Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer or meditation that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.
Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer — verbal, mental or affective prayer — into a receptive prayer of resting in God. This contemplative practice provides a way to help us open ourselves to God and consent to God’s action in our hearts. Although it has a long history in the Christian spiritual tradition, it has been articulated most clearly as a prayer method in the fourteenth century English classic The Cloud of Unknowing and by the contemporary Cistercian monk Thomas Keating.
The weekly Centering Prayer group at St Luke’s meets on Mondays at 5:30 pm. All are welcome!
