Psalm 46:10
There are approximately 9 times in the Gospels where Jesus went off to a quiet place to pray. One of the earliest is at the very beginning of his ministry. It takes place in Mark’s Gospel and after Jesus was baptized and went into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. It comes after he started his itinerant preaching and healing in Galilee. After healing many people, Mark writes: In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. (Mk 1:35) Jesus, probably exhausted, needed time alone with his Father and listen to what his Father needed to say to him or to rest in God’s presence within him. Rather than going to a temple or other recognizable place for prayer, Jesus needed time in the quiet to be still and listen.
For the first sixteen centuries, Christian spirituality’s goal was contemplative prayer. The practice of contemplative prayer is based on the writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers who lived solidary lives or in small communities devoted to prayer during the third and fourth centuries. Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, circa 251-356, is considered the father of this movement. The movement spread to Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. In Western Europe, the movement led to the establishment of monasteries under the Rule of Saint Benedict which was written between 530 to 540 CE by Benedict of Nursia at the Monte de Cassino Monastery in Italy. Monasticism thrived in Western Europe until the reformation when Henry VIII ransacked and destroyed the monasteries in England as did other countries in Western Europe.
During the 1960s, many young people turned to Eastern religions for meditation. To help people understand the long and rich history of contemplative prayer in Western Christianity, three Trappist monks, Frs. Thomas Keating, William Meninger, and Basil Pennington began writing about the contemplative tradition in Christianity. This became known as Centering Prayer. This form of prayer is based on an anonymous spiritual work of the fourteenth century entitled “The Cloud of Unknowing.” The book was written in Middle English making it accessible to the average English-speaking person.
Centering Prayer is a form of contemplative prayer that helps us to open ourselves to “God’s presence and action within [us].” It is a posture of receiving and listening to our God who is within and around us.
The method of Centering Prayer is simple:
1. Choose a sacred word, such as love, peace, Jesus, Abba, Mother. This expresses our intention to be in God’s presence.
2. Sit comfortably with eyes closed. Introduce the sacred word.
3. When you become aware of thoughts, return gently to your sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer time, (usually 20 minutes), remain in silence for a few minutes.
I started a Centering Prayer practice about 30 years ago. If you are interested in learning more about Centering Prayer, please reach out to me at connors@trinityprinceton.org. Also, there is a national organization, Contemplative Outreach, which continues to teach and educate about Centering Prayer.
Their website is https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org.
Blessings,
Fr. Steve