Each day, countless adherants pause to be still and quiet.
That's quite an accomplishment in a culture of noise and frenetic movement almost non-stop.
Yet, those who calm down daily for a set time of fifteen to twenty minutes know the richness and fruits of what is called centering. Centering prayer, that is.
Such prayer or communion with God aims to consent and say "I do" to the will of the Creator.
That's accomplished by being in union with the Maker through quiet and calm.
Trappist monk Father Thomas Keating of Snowmass, CO., is a principal leader and guide of this Catholic contemplative prayer movement that welcomes all believers. Keating is on the board of Contemplative Outreach, an ecumenical, international network aiming to renew and restore contemplative living these days. (Google contemplative outreach for more).
Personal relationship is achieved with God by way of centering prayer that prepares one for contemplation.
Christian mysticism - one who is head over heel in love with God - brought Keating to the awareness of scripture's invitation to a personal relationship with God.
The false self of negativity and shadows falls away in this divine therapy and healing while one sits in silence and simply uses a word to guide her or him when she or he is distracted by the programs of life's burdens. My word is beloved. When distracted in my prayer session I gently and effortlessly return to my union with the Maker quietly saying, beloved. Beloved stems from Jesus being called God's beloved at his own baptism in the Jordan River. "This is my beloved in whom I am well pleased."
The practice of centering prayer follows the wisdom teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6:6:
"If you wnat to pray, enter your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret."
This daily practice moves one beyond simply knowing or hearing of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus the Christ. Growing an interior life bears fruits in a hectic workplace, school, or neighborhood, for example.
Like an anchor, this stillness affords one the armour, if you will, to stave of stressors of daily living.
Deep inner resources are required of today's demanding world.
In metropolitan Detroit, MI., people pray this way twice daily and gather on the first Friday monthly at 7 pm in Sacred Heart Church in Roseville, at Gratiot and Utica Road for group centering prayer. Jim Gadd or I convene the crowd for twenty minutes of centering prayer following some instruction with reflection after the pray session.
The session goes like this:
Choose a sacred word.
Comfortably settle into a chair or sit on the floor.
Recall the word (mine is bleoved, remember?) when distractions come.
At the end oftheprayer period, the group recites the Our Father.
The fruits of the Spirit emerge from this calm and quiet.
Try it. You may like it.
My daily living is lived out well when I am faithful to my prayer sessions each day. I relish and savor such praying time. My exterior life is enhance by the interior sources buoying within.
But, in any event, do find a way that fits you for prayer and a divine connection with the Creator. Life is different given one's inner life of surrendering to God, the Maker of heaven and earth.
After all, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
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