Articles

If we take time to look and listen, nature provides space and oxygen to breathe, salve for our souls and encouragement for our spirits.  However, to access that bounty, there is a tuning-in process that requires entering a slower pace than that to which we are accustomed.  Tuning-in is not about looking at and appreciating nature, but actually experiencing it and in doing so, developing eyes to see and ears to hear the voice of the Divine cosmos. There are messages for us in Nature.  But how exactly does a person tune-in to receive those messages? 

When it was time to exhibit the wood block prints that came out of her residency at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan, Julie Shelton Snyder wanted to create not only a gallery show, but also an event that would acknowledge the relationship between the contemplative nature of her work and her 14 years of Centering Prayer practice.  I was delighted when Julie and The Gallery at W83 approached me to help create a contemplative experience that would honor the connection between Julie’s art and her Centering Prayer practice.

I am reading all I can about the process...as well as doing it twice daily.. I have examined closely the "contemplative attitudes" such as opening/gentleness/simplicity etc.... is it ok ,i.e. is it part of the prayer, to refresh the memory of eight contemplative attitudes at the front end of the process?

I had been practicing Centering Prayer since 2008. But for the past year it seems the interest to do it has died. I would rather say the rosary or chaplet of Divine Mercy. Please help me, how can I start again?

Who will replace Thomas Keating? I’m starting to hear that question more. This is not a new question. It has been asked hundreds of times or more before our beloved 95-year-old spiritual father passed. Thomas answered this himself though. He was asked, with varying degrees of tact, “Who will replace you?”, and he would reportedly answer “You! and you, and you, and you…” to those in attendance at the time.

As Pat Johnson prepares to retire from her role as administrator of Contemplative Outreach Ltd. at the end of 2018, the governing board agreed by consensus to appoint her to serve as a member of the board.  The term of this volunteer position is for two years beginning January 1, 2019.  The appointment would fill the vacancy left by Lois Snowden’s departure after four years of dedicated service.

I first met that Irish monk years ago on the sidewalk.
I was alone, hesitant, looking for belonging
It was just the two of us standing there before Mass
when I found myself disappearing into the vast recesses of his robe
lost in the most loving, enrapturing hug I could possibly imagine
along with the thought that I could fly that day.

A letter that Ken Wilber sent to Father Thomas shortly before he passed.

Q: The active prayer is my daily "go to" practice along with Centering Prayer. Can you please clarify the differences and similarities between receptive and active contemplative practices, and how they can complement each other? Can the active prayer actually become a receptive practice?

The integrity of the teaching of the Centering Prayer method is presented in the four guidelines and its conceptual background as described in the Method of Centering Prayer brochure.

Minnesota Contemplative Outreach sponsored an event called “Praying with the Eyes of the Heart.”  We gathered at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and began with Centering Prayer and then went in groups of four into the museum, each group guided by a “museum sage.” ...