My relationship with Fr. Thomas Keating has not been lengthy in terms of time but has been lasting in support for my practice and ministry and is embedded in my body as […]
Exploring Other Traditions
Q: I am a Christian contemplative, but find myself increasingly drawn to Buddhist meditation, but am afraid that I am deserting God as there is no emphasis on God in this […]
The Song in Our Hearts
In the spring of 2002, we brought a young man from Kosovo to Dallas to be fitted with a prosthetic. He had been living in England where he was expecting […]
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Struggling with Thoughts During the Night
Q: I just read Fr. Keating’s Open Mind, Open Heart book. What should I do during the night, while lying in bed, and I find myself with a bunch of general thoughts […]
The Maturation of the Sacred Word
Q: During my Centering Prayer practice, I notice that my sacred word can change, become vague, become softer, a bit different, or more subtle, like there is no word, but only […]
The Art of Divine Therapy
Fr. Thomas Keating states that two things happen in the inner room: We get in touch with our basic core of goodness, and the process of divine therapy is initiated […]
Centering Prayer and Embodied Contemplative Practices – My Experience
The article in the January 2018 e-bulletin, “Contemplative Movement” by Robin Gates, affirmed so many experiences that I observed during the first few years of my Centering Prayer practice. I noticed that […]
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The Welcoming Prayer and Taking Action
Q: I understand the Welcoming Prayer is about acceptance. But what about change and action? If your boss treats you bad, your doctor ignores your health, if someone threatens […]
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The Good News of Accompaniment
The first words of Jesus reported by Mark are, ‚ÄúThis is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel‚Äù (Mark 1: […]
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Table Discussion, Overall Summary from the Contemplative Outreach Conference in Denver, September 21-24, 2017
The following is an edited collection of comments generated during several hours of small group discussions at the Contemplative Outreach Conference in Denver September 21-24, 2017. Comments were gathered […]
Simple Sharing; Huge Impact
You shall love the Lord, your God,with all your heart, with all your soul,and with all your mind.This is the greatest and the first commandment.The second is like it: […]
Contemplative Movement
Heaven and Earth converge in our bodies. The body is our teacher. It gives us messages and grounds us in the sacred present. It is the temple of the […]
Centering Prayer and the Transformation of Suffering
Q: I’ve been a Centering Prayer practitioner for several years and I’ve just finished reading The Better Part – Stages of Contemplative Living by Fr. Keating. I think that I’ve been going […]
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Back-to-Basics and the Centering Prayer Group
Fr. Thomas has asked the Centering Prayer community to take the next year and return to his basic teaching on the Christian spiritual journey. Here are three ways your […]
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Waking Up and Growing Up
Fr. Thomas has asked the Centering Prayer community to spend the next year going back to basics. For much of the past 12 years I have been revisiting Thomas‚Äô […]
The Difference Between Centering Prayer and Dom John Main’s Christian Meditation
Q: I'm a longtime meditator and student of contemplative practice traditions. As such I have maintained an interest in and appreciation of modern Christian approaches to meditation. In regard […]
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My Experience of the Contemplative Gathering in Snowmass
Last year, the founders of four contemporary Christian contemplative movements (Fr. Thomas Keating, of Contemplative Outreach; Fr. Laurence Freeman, of the World Community of Christian Meditation; Fr. Richard Rohr, […]
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How to Create a Weekly Intensive Retreat Experience: “The Mini Midweek Retreat”
For many years, the Phoenix Chapter of Contemplative Outreach has partnered with the Trappistine sisters at Santa Rita Abbey to use their retreat facilities for two, eight-day intensive retreats […]
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Back to Basics
Q: I heard at the CO September 2017 conference that Fr. Thomas is emphasizing a return to the basics. What does this mean in your view? A: Thomas is […]
A Contemplative Prayer Gathering In the Midst of Tragedy
[Editor's note: Since this invitation was originally sent by the Chicago CO chapter to their mailing list in early October, numerous other tragedies have occurred worldwide, making the message and invitation […]
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Your Table
YOUR TABLE I missed You yesterday‚Ķ.and the week before.The world‚Äôs things intervened: a computer snag,no time to have it fixed except on Sunday morning,the week before it was a […]
What Texts to Use With Lectio Divina
Q: I’ve been listening to The Spiritual Journey on CD’s and watching DVD’s to become thoroughly familiar with Centering Prayer. I am praying Lectio Divina, per Fr. Keating’s guidelines of […]
Seed of God
The Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways to build up the Body of Christ, using us in spite of ourselves. Beginning in the mid-eighties, after the death of my mother, I […]
Reflections on the September Conference
Greetings Contemplative Outreach Community, There is a new and powerful movement of the Spirit in our community. We are evolving toward a new level of consciousness ‚Äì not only as […]
Lectio Divina and Attuning to the Spirit
Q: Recently I attended a poetry gathering … The young man who teaches poetry used Lectio Divina as a method to find interpretation of the poetry and called it that. […]
