christian era. The creators of the Centering Prayer movement trace their 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. The earliest Christian writings that clearly speak of contemplative prayer come from the 4th-century monk St. John Cassian, who wrote of a practice he learned from the Desert Fathers (specifically from Isaac[ citation needed ]). Cassian's writings remained influential until the medieval era when monastic practice shifted from a mystical orientation to Scholasticism. During the 16th century, Carmelite saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross wrote and taught about advanced Christian prayer, which was given the name infused contemplation.
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In Centering Prayer, the participant seeks the presence of God directly (aided by the Jesus Prayer, perhaps) and explicitly rejects discursive thoughts and imagined scenes. The participant's aim is to be present to the Lord, to "consent to God's presence and action during the time of prayer." [3] Fr. M. Basil Pennington describes four steps for practicing Centering Prayer: [4]
In addition, Keating writes, "The method consists in letting go of every kind of thought during prayer, even the most devout thoughts". [5] The "sacred word" can integrate with breathing in and out. Rather than being a tool to quiet the mind, it is a consent to the presence and action of God within and "just be" with God, helping people to be more present and open to God. [6] Advocates of Centering Prayer also say it does not replace other prayer but encourages silence and deeper connection to God. [7]
Centering Prayer advocates link the practice to traditional forms of Christian meditation, such as on the Rosary, or Lectio Divina , and Keating has promoted both Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer. [8]
Pope Francis has not commented on Centering Prayer directly, but has spoken very highly of Thomas Merton, who described contemplative prayer as prayer "centered entirely on the presence of God." [web 4] Pope Francis listed Merton as one of four great Americans in a speech before the U.S. Congress in September 2015 and encouraged sowing dialogue and peace in his contemplative style. [web 5]
In 1989, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) issued Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation. [web 6] The letter addresses problematic elements found in some modern prayer methods, many of which have been influenced by Eastern religions and the New Age movement. Keating notes that this letter does not apply to Centering Prayer, and states that "the gift of contemplative prayer can only be granted through the Holy Spirit." [web 7] Connie Rossini and Dan Burke, however, argue that there are similarities between the teaching of Keating and his colleagues and specific criticisms made by the CDF, [9] [web 8] while Dan DeCelles considers Centering Prayer to fall afoul of the caution against similar prayer forms in this letter. [web 9]
In 2003, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Pontifical Council for Culture published Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: a Christian Reflection on the "New Age". [web 10] Susan Brinkmann writes that her concerns were addressed in this document. [web 11] Centering Prayer practitioners respond that Bearer of the Water of Life does not have doctrinal authority, and neither Vatican document mentions Centering Prayer, contemplative outreach, or Keating by name.
According to Rossini, Centering Prayer is contradicted by the teachings of Teresa of Ávila. [web 12] She further states that Centering Prayer is in contradiction to Lectio Divina , [web 13] arguing that traditional prayers such as the Holy Rosary and Lectio Divina engage the heart and mind with Sacred Scripture, while Centering Prayer is "devoid of content". [web 14]
John D. Dreher argues that Centering Prayer is a distortion of the teachings of the Desert Fathers and The Cloud of Unknowing . [web 15]
Research has been conducted on the Centering Prayer program, indicating that it may be helpful for women receiving chemotherapy, [10] and that it may help congregants experience a more collaborative relationship with God, as well as reduced stress. [11]
Andrew B. Newberg explained one study that examined the brains of nuns who engaged in Centering Prayer, which is meant to create a feeling of oneness with God. The nuns' brain scans showed similarities to people who use drugs like psilocybin mushrooms, Newberg said, and both experiences "tend to result in very permanent changes in the way in which the brain works." [web 16] [ unreliable medical source? ]
The Jesus Prayer, also known as The Prayer, is a short formulaic prayer, esteemed and advocated especially in Eastern Christianity and Catholicism:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation [of the person] for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God" or divine love. Until the sixth century the practice of what is now called mysticism was referred to by the term contemplatio, c.q. theoria, from contemplatio, "looking at", "gazing at", "being aware of" God or the divine. Christianity took up the use of both the Greek (theoria) and Latin terminology to describe various forms of prayer and the process of coming to know God.
