The Contemplative Life Program (CLP) explores how to be a practicing contemplative, abiding in the presence of God in the midst of ordinary life. It is an in-home program designed to support and enrich a life of daily practice, study and devotion, assisting the practitioner to live and embody the contemplative dimension of the Gospel.

Prerequisite: An existing Centering Prayer practice. See Getting Started if you do not have an existing Centering Prayer practice and would like to begin one.

Please note that this is primarily a devotional and not instructional program, with the exception of a few booklets which do provide practice instructions (e.g., Welcoming Prayer, Lectio Divina, Forgiveness, Discernment, Active Prayer).

The Details

The CLP includes 16 different booklets on various practices and dispositions of the contemplative life. Most of these topics have associated audio recordings as well. The topics are available in hard-copy booklet form, or downloadable PDFs. The booklets may be purchased individually, or in sets organized according to themes. The individual topics are:

Centering Prayer: The Prayer of Consent
** New: Discernment: Practicing the Holy Spirit
Attention/Intention

Welcoming Prayer
Forgiveness
Lectio Divina

Active Prayer
Spirituality of Money
Simplicity

Hospitality
Contemplative Service
Discipline of Prayer

Silence & Solitude
Community
Faith: An Advent Companion

The Paschal Mystery
(DVD & CD also available)

Two Sets

Year 1: “Practice” Year 1 is a set of seven booklets focusing mostly on contemplative practices. For more details, see: Contemplative Life Program Year 1, Practice. The booklets are meant to be mini-40-day, devotional retreats on the practice topic. The booklets in Year 1 have guidelines for how to use them, mini-practices to try and suggested further reading in the back of each booklet. The Centering Prayer, Welcoming Prayer, Lectio Divina and Attention/Intention booklets are structured as a 40-day reader, where the participant reads one page each day, which includes teaching and a mini-practice or focus for the day. The other booklets in this set are less structured.

Year 2: “Dispositions” Year 2 is a series of seven booklets focusing mostly on contemplative attitudes and dispositions. For more details, see: Contemplative Life Program Year 2, Dispositions. These booklets are all structured as 40-day readers where the participant reads one page each day, which includes teaching and a mini-practice or focus for the day. We found over time that our customers liked more structure, so this series reflects that input.

Both of these sets are available as hard-copy booklets or as digital downloads (PDFs).