In one of our sister blogs, The Attentive Life, some friends and I have been reading Leighton Ford's book by the same title. Not infrequently Ford makes mention of Centering Prayer as a form of prayer helpful for deepening one's life in Christ. As a consequence, I made a number of postings about Centering Prayer on that blog and a few friends have indicated that they would like to explore Centering Prayer as a possible addition to their daily practice of prayer. In a few weeks, however, the "attentive life" blog will close down as we move to another book with another blog. For that reason, I would like to make periodic postings, observations, and encouragements concerning Centering Prayer here; as these posting are made, I'll label each one under the category of Centering Prayer so that they might eventually be tallied up if that would prove helpful.Here's the first posting, taken from Reflections on M. Basil Pennington: As We Knew Him, ed. Michael Moran and Ann Overton (Paraclete P, 2008); these are Fr. Pennington's own words:
Guidelines for Centering PrayerSit comfortably in a chair that will give your back good support and gently close your eyes. It is well to choose a place where you will not be disturbed by an sudden intrusion. A quiet place is helpful, though not essential.
Sit relaxed and quiet.
1. Be in faith and love to God who dwells in the center of your being.
2. Take up a love word and let it be gently present, supporting your being to God in faith-filled love.
3. Whenever you become aware of anything, simply, gently return to the center with the use of your prayer word.
At the end of twenty minutes, let the Our Father (or some other prayer) pray itself.
If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to ask or make them.
3 comments:
Yes, I need this. I practice something like it at times, even at work.
Thanks, Andrew.
Ted,
Centering Prayer (CP) is a way of praying that I practice twice a day, 20 minutes each time: first, in the early morning upon immediately waking up, preferably when it is still dark and before I say the Church's Morning Prayers(it is so much easier to keep one's eyes closed in the pre-dawn darkness as nearly all the teachers of CP suggest); second, in the evening after June and I say Evening Prayers. June helps me here; she goes off to bed to read, and I again go to my chair, turn out all the lights, and do CP in the darkness. CP can always, as you suggest, be done anytime during the day. For me, however, once the day starts in earnest, I find it difficult to locate the quiet space we usually associate with Centering Prayer.
In the posts and comments to come, we'll be saying lots more about CP, its theological foundations, our lack of expectations, the psychological phenomenon that sometimes accompany it, the direction of CP, its many contexts, and so on.
Thanks for your comment!
Andrew,
Sorry I saw this only now. Very interesting. I want to learn more. Thanks.
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