Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group
During Lent, the Centering Prayer Group will be meeting on Fridays after Stations of the Cross in Saint Benedict’s Room
Centering Prayer is a contemplative method to develop one's relationship with God.
No experience is required.
Individual instruction can be provided.
Guidelines for Centering Prayer
- Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
- Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
- When engaged in your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
- At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed.
This video is an introductory workshop on Centering Prayer by LJ Milone and Fr. Carl Arico, sponsored by the Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington.
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This form of prayer was first practiced and taught by the Desert Fathers of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, including Evagrius, John Cassian and St. John Climacus. It has representatives in every age, e.g. in the Patristic age, St. Augustine and St Gregory the Great in the West, and Pseudo-Dionysius and the Hesychasts in the East: in the Middle Ages, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, and Guigo the Carthusian; the Rhineland mystics including St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Mechtilde, Meister Eckhart, Ruysbroek, and Tauler; later the author of the Imitation of Christ and the English mystics of the 14th Century such as the author of the Cloud of Unknowing. Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle, and Julian of Norwich; after the Reformation, the Carmelites St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux; among the French school of spiritual writers, St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal and Cardinal Berulle; among the Jesuits, Fathers De Caussade, Lallemont; and, among the Benedictines, Dom Augustine Baker and Dom John Chapman; among modern Cistercians, Dom Vital Lehodey and Thomas Merton.
Selected Bibliography
Bourgeault, Cynthia. Centering Prayer and inner awakening. Lanham, MD: Cowley Publications, 2004.
Keating, Thomas. Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Demension of the Gospel. Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1991.
Keating, Thomas. The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience. Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1991.
Pennington, Basil M. Centering Prayer Renewing an Ancient Christian Prayer Form. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980.