Some more on Centering Prayer….
Contemplative (or centering prayer) is the opening of mind
and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts,
words and emotions, whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing,
thinking, feeling and choosing; even closer than consciousness itself. The root
of all prayer is interior silence. Though we think of prayer as thoughts or
feelings expressed in words, this is only one expression. Contemplative Prayer
is a prayer of silence, an experience of God's presence as the ground in which
our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment.
For the Church's first sixteen
centuries Contemplative Prayer was the goal of Christian spirituality.
After the Reformation, this living tradition was virtually lost; in more recent
times it has been rediscovered.
Centering prayer is a method used
for, or the process of, contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition,
although people of all faith paths can use this form. As the 16th
Century's Gregory the Great expressed it, its focus is on resting in god, being
in communion with the divine in an attitude of silence. It has some
similarities to eastern meditation in that it involves the use of a single
word, repeated like a mantra: possibilities include: jesus, love, peace, abba, shalom.
Because of this, some have referred to centering prayer as a ‘monologion', or
one-word prayer. Like a mantra, the repetition of the word serves as a focal
point, a marker to return to when distracted by other thoughts.
Centering prayer begins with an
intention to be with god; some practitioners of centering prayer advocate doing
it twice a day, in sessions of about twenty minutes. The format is simple:
choose your sacred word, or phrase, position yourself comfortably, repeat the
word/phrase when your thoughts intrude during this time of prayer, and then
conclude the session gradually and gently.
Though you might feel you have
received insights or new understanding around the sacred word chosen, that is
not the point of centering prayer – and in fact, practitioners are encouraged
to simply return to the word rather than follow the train of thought.
Thought is seen as an impediment to
the experience of god, which is the reward of contemplative prayer, as the
author of “The Cloud of Unknowing” wrote:
‘if you strive to fix your love on him forgetting all else,
which is the work of contemplation I have urged you to begin, I am confident
that god in his goodness will bring you to a deep
           experience
of himself'
Centering
prayer is not:
- a technique
- a form of
self-hypnosis
- a para-psychological
phenomenon
- a relaxation
exercise
- a charismatic gift
- limited to the
“felt” presence of God