“1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
3. When engaged with your thoughts, feelings, images, and reflections, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period (20 minutes), remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.”
—Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., contemplative outreach.org.
Reviewing and remembering the guidelines for Centering Prayer are worth repeating. This contemporary form of the ancient practice of contemplative or listening prayer has been written about by Catholic monks Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, and Basil Pennington, as well as Quaker Richard Foster. It is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Desert Mothers and Fathers, The Cloud of the Unknowing, Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross.
At a recent retreat at our church, Steve Standiford, a friend from New York City who is associated with Contemplative Outreach and has practiced Centering Prayer for more than twenty years, reminded us of how to deepen our relationship with God. He uses this familiar illustration to help us to experience God’s presence and love in our lives through Centering Prayer: “A first-time tourist to New York City gets into the cab and asks the driver, ‘How do you get to Carnegie Hall?’ The driver responds, ‘Practice, practice, practice!’”
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com
Just in time for the holidays
A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany
The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter
Both are $18
All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast
Contact: joannaseibert@me.com