What is Centering Prayer?

The Christian contemplative tradition teaches that prayer is a process of growing in relationship with the Divine. We commonly think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words, as we listen, respond and communicate with God. But this is only one expression - ultimately the root of prayer is silence.

This prayer of silence is 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. It is the opening of mind and heart – our whole being – to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions, a presence we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, thinking, feeling and choosing; even closer than consciousness itself.

For the Church’s first sixteen centuries this tradition of silent contemplative prayer was the goal of Christian spirituality. But after the Reformation this living tradition was virtually lost. Today, with cross-cultural dialogue and historical research, the recovery of the Christian contemplative heritage has begun. The method of Centering Prayer, in the tradition of Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures), is contributing to this renewal.

Centering Prayer is a method of meditation in the Christian tradition appropriate for our times. It is distinct from contemplative prayer in that, ultimately, deep unitive experience of union with God can only be attained through gift and grace. But the practice of Centering Prayer prepares us to receive this gift - we respond to the Spirit praying in us by actively consenting to God’s presence and action within.

Centering Prayer also furthers the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to cooperate with this gift. It facilitates a movement from more active modes of prayer - verbal, discursive or affective prayer - into a receptive prayer of resting in God. And it enriches and compliments other forms of prayer: it doesn't exclude or replace them.

Centering Prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. It is Trinitarian in its source, Christ-centered in its focus, and ecclesial in its effects. It builds communities of faith and bonds the members together in charity or agape: the love that flows from our relationship with the living Christ.

Centering Prayer is based on the wisdom saying of Jesus: ‘…when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you’ (Matthew 6:6).

It also draws on some of the rich resources of the Christian contemplative heritage, including John Cassian and the fathers and mothers of the desert tradition; the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing; Teresa of Avila; John of the Cross; Therese of Lisieux and Thomas Merton. It was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970s by three Trappist monks, Fr William Meninger, Fr Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating at St Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

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See also:

Guidelines for Centering Prayer

Developing our Practice

Contemplative Outreach

Thomas Keating