The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer. The underlying message of this work suggests that the way to know God is to abandon consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender one's mind and ego to the realm of "unknowing", at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God.
In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with religious practices such as meditation or prayer.
Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study, and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.
In Western Christianity, Lectio Divina is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word. In the view of one commentator, it does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.
A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development. A common metaphor used in the spiritual traditions of the world's great religions is that of walking a path. Therefore, a spiritual practice moves a person along a path towards a goal. The goal is variously referred to as salvation, liberation or union. A person who walks such a path is sometimes referred to as a wayfarer or a pilgrim.
Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O. was an American Trappist priest known as one of the principal developers of centering prayer, a contemplative method that emerged from St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
St. Joseph's Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. The community of monks was founded in 1825 in Nova Scotia, Canada. In the early 20th Century, they moved to Rhode Island, and then in 1950 decided to move to Spencer. The monks produce jams and liturgical vestments in order to financially support their way of life. Retreats, informed by the monastic contemplative life of the abbey, are offered frequently for guests in the monastery retreat house.
Catholic spirituality includes the various ways in which Catholics live out their Baptismal promise through prayer and action. The primary prayer of all Catholics is the Eucharistic liturgy in which they celebrate and share their faith together, in accord with Jesus' instruction: "Do this in memory of me." The Catholic bishops at the Second Vatican Council decreed that "devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them." In accord with this, many additional forms of prayer have developed over the centuries as means of animating one's personal Christian life, at times in gatherings with others. Each of the religious orders and congregations of the Catholic church, as well as lay groupings, has specifics to its own spirituality – its way of approaching God in prayer to foster its way of living out the Gospel.
Mystical theology is the branch of theology in the Christian tradition that deals with divine encounter and the self-communication of God with the faithful; such as to explain mystical practices and states, as induced by contemplative practices such as contemplative prayer, called theoria from the Greek for contemplation.
M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. (1931–2005) was an American Trappist priest and leading spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, and director.
Mental prayer is a form of meditational prayer, "performed without aid of any particular formula." It is distinguished from vocal prayers, "prayers performed by means of a given formula." The aim of mental prayer is 'to inflame souls with the love of God' and 'live without sin'. In mystical practice, it is to be followed-up by contemplative prayer.
William Austin Meninger, O.C.S.O. was an American Trappist priest who was a spiritual teacher and a principal developer of centering prayer, a method of contemplative prayer.
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice.
Jean LeclercqOSB, was a French Benedictine monk, the author of classic studies on Lectio Divina and the history of inter-monastic dialogue, as well as the life and theology of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. LeClercq is perhaps best known in the English speaking world for his seminal work The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture.
Guigo II, sometimes referred to as Guy, or by the moniker "the Angelic", was a Carthusian monk and the 9th prior of Grande Chartreuse monastery, from 1174 to 1180.
Monastic silence is a spiritual practice recommended in a variety of religious traditions for purposes including becoming closer to God and achieving elevated states of spiritual purity. It may be in accordance with a monk's formal vow of silence, but can also engage laity who have not taken vows, or novices who are preparing to take vows.
Prayer has been an essential part of Christianity since its earliest days. As the Middle Ages began, the monastic traditions of both Western and Eastern Christianity moved beyond vocal prayer to Christian meditation. These progressions resulted in two distinct and different meditative practices: Lectio Divina in the West and hesychasm in the East. Hesychasm involves the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, but Lectio Divina uses different Scripture passages at different times and although a passage may be repeated a few times, Lectio Divina is not repetitive in nature.
James Finley is an American author, clinical psychologist and former Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemane, under the spiritual direction of Thomas Merton.