Frequently Asked Questions

Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.

Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of verbal prayer into a receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Christ.

The source of Centering Prayer, as in all methods leading to contemplative prayer, is the Indwelling Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The focus of Centering Prayer is the deepening of our relationship with the living Christ. The effects of Centering Prayer are ecclesial, as the prayer tends to build communities of faith and bond the members together in mutual friendship and love.

If you are not affiliated with a local Contemplative Outreach chapter, first seek permission from your church pastor or minister to host a Centering Prayer Introductory Program (this program consists of the introductory workshop to Centering prayer and six follow-up sessions). Then, contact the nearest chapter coordinator in your area and collaborate with the coordinator to present the introductory program. If there is not a chapter in your area, contact the regional representative listed for your region to assist in planning the program. You may search for local contacts under Community.

In the beginning, it is recommended that you practice Centering Prayer for 20 minutes, twice a day.  Early in the morning is best, before the activities of the day begin and then again in late afternoon or in the evening.  As your practice stabilizes and your relationship with God deepens, you may feel called to longer periods of prayer.  Attending a weekend or multi-day retreat also helps to deepen one’s prayer practice.

The primary purpose of a Centering Prayer group is to help sustain the commitment to a regular practice of Centering Prayer. Members of a Centering Prayer group gather to practice Centering Prayer together, to deepen their understanding of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, and to share personal experiences of the Centering Prayer practice and its effect in their daily lives. The group provides community support for spiritual journey.  You may search for a local Centering Prayer group under Community.

Centering Prayer groups are usually formed following the Introduction to Centering Prayer workshop and follow-up sessions.  Participants are invited to form a group that meets weekly or bi-weekly to support one another in their Centering Prayer practice and to share their experience.  A facilitator usually guides the group process.  A facilitator handbook is available, which provides guidelines for group formats and suggested resource materials for group discussion.

Centering Prayer can be learned in several ways.  The most common way is by attending a local “Introduction to Centering Prayer” retreat/workshop.  These workshops are usually given in a one-day format, with subsequent follow-up sessions to help you establish your daily practice.  You can search our online calendar to see if there is a workshop near you.

You can also learn the method through an online course.  Contemplative Outreach partners with both Sounds True and Spirituality and Practice [link to course to come] to provide these online Centering Prayer courses. 

Finally, an in-home package was created in partnership with Sounds True so that people could learn the method at home through DVDs, CDs and a guidebook.  The package is available in our store.

The CLP has several objectives. There is a definite, pervasive hunger for something meaningful in everyday life. A personal relationship with God is the only real answer. Many people do want to go deeper in their relationship with God and don't have a local faith community that supports them. Some find there is a need for more support at home or at work, in the midst of the ordinary routines of life.  If you are already a practitioner, this program provides further focus and support for your current way of living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life. The program will provide daily reminders, readings and mini-practices to support your deepening relationship with God.

Some of the booklets are translated into Spanish. For more information on the Spanish-language CLP, please contact Ilse Reissner.

The program is primarily designed for individual, in-home, daily use. However, more and more Centering Prayer groups are using the CLP as part of their group focus. In fact, the CLP, through various topics, might be the focus of a group or community for an entire year, as it has great potential to build connection, belonging and spiritual deepening in a group setting. For suggestions on how to use the CLP in a group setting, please email Pamela Begeman.

Yes, it is recommended you have a Centering Prayer practice. The CLP is not an introductory workshop or training on Centering Prayer or on any of the other contemplative practices included in the program. However, if you are beginning your contemplative journey, this program could be very useful in supporting your desire to be a regular practitioner.

The Contemplative Life Program (CLP) explores how to be a practicing contemplative, abiding in the presence of God in the midst of ordinary life.  The CLP provides the in-home tools, the Christian contemplative teachings and the support necessary to live and embody the contemplative dimension of the Gospel.  

We welcome the chance to hear from you. Please direct your questions and comments and especially your experiences with the program to CLP Info.

The program is designed to meet the needs of busy people in the modern world. One of the biggest concerns for many is "will I have time for this?" The program offers a range of options to practice or read, depending on your available time.

Most importantly, contemplative practices are not about "doing" or intellectual efforts. The best "effort" we can make in relation to any contemplative practice is to remain open to the experience of God's presence in all that surrounds us, moment by moment. We bring our receptivity and curiosity to our participation in programs and practices. We use our intellect to learn and discern. We surrender our normal patterns, preferences and behaviors to the grace of the Indwelling Spirit.

