St Andrew Centering Prayer Books

Fr. Carl Arico has been practicing Centering Prayer since he learned about it at St. Joseph’s Monastery in Spencer, Mass. in 1975. His role in 1984 as a founding member and his present position as Vice President of Contemplative Outreach Ltd. testify to his commitment to the practice. Often a companion to Fr. Thomas Keating and a workshop/retreat leader on his own, Fr. Arico has been a teacher to many on their prayer journey.

In A Taste of Silence he uses what he has learned from hearing Fr. Keating; his reading of books by Keating, Merton, and others; his personal experience; and his work in Centering Prayer to give the reader a clear, understandable concept of the practice. The extensive range of material used to establish the context for Centering Prayer makes this book a valuable resource for anyone seeking a deeper prayer life. Fr. Arico carefully explains terms and vocabulary associated with prayer as well as introduces the people considered superstars in the Christian contemplative tradition of prayer – from St. Gregory of Nyssa (4th c.) through St. Teresa of Avila (16th C.) to Thomas Merton.

The chapter on Thomas Merton presents him “as a working model for the spiritual journey.” He draws on Basil Pennington’s work on Merton, his own experience and admiration to give us a summary of the movements that took place in Merton’s life that make him a very important person for us to know and one who speaks to us in a special way.

Fr. Arico teaches about Lectio Divina and how it can be used by individuals and groups in a way that is helpful whether one is using the practice accompanying Centering Prayer or as a discipline unto itself.

After five chapters of introductory materials that lay a sound foundation, Fr. Arico presents the Method of Centering Prayer. Then he examines The Cloud of Unknowing which “grounds the practice in the Christian tradition”. (p. 139) When we consent to God’s presence and action within, we can expect transformation, a battle between the false and true selves, and many fruitful benefits. Fr. Arico discusses these aspects of Centering Prayer in his final chapters. Ferdinard G. Mahfood says, “Centering Prayer is not an archaic part of church’s history to be dug up, examined, and set on a shelf as an interesting antiquity. Rather, it’s a life-changing tool for our modern lives.” (p.8)

People fortunate enough to have been to any of Fr. Carl Arico’s presentations know about his charismatic personality and his humor. These characteristics are evident in this book and make it all the more readable and interesting.

This reader thinks Fr. Arico has done an excellent job of accomplishing his intention: to write “an introduction to the introductions. A gathering together of materials and insights into one book concerning the practice of Centering Prayer and its conceptual background, as well as the historical setting from which the prayer comes.” (Introduction, pp. 10-11) It is the book to read and study to learn about prayer.

Centering Prayer by M. Basil Pennington, OCSO was first published in 1980. It was written as an introduction to a new packaging of a traditional Christian form of contemplative prayer fashioned by Father Basil

and two other monks at St. Joseph’s Abby, Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. William Meninger.

If not the first, Centering Prayer by Fr. Basil is one of the earliest books on Centering Prayer. It is still one of the best and most comprehensive. It covers the history and tradition of contemplative prayer, the actual method of Centering, guidance for practitioners, suggestions for workshops and teaching, and a vision for the future of Centering Prayer.

Years ago, I found the Eastern traditions attractive because they seemed to have a more effective meditation and prayer life. However, as a Christian, I longed for meaningful prayer that had a legitimate grounding in Christ and in Christian tradition. When I read this book, I knew that I had found my answer.

In his introduction Fr. Basil states the simple purpose of the book – To teach us “how to pray, to meditate, to experience God.” The first chapter states “What we are called to is indeed far beyond us, and yet in virtue of our baptism it is already ours. We need but appropriate it and enjoy it. And that is the ‘work’ of Centering Prayer.”

Fr. Basil goes on to write the history and tradition of Christian contemplative prayer as practiced by the early Christian fathers such as St. John Cassian and St. Gregory of Sinai. In chapter four, the Centering Prayer method itself is explained, followed by guidance with our experiences in Centering, encouragement to keep up the practice, and acknowledgement that the path to spiritual growth comes through passing on the teaching.

The method is simple and the instruction in this book is clear enough that I began doing CP on my own twenty years ago. Centering is quite different from the prayer I had known before. Most other forms of prayer are tiring and generally unsatisfying. Centering Prayer is refreshing. The only other form of prayer that comes close (for me) is the prayer of spontaneous gratitude (Thanks Father for life, Thanks Father that my family loves me, Thanks Father for the beautiful moon.

