Contemplative Outreach
 

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Centering Prayer

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 prayer — verbal, mental or affective 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 Him.

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.

Informational Pamphlet on Centering Prayer

Pamphlet in Italian Il Metodo della Centering Prayer
Pamphlet in French La methode de la priere de consentement
Pamphlet in German Die Methode des Zentrierenden Gebetes
Pamphlet in Spanish  El Método de la Oración Centrante
Pamphlet in Portuguese O Método da Oração Centrante
Pamplet in Dutch De Methode van het Innerlijk Gebed
Pamphlet Icelandic Translation Centering Prayer Baen samlpykkisins
Pamphlet in Danish Centrerende bons metode
Pamphlet Mandarin Chinese Translation
Pamphlet Hungarian Translation
Pamphlet Korean Translation
Pamphlet Maltese Translation

Centering Prayer Workshops

Centering Prayer Retreats

Prayer Groups

Online course for learning Centering Prayer
Offered in partnership with Sounds True, this online course is now available in an on-demand format, which means you can take it anytime, anywhere you have internet access.  For more information, click on the image below.

Centering Prayer-On DemandThis new online course is useful for those who cannot attend an Introduction to Centering Prayer in person, or for those who would like to refresh their prayer practice.  The course includes guidance and teachings on video and audio from Fr. Thomas Keating, Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Fr. Carl Arico, as well as recorded teleconfereces.

 

See also the in-home package, Centering Prayer:  A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God.

Guide to the Contemplative Outreach Resource Materials (webpage) or download pdf.

Silence Solitude Service