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My first encounter with Centering Prayer was in 2010 in Cambridge, England, where I was taking a two-year course of study on The Art of Spiritual Direction.  One of my fellow students invited me to a Centering Prayer group meeting. From the very beginning I knew that this was just right for me. I have been practicing it ever since. When I came back to my country – Czechia -- I started a small Centering Prayer group in my village. ...

When saying grace, in my private prayer after Eucharist, and during evening and night prayer, I ask for intercession. Yet I wonder whether this doesn't reflect a lack of trust in God, and conflict with my sincere acceptance of the presence and action of God in my life. I just don't think that I am in need of asking for God's help. God's loving help is always there. On the other hand, I also wonder whether such prayers are other reminders that we are all in God's hands.

Q: While I am not yet capable of Centering Prayer, my daily prayer period consists of intercessory and thanksgiving prayers as well as Scripture reading and reflection. Silence and solitude are important to me. From time to time I would suddenly become aware of something I needed to do, or write, or a call to make. I don't want to lose that thought so it would get threaded into my prayers. Is it better to interrupt and make a small note and return to prayer or to try and dampen the persistent reminder? 

Q: While I am not yet capable of Centering Prayer, my daily prayer period consists of intercessory and thanksgiving prayers as well as Scripture reading and reflection. Silence and solitude are important to me. From time to time I would suddenly become aware of something I needed to do, or write, or a call to make. I don't want to lose that thought so it would get threaded into my prayers. Is it better to interrupt and make a small note and return to prayer or to try and dampen the persistent reminder? 

A lot goes on in the inner room, most of which Is invisible to us on a sensory and psychological level.

Q: I recently read Fr. Daniel Renaud's article on "Desire and Everyday Mysticism" and I see that over 25 years of Christian life I started on the positive way with lots of consolation and wonder, along with a daily experience of the transformative way. When I felt called to practice Centering Prayer, I started listening to Fr. Keating's “The Spiritual Journey” and began to practice. Much to my dismay, I fell immediately into the Dark Night (the negative way). After several years of Dark Night and slow emergence, I did not " wake up to find that the ocean of nothingness [of the Dark Night] is the ocean of God's invincible and unconditional love in you, and you have become everything, including God and all creation" (as Fr. Keating describes); for the first time in 25 years of Christian faith, I don't have confidence that God is a reliable foundation for my daily personal life. I am concerned that if I have somehow and failed to this first round of the Dark Night I may need to adjust some underlying attitude or practice in order to make space to regain or rebuild my relationship with God. Do you have any guidance or resources that might help?

I enter what enters me,
Reaching a place in me, yet not in me,
Releasing me to extend beyond
The sensed boundaries
Of my being alone in the world.

Q: I am a trying to get a handle on Centering Prayer. Is it OK to use the imagery that comes into my head when I sit, e.g., God as Father - perhaps on the lap of God, or being held by God, etc?

... Navigating the complexities and the far-reaching consequences of this unexpected tragedy coincided with a chapter of my life filled with experiences of betrayal and feelings of personal failure.  I was shaken to the core and could no longer deny the capacity for evil in myself and others.  Fr. Keating’s words capture it well: “The damage that our emotional programs for happiness are doing to us and to our relationships becomes apparent.  From this perspective our good deeds look like piles of dirty dishrags” (4).  Somehow, as my illusions unraveled, a seed was sown for what would become my passion. ...

Q: When I was in college in the late 60's, I used psychedelic drugs a number of times. Now when I pray with Centering Prayer, I find myself seeking the same unitive, transcendent feelings I experienced at that time. Is this a legitimate goal of Centering Prayer, and, if not, how do I recognize a true experience of the living God?

As a scientist, I'd like to briefly point to a couple of the concepts of the new cosmology that may have inspired Fr. Thomas from the scientific point of view and explain why I think they are relevant to our practice of Centering Prayer.