August e-bulletin

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Giacomo Balla, Spirit-form transformation, 1918

 

New wine is a marvelous image of the Holy Spirit. As we move to the intuitive level of consciousness through contemplative prayer, the energy of the Spirit cannot be contained in old structures. They are not flexible enough. They may have to be left aside or adapted. The new wine as a symbol of the Spirit has a tendency to stir people up; for that reason, the fathers of the church called it ‘sober intoxication.’ Although its exuberance is subdued, it breaks out of categories and cannot be contained in neat boxes.

Thomas Keating
Meditations on the Parables of Jesus

 

 

 

This is the second in a series of essays on the fruits of Centering Prayer in long-term practitioners and how the world is changed through fidelity to practice. You can read the first article here.
 

How Centering Prayer is Changing the World:
A Love Letter from the Dominican Republic
 

… The Dominican Republic is a country blessed by the Holy Spirit and that highlights its Christian heritage on its national flag, which incorporates a quote from the Gospel of St. John: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free“. … Did you know that the Dominican Republic was one of the first countries that to be introduced to Centering Prayer? In 1985, a group of Dominican friends met regularly in for prayer in our homes as a part of the Christian Family Movement. … Read more >>>
 

 
Cándido Bidó, Lot 501: Landscape, 1982

Dominican artist

You can read the complete bulletin at   https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-august-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

July e-bulletin

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So, if you accept the view that [the self] is a dynamic experience, that the self can keep on growing, then it becomes a true self in the image and likeness of God, then there is the possibility that there is only one Self. There is only God. There is only one Self, or one consciousness in fact. And in the light of those scientific discoveries, if there is one consciousness, it is the infinite unlimited consciousness of God, which is shared with every creature according to its capacity. So, God is present in everyone, relating to them where they are, but nudging them to move beyond, especially the humans, to the unbelievable share in the divine beatitude. And what is that? It is ultimately sacrifice. That is maybe one way of looking at the universe.

Thomas Keating
“The Self and Evolving Consciousness,” 
That We May Be One: Christian Non-Duality

 

 

Q: My attempts at Centering Prayer have not been particularly good. Though I do believe that any attempts to connect with God are honoured and I know at times I have felt God’s presence and voice, but not often. It’s usually after the prayer time I feel closer & am aware of God doing things in my life.

A: Read Leslee’s response.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can read the complete e-bulletin at   https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-july-e-bulletin-1593732?e=9aa0837e74

June e-bulletin

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If it is God’s will to create in an evolutionary manner, which is what science is now saying, then we are only halfway there. We are in the middle of nowhere. … [Beasts] follow their instincts, and they glorify God by doing so. We cannot do that anymore because following some of these instincts is choice, and we have been given freedom of choice by God. Do you think God does not expect us to make mistakes? Is it a good idea to call these mistakes ‘sins?’ Or might it better to say, ‘Sorry, you are a little unevolved.’ This is the human condition. God seems to have placed us in this transitional state, which, from the perspective of clarity and peaceful growth, is impossible. …

When you can do what is right freely, this is freedom. Nothing else is freedom. … And because we have free choice, we have the accountability for our free choices and their consequences. 

Thomas Keating
God is All in All: The Evolution of the Contemplative Christian Spiritual Journey

 

 

 

  Q: Our Centering Prayer group has been studying The Cloud of Unknowing translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher. In chapter 14, pg 42, we are told to “Get to know yourself. Through it, you’ll experience God as [God] is.” Our group would be interested in some practical steps for getting to know ourselves as a step in the spiritual journey.

A: Read Mary Dwyer’s and Fr. Carl Arico’s response to this question.

you caan read the full e-bulletin at      https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-june-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

May e-bulletin

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There will be times when contemplatives feel they cannot pray anymore. All that is left to them is the desire to pray, sometimes buried under enormous difficulties in daily life along with interior purification. They need to be reminded again and again that the desire to pray is itself a prayer. St. John of the Cross wrote with great insight “Love consists not in feeling great things, but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.” The love of God is not a question of feeling but of choice … Thus someone who wants to pray is praying, and someone who feels no love is loving as long as he or she continues to remain available both in prayer and in daily life to the Divine Therapist.

Thomas Keating, Intimacy with God

 

 

 

“The way we would begin in prayer is that we belong to God …
all prayer starts and unfolds out of that knowing…”
 

Wise words from Thomas Merton to his novice monks. We would do well to listen for this inner certainty changes everything. But I can’t seem to hold on to this precious knowing. How do I swim in this golden river of love for longer than ten seconds, this fierce, ineffable, bottomless love of the Creator for creation?

image courtesy of elpopophoto
The truth is little by little. By myself, I can’t hold on to anything. But I am faithful to my Centering Prayer practice, as Jim Finley would say, “my daily rendezvous with God.”
 
Often, I find myself sighing deeply over my failings, sometimes laughing and other times tearful at my thoughts and actions. Thankfully, with less hateful judgment and criticism. I am living more and more of my life from a calm inner, compassionate awareness, and acceptance of my own preciousness in the face of my imperfections.
 
Perhaps I am swimming in the golden river of love and belonging more than I realize, especially when I look at myself with the eyes of God. This is good news.

Deborah Marqui
Healing Gardens, Illinois, USA

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The full archive of community articles may be found here.

The complete e-bulletin can be found at   https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-may-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

April e-bulletin

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The practice of meditation is indeed an authentic experience of dying to self … it is like a “mini-death,” at least from the perspective of the ego … We let go of our self-talk, our interior dialogue, our fears, wants, needs, preferences, daydreams, and fantasies. These all become just “thoughts,” and we learn to let them go. … In this sense, meditation is a mini-rehearsal for the hour of our own death, in which the same thing will happen. There is a moment when the ego is not longer able to hold us together, and our identity is cast to the mercy of Being itself. This is the existential experience of “losing one’s life.” …

Just as in meditation we participate in the death of Christ, we also participate in [Christ’s] resurrection. At the end of those twenty minutes or so of sitting, when the bell has rung, we are still here! For twenty minutes we have not been holding ourselves in life, and