I am grateful to have been practicing centering prayer for several years now. While in Hawaii with my family last summer, I would practice centering prayer on a hammock then […]
Silence
I spent 19 years as a lay-brother at St. Joseph‚Äôs Abbey when Father Thomas was my Abbot. He was a wonderful man who helped me develop my spiritual life. I […]
Promise
During the retreat our minister led us on a journey of self-knowledge – where we were in relation to God and where we stood as far as forgiveness of ourselves […]
Praying the Scriptures in Solitude
In May 2011, the Lectio Divina Service Team of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. developed and presented a six-day Lectio Divina Immersion Retreat that focused on the four senses of scripture: literal, […]
Holy Manure
[This homily was delivered on March 2, 2013, at the Sunday Eucharist concluding a 4-day Silent Retreat on Contemplative Living with Mary Dwyer in Arnprior, Ontario, Canada.] O God, you […]
A State of Contemplation?
Q: I’ve been practicing Centering Prayer for a while now, and also sometimes practice Lectio Divina either on its own, or after my Centering Prayer time in the morning, but […]
Yet Still
And what do I know through all of this? Is God truly to be trusted? When you find you can be happy, although your heart is broken and still bear […]
Unloading and Evacuation of Emotions
Q: There is a female inmate in a weekly Centering Prayer group I facilitate who is afraid of doing Centering Prayer on a daily basis because she believes she would […]
The Lesson of the Leaves
Are we not like the leaves?While living, the leaf is part of the tree Becoming thereBeing created, then growingBecoming stronger, greener Then having lived, gives up its life with the […]
Source and Silence
“Morning after morning the Lord opens my ear that I may hear.” – Isaiah 50:4 Resting in the silence of meditative prayer is the royal road to hearing what can’t be […]
Is a Centering Prayer support group needed?
Q: I have a long practice of Centering Prayer, having begun sometime in the late 1980s with a group that met weekly for about 12 years when our facilitator, a […]
A poem (untitled)
You are rearranging the furniture in my soul. Of course, I gave you the key to let Yourself in whenever You wanted, but I can‚Äôt get over coming home and […]
What Centering Prayer Means To Me
My husband and I retired at the same time about six years ago and we came to Bend, Oregon ‚Äúto live happily ever after.‚Äù Our children and grandchildren live nearby […]
The Role of Purgatory
Q: I have a question on Purgatory……my hope has always been that to suffer here and experience death is enough … however our Church teaches differently. I would like to […]
Silent Visits from God
sometimes silence creates loud noises in the heart, and sounds off in thebrain with chaotic patterns making us our own worst enemy the quiet itself is peaceful enoughbut the disturbances; […]
Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity
Q: I have just turned 73 and for most of 50 years I have practiced Buddhism ‚Äì Zen, later Vajrayana, and more recently Theravada (Vipassana meditation), although I was briefly […]
Contemplative Service in Hospice
Coming from the perspective of someone who has survived cancer certainly puts you in a place to understand, at least partially, what our hospice residents are going through. One thing […]
Centering Prayer and Brainwave Entrainment Products
Q: For the past 6 months I have been using a brainwave entrainment product (developed by people associated with the Integral Movement and Ken Wilber) with my Centering Prayer practice. […]
Read More… from Centering Prayer and Brainwave Entrainment Products
What is “My Shadow Self”
Q. I am quite new to practicing Centering Prayer and entering into the contemplative life, and I am craving it more and more. I am an avid reader and have […]
Restlessness During Centering Prayer
Q: I do Centering Prayer two times a day, first thing in the morning and then as the last thing at night. During my evening prayer I get very restless […]
Panentheism
Q: Is panentheism the theology being taught by contemplative prayer? A: I refer you to an article written by Thomas Keating on ‚ÄúClarifications regarding Centering Prayer‚Äù: ‚ÄúPantheism is usually defined […]
Gratitude & Listening
What an enormous and lifetime gift of grace is given through each and all of you at Contemplative Outreach as we all continue on the Way through your guidance, resources, […]
Finding a Quiet Place
Q: My mother is 92, lives with us and has for the last 5 years. This is during the time when I also started Centering Prayer. It is so hard […]
Breath Prayer
Q: In The Contemplative Outreach News, December 2009, you had an article entitled, ‚ÄúReflections on the beginning: 1983.‚Äù In it, you mentioned Fr. Keating recommending four spiritual exercises; one of […]
A Short Poem of Daily Surrender
‚ÄúCommit your life to the Lord,Trust in Him and He will act,So that your justice breaks forth like the lightYour cause like the noon day sun‚Äù– Psalm 37 1-4 Open […]
