The Welcoming Practice
‘What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us’. Jean-Pierre de Caussade.
In his classic work on the contemplative dimension of the Christian faith Open Mind Open Heart, Fr Thomas Keating instructs us to ‘deliberately dismantle the emotional programs of the false self.’ The Welcoming Practice (or Welcoming Prayer as it is also known) is a method for taking this teaching into everyday life, a practice of actively letting go of thoughts and feelings that support the false-self system.
Its purpose is to deepen our relationship with the divine by consenting to God’s presence and action in the ordinary activities of daily life. It complements the dynamic of Centering Prayer, helping heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored—in the body. It helps bring about freedom from the false-self system, enabling us to respond instead of reacting to the present moment.
‘The Welcoming Prayer embraces painful emotions experienced in the body rather than avoiding them or trying to suppress them. It does not embrace the suffering as such, but the presence of the Holy Spirit in the particular pain, whether physical, emotional or mental. Thus it is the full acceptance of the content of the present moment. In giving the experience over to the Holy Spirit, the false-self system is gradually undermined and the true self liberated.’ Fr Thomas Keating.
The Welcoming Practice was devised by Mary Mrozowski, a key figure in the development and popularization of the Centering Prayer movement. It is largely based on the teachings of Thomas Keating and her own experience of transformation, and also draws on the 17th century French spiritual classic Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade.
‘To welcome and to let go’ says Mary Mrozowski, ‘is one of the most radically loving, faith-filled gestures we can make in each moment of each day. It is an open-hearted embrace of all that is, in ourselves and in the world.’
The method can be summarized as three movements:
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First notice and sink into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensations, and commentaries in your body.
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Secondly accept the divine indwelling in what you are experiencing by simply saying ‘welcome’.
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Thirdly, adopt an attitude of surrender by inwardly affirming the following intention: ‘I let go of the desire for security, affection, control. I let go of the desire to change this situation.’
‘The Welcoming Practice is a powerful path for connecting the inner consent of Centering Prayer with the outer requirement of unconditional presence in daily life.’ Revd Dr Cynthia Bourgeault.
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