We fully participate in our relationship with God, in whatever the form it takes. The Contemplative Life Program helps us to participate in a specific way in solidarity with others, knowing in faith that God is the one directing it all!

The first two booklets of the Year One program are more unstructured. Starting with the Lectio Divina praxis, the program will have more daily structure.

We recommend that you tailor the program to fit your particular spiritual needs. Some subscribers read a few pages of the booklet each day as a "doorway" into their Centering Prayer period. Others read the booklet over and over in its entirety throughout the 40 days, seeking to let the words penetrate them as they allow the essence of the practice penetrate them. Experienced practitioners might pick just one or two of the suggested practices found in the back of the booklet and focus on them, in solidarity with other newer practitioners who are just beginning the process. You might want to read some of the subscribers experiences with Year One to get some ideas on how to engage the Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer praxis booklets. See CLP Experiences.

The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living, compiled by Stephanie Iachetta, is a book which includes daily readings excerpted from Fr. Thomas Keating's teachings. The Daily Reader though referenced in the materials - is NOT a requirement for the program; it is only a suggestion for daily reading. The idea is to read and reflect on some 'spiritual food' as a daily practice - so it could be anything - a passage from one of Fr. Thomas' books, a reading from scripture, or a passage from other contemplative teachers.

The Daily Reader was picked as a good overview of Fr. Thomas' teachings, as there may be some subscribers who are not familiar with all of his books or who do not have a daily, sacred reading practice. So, it's up to you how you want to approach it. This book is just one option for you.

The program is primarily designed for individual, in-home, daily use. However, more and more Centering Prayer group members are using the CLP as part of their group focus. In fact, it was part of the original conception of the CLP that it might be the focus of a group or community for an entire year, as it has great potential to build connection, belonging and spiritual deepening in a group setting. For suggestions on how to use the CLP in a group setting, please email CLP Info.

Year One of the program is currently being translated into Spanish. For more information on the Spanish-language CLP, please contact Ilse Reissner at CLP Info.

Yes! Due to the generosity of large and small donors alike who have found great value in their own participation in the CLP, scholarships are now available. To request an application, please email Pamela Begeman.

There are currently 17 different praxis booklets, each focusing on a different topic.  Some are on practices (like active prayer or attention/intention), some are contemplative dispositions (like simplicity and hospitality).  Choose topics based on where you are right now, or what’s up for you in your life.  We’ve also organized the booklets according to certain themes (Year One:  Practice; Year Two:  Disposition; and the Paschal Mystery package).   

Each booklet includes beautiful images, Scripture, teachings and mini-practices related to the topic.  Some booklets are more structured with 40-distinct days of material, so you read/practice one page each day.  Some booklets are more unstructured.  Each booklet includes guidelines for usage.  

The program can take as much or as little time as you would like to give it. It is all about your commitment to your spiritual journey. Your intention and your desire for relationship with God will determine the length of time you spend with the materials each day. It could be 10 minutes or it could be an hour or more. It provides an opportunity to recapture an "interior retreat atmosphere" and move through each day reflective and recollected

The Contemplative Life Program has several objectives. There is a definite, pervasive hunger for something meaningful in everyday life. A personal relationship with God is the only real answer. Many people do want to go deeper in their relationship with God and don't have a local faith community that supports them. Some find there is a need for more support at home or at work, in the midst of the ordinary routines of life. Over 1400 people have participated in The Contemplative Life Program each year from all over the world, indicating the pervasive desire to focus more on God in the midst of everyday life, and for support and connection with others of like intention.

If you are already a practitioner, this program provides further focus and support for your current way of living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life. The program will provide daily reminders, readings and mini-practices to support your deepening relationship with God. In addition, the combined intention and attention of all of those participating in the program around the world seems to magnify one's experience. As many of us know, there is a great depth and power in sitting in silence together, or working in unison on a project, or praying prayers of intercession together.

Organized in 1984, Contemplative Outreach (CO) is a worldwide spiritual community of individuals and small faith groups committed to renewing the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life.  The intent of Contemplative Outreach is to foster the process of transformation in Christ in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer.  We present the method of Centering Prayer and its immediate conceptual background (the psychological context) and we encourage and support one another in living out the fruits of Centering Prayer in our daily lives. We also present Lectio Divina, particularly its movement into contemplative prayer, which is facilitated by a regular and established practice of Centering Prayer. A commitment to a regular practice of Centering Prayer is the primary expression of belonging to the CO interdenominational community.