All other forms of prayer I know are petitionary. With petitionary prayer I am consciously asking for something from God. This has at least three drawbacks: 1) It is inherently selfish. (Give me help, Give me an answer, Give others help so I can feel better, Give me direction so I can be better). 2) It usually assumes (naively) that I know what I and others need. 3) It involves me talking rather than listening. With Centering Prayer I can let God do His work to give me what I really need and what He really wants.

When I first began Centering, there was no local CP organization. There was not even a well-developed national organization. Yet I began sitting with God on my own with only the guidance of this single book. Twenty years later I pray with my local CP group but the method I first learned from this book has not changed and I still practice the same way. It is a tribute to the simplicity of the method and the effectiveness of Fr. Basil’s book. It was this book that opened for me the world of Christian contemplation both intellectually and empirically. It is still a treasured resource. Each time I re-read this little book, I learn something new from an old friend.

I have just finished my third reading of Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and am again filled with gratitude for Bourgeault’s writing of this book. With each re-reading, I savor
once again the gifts found in earlier readings, and find new gifts. Here I share a few thoughts about four of these gifts.

Describing Centering Prayer. In forty-eight pages, Bourgeault presents a very clear, concise description of the method of centering prayer that is readily accessible. In these relatively few pages she addresses the question of what is prayer, the distinction between ordinary and spiritual awareness and the role of meditation in moving from ordinary to spiritual awareness, Centering Prayer as a surrender method in contrast to concentrative and awareness methods of meditation, the use of the sacred word, and the kinds of thoughts that arise during Centering Prayer and the practice of surrender. I find these pages a very useful first resource for those who ask me about Centering Prayer, as well as a useful “refresher” for myself and others who have been practicing Centering Prayer for some time.

Placing Centering Prayer within the Apophatic Tradition. From the start, Bourgeault places the method of Centering Prayer within the long tradition of apophatic prayer and in so doing begins to widen one’s understanding of the spiritual and theological context for Centering Prayer. Cataphatic prayer practices engage our reason, memory, imagination, feelings, and will (our so-called “faculties”) and are probably the practices most widely experienced within our churches. But apophatic prayer practices, in contrast, bypass our capacities for reason, imagination, visualization, emotion and memory. They make use of, and strengthen, the more subtle faculties of perception traditionally known as the “spiritual senses.”

Realizing the radically apophatic nature of Centering Prayer enables one “to relax and really allow the prayer to unfold its deepest treasures” and to avoid the pitfalls of letting a cataphatic mindset creep into one’s practice or teaching of Centering Prayer. The spiritual and theological roots of Centering Prayer are broad and deep in Bourgeault’s writing, including the spiritual teachings and practices of Jesus, the theological concept of “kenosis,” the spiritual practices of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, the Benedictine tradition of lectio divina, Simeon the New Theologian’s writing about “attention of the heart,” as well as The Cloud of Unknowing. As someone regularly engaged in both cataphatic and apophatic prayer practices, and in other forms of apophatic prayer in addition to Centering Prayer I delight in the broader discussion of the spiritual practices of the contemplative spiritual traditions and profit from her discussion of the distinctive characteristics of Centering Prayer.

The Metaphor of the “Divine Therapist.” Bourgeault discusses the contributions of Thomas Keating’s use of the metaphor of the divine therapist, but also notes some possible drawbacks if this metaphor is pushed too far.

For example, one might be tempted to think of the “healing” of Centering Prayer as fixing the egoic self (as in psychotherapy) rather than transcending the self. Or, one might begin to view the false self as a pathology that needs curing rather than something “good” in the sense of its being the raw material for our transformation. In Bourgeault’s words, “… we need to remember that ego-healing and ego-transcendence happen simultaneously not sequentially along the path of our lives, and that our wounds, entrusted to the divine mercy, can become the stimulus to extraordinary growth.” Or, we may become tempted to focus on our personal healing and forget that “contemplative prayer is first and foremost an act of worship: an offering of the prayer of self-disclosure and inner surrender on behalf of the world …”.

I have long felt some discomfort about concentrating heavily on the divine therapist metaphor and hence appreciate her help in thinking through more clearly some drawbacks of the metaphor, and hopefully her help in avoiding some of the pitfalls.

Moving from Centering Prayer to working with an Inner Observer. Here Bourgeault explains the concept of an inner observer (“a shifting of your center of gravity from its usual egoic orbit to a deeper place, which essentially watches through you, from the perspective of Being itself”), its distinctive feature of being able to watch what is going on without grasping at what arises in awareness or identifying with its contents, the role of the Welcoming Prayer in making the transition from the surrender of meditation into surrender as an attitude and practice for all of life, and the role of kenosis in “putting the mind in the heart.”

I cannot begin to do justice to these writings in a few words; I simply urge you to read Bourgeault’s words for yourself. There is much here that nurtures a growing edge in myself and where I find new gifts upon each rereading. Her 17-page chapter on Welcoming Prayer, however, can stand on its own as an excellent introduction to this practice.

Jens Soering is serving a life sentence in a Virginia maximum security prison. This book contains a rare combination of intimate descriptions on the evolution of Jen’s Centering Prayer Practice and almost a scholarly analyses of the contemplative literature. Throughout the book, Jens includes extensive passages from Scripture, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, the Cloud of Unknowing, Thomas Keating and others. Jens is primarily writing this book to help prisoners, terminally ill people and others in serious crisis.

Books 1 and 2 predominately contain a history of Centering Prayer and alternative methods of dealing with thoughts and distractions during Centering Prayer. Jens has applied “Buddhist “ methods of breathing and mental imagery (instead of using the sacred word) to keep one’s focus on God. I believe that one of Jen’s insights was his realization of how transient and insubstantial are the thoughts/ feelings and sensations that occur during Centering Prayer. Upon additional deeper Centering experience, Jens came to the realization that “his life and sufferings are only ripples on the ocean of time“. In Book 2, Jens also describes how Centering Prayer has helped him make with peace with his past and techniques to break the self’s attachment to the treasures on earth.

Book 3 focuses on how Centering Prayer and Centering Practice, which is bearing one’s cross willingly, truthfully, dispassionately and altruistically, impacted his daily prison life. This Book contains more of the graphic details of his life in prison and is filled with emotion. There is much poetry in this section. Two notable quotes follow.

“ Prisons and crosses can indeed be our Father’s means of delivering us from the enemy within, but without His help and guidance, our suffering may destroy instead of purify us. As I walk through the fire that is my life, I find myself praying even more fervently that the I AM may protect me from being consumed by my anguish, that the dying to self might not become a death of the soul.”

“ Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. But what a heavy price we pay for this “heart of wisdom”: our very lives torn away from us too soon by cancers, viruses or sometimes even judges. . . .While death may indeed reunite us with the Spirit-Breath, our passing robs us of the opportunity to reveal in our own lives why and how the invisible I AM’s love is actually warm and concrete like a fathers. “

I would recommend this book for those who are having difficulty in using the sacred word and for people who are either working in prisons or may want to know more about prison life. This book could be inspirational for people experiencing serious life crisis. A couple of warnings: Jens claims he is innocent (even though he confessed more than once to committing the crime) and sometimes he overly focuses on himself.

Journey to the Heart is a beautiful introduction and summary for young children and their parents about the practice of Centering Prayer. The information provided is short and easy to read for both the child and parent. This type of prayer, Centering, is described as a journey; “A journey to meet God in your heart.” The reason to take the journey is to have some “special time with God, a time when God prays within you.” The story is complemented with glorious illustrations by Ann Boyajian that are soft and gentle. The artist uses children as her subject and depicts them as happy and peaceful in prayer.

Journey to the Heart is a gentle, loving guide that leads the child through the process of Centering Prayer. Frank Jelenek provides step-by-step instructions for the young person to get started. The steps are easy to understand and follow; sit, silence, secret word, letting go of thoughts and noises. Prayer is introduced as something that children can make part of their daily routine like washing, dressing and eating breakfast. It is suggested that children try this prayer for 6 minutes, once in the morning and once in the evening. The author gently gets across the idea that they can pray anytime.

Journey to the Heart provides information about Centering Prayer in an age-appropriate and understandable fashion for children ranging in age from 6 to 11 years old. For example, Jelenek tells children that God lives in the deepest part of their hearts; the heart being the place they meet God. The use of “heart” in this explanation is helpful for the young child because it is concrete. For older children who can understand the concept of “soul”, he says your soul is where God lives inside you. The journey to that place in your heart is a special time for children to spend with God, their friend.

Jelenek uses an analogy to explain the sacred word, it is called a “special, secret word”, that is, “the key to unlock the center of your heart.” The secret word is just between the child and God, when the child prays the word, “only God hears.” Later in the book, Jelenek again uses concrete terms in describing the sacred word. The word becomes a way of knocking at God’s door; a way of letting God know you want to spend time with Him. And when the child knocks, God always answers the door with “I love you.”

As I have often found, it is the short, easy-to-read books that become my mainstay and constant companion. This book can open the door to a beautiful new prayer experience for children. It offers the children an opportunity to experience God as a gentle, loving friend who wants to spend time with them. All the child has to do is knock at His door. The story is one that makes God more approachable for children. It says God is reaching out to you and touching your heart, now you can go to your heart and meet God there.

David Muyskens, a minister of the Reformed Church of America, has written a guidebook for a forty-day journey, via the practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, to a closer and more loving relationship with God. He takes us at an easy pace. This is a walking tour, after all, not a mad dash across continents.

He leads us with the map of Holy Scripture in one hand, convenient for frequent consultation. Along the way he points out lessons from his own life and fr

om the lives and works of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and others.

The book is carefully structured in the form of forty entries–forty entries for forty days. Forty is, of course, a number rich with religious significance: it rained on Noah for forty days and forty nights, the time Moses spent on Mount Sinai was divided into periods of forty days and forty nights, and Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Each of the forty entries is two to three pages long and begins with a Bible verse, continues with a short personal essay, and concludes by offering an exercise in guided contemplation in the form of suggestions for a Centering Prayer and a scripture-based prayer of Lectio Divina.

Day twenty-two, for instance, is titled “God’s Dwelling at the Center.” The epigraphic Bible verse is Exodus 33:14: “My presence will go with you.” In the essay for this day Muyskens describes how the presence of God accompanied Moses and the Israelites during their journey to Canaan. Muyskens refers to the passage “and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” and explains that the Hebrew word kabowd, which is translated here as “glory,” literally means weight, heaviness, honor. The prayer practice for day twenty-two offers these suggestions:

Imagine a command center at the core of your being that provides direction for all aspects of your life. That command center is not your ego but Christ. The false self is removed from control; the true self, Christ in us, reigns. In twenty minutes of Centering Prayer give consent to that indwelling presence of God within you.

For the Lectio Divina portion of day twenty-two’s entry, Muyskens suggests reading Exodus 33:12-14 and meditating on the hope this story gives: “God desires to go with you. God’s presence is your strength and compass. Pray that your intuition is sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.”

David Muyskens has a knack for unobtrusively conveying the universal through the particular. I particularly appreciated the depth of his knowledge of language. He often explains (as in the case of kabowd above) a word or phrase from Greek and Hebrew, the understanding of which helps to illustrate, clarify, or simplify a truth that might otherwise have remained imprecise. And through everything in the book shines the compassion and purity of a life lived in intimate companionship with God. If the life of David Muyskens were a tree, then God is the constant gardener, and Muyskens’ ministry, and this book, are delicious fruits.

The book contains 120 pages, plus appendices and suggestions for group study. Like some poetry, a great deal of meaning is conveyed here without many words–the tight bud of his spare and simple prose blossoms in the mind to the accompaniment of a divine scent. My favorite passages concerned contemplation and loss, contemplation and action, and contemplation and community.

I found myself appreciating this book more and more the more of it I read. When it ended I was tempted to turn back to the beginning and re-read it. Thomas Keating is quoted on the cover as describing this book as “A thorough and friendly introduction to Centering Prayer.” It’s true that this is not a weighty book. It is neither philosophically abstruse nor terribly challenging. It gently encourages us inward to a new appreciation and deeper understanding of the ordinary and the familiar, consistent with the theme of the Contemplative Outreach spiritual network: to live ordinary life with extraordinary love.