How to Practice Centering Prayer

Deepening our relationship with God through the practice of Centering Prayer

An Introduction to Christian Contemplation

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Two Prayers – Before and After Centering Prayer

THOMAS KEATING’S SUGGESTED ORIENTATION PRAYER FOR CENTERING;

Lord, we adore you
present in our inmost being
and among us.

Draw us inwardly
by the greatness of your love,
so that we may taste that peace
which surpasses all understanding;

and that, little by little, we might understand
what it means to be lived in by God.

Heal the wounds of a lifetime,
body, soul, and spirit,

as we wait lovingly
upon your Presence
and healing action within us.

Richard Rohr
Prayer for Our Community:
O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.

We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery
whom we know by faith is within us,
closer than breathing, closer than thinking,
closer than choosing, closer than consciousness itself.

The Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which
our being is rooted,
the source from whom our life emerges

Centering Prayer Information

For your personal meditation practice, using your cell phone or tablet, I recommend you access the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and download the Centering Prayer app, as pictured below. It is free, and allows you to choose the intro and exit sounds, and set the duration.

Pray with Father Keating, who revived and popularized the practice of Christian Contemplation, and the method of Centering Prayer. This video has Father Keating’s introduction, 20 minutes of silence, and Father Keating concluding with The Lord’s Prayer.

You can also use a YouTube video Timer

Contemplative Outreach is the international organization supporting the practice of Centering Prayer.

Contemplative Outreach Ontario is the Ontario organization supporting the practice of Centering Prayer, containing listing of local in-person Centering Prayer groups.