We also support the renewal of the contemplative Christian tradition, especially through the teachings and works of Fr. Thomas Keating.  Read more about our vision, theological and administrative principles here.  Read more about the history of CO here.

The symbol representing Contemplative Outreach is called "Job's Redeemer – Patient Waiting." The heart and soul of Centering Prayer is consenting to God's presence and action in our lives. Like Job, our patient waiting and consenting is our gift of gratitude.

The elements of the symbol include:

• The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, which acknowledge that our God is at the center of our consent and being.
• The cross, symbol of our salvation, stands for our dying to our thoughts and commentaries.
• The flowers symbolize the abundance of life and the resurrection. These flowers represent our letting go, in which our false self gives way to the flowering of the new self.
• The circle is a sign of an ongoing process bringing us deeper into Divine Intimacy.

This symbol has been seen in three different locations: on an ancient church in the land of Uz, which is referred to in Scripture as the residence of Job; on a Byzantine stone from excavations in Jerusalem; and in a church named "Multiplication of the Loaves" in the Galilee area.

The contemplative dimension of the Gospel is the penetration into the spiritual meaning of Scripture, leading to an experience of the living Christ and to the love of others in everyday life.  It is receiving the Gospel in the wisdom-way of knowing, which is about spending time "pondering it in your heart," allowing the word of God to transform you into the living word of God, which is Christ.  When Mary listened to Jesus speak, she pondered what she heard in her heart and then she acted.  The inner experience of one’s relationship with God then becomes manifest in living out the values and teachings of the Gospel as a natural way of following Christ, as an inner prompting inspired by the love of God, and trusting God is love.

A Trappist monk since 1944, Fr. Keating is the founder of Contemplative Outreach and is an internationally renowned theologian and an accomplished author. He has traveled the world to speak with laypeople and communities about contemplative Christian practices and the psychology of the spiritual journey.  Since the reforms of Vatican II, Fr. Keating has been a core participant in and supporter of interreligious dialogue, as well as one of the founders of Centering Prayer. He also helped found the Snowmass Interreligious Conference, which had its first meeting in the fall of 1983 and continues to meet each spring. Fr. Keating also is a past president of the Temple of Understanding and of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.  He currently resides at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, CO.  Read more about Thomas Keating here as well as here.

Lectio Divina, literally divine reading,’ is an ancient Christian practice of praying the Scriptures. During Lectio Divina, a person listens to or reads the text of the Bible with the ‘ear of the heart,’ as if he or she is in conversation with God, and God is suggesting the topics for discussion. The method of Lectio Divina includes moments of reading (lectio), reflecting on (meditatio), responding to (oratio) and resting in (contemplatio) the Word of God with the aim of nourishing and deepening one's relationship with the Divine.

Like Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina cultivates contemplative prayer. Unlike Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina is a participatory, active practice that uses thoughts, images and insights to enter into a conversation with God. Lectio Divina also is distinguished from reading the Bible for edification or encouragement, Bible study, and praying the Scriptures in common, which are all useful but different practices.

Lectio Divina can be learned in several ways.  One way is by attending a local Lectio Divina day or weekend retreat/workshop.  In addition, many regular Centering Prayer retreats include some form of community Lectio Divina. 

There are also Lectio Divina immersion retreats.  You can search our online calendar to see if there is a workshop or retreat near you.

You can also learn the method through an online course.  Contemplative Outreach and Spirituality and Practice have developed an online, on-demand course that you can take anywhere, anytime you have internet access.  You can find more information here.

The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life.  The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen our relationship with God through consenting in the ordinary activities of our day. The Welcoming Prayer helps to dismantle the emotional programs of the false-self system and to heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored — in the body. It contributes to the process of transformation in Christ initiated in Centering Prayer.  Practicing the Welcoming Prayer offers the opportunity to make choices free of the false-self system — responding instead of reacting to the present moment.  Read more about the Welcoming Prayer here.

The Welcoming Prayer can be learned in several ways.  One way is by attending a local Welcoming Prayer day or weekend retreat/workshop.  There are also Welcoming Prayer immersion retreats.  You can search our online calendar to see if there is a workshop or retreat near you.

You can also learn the method through an online course.  Contemplative Outreach and Spirituality and Practice have developed an online, on-demand course that you can take anywhere, anytime you have internet access.  You can find more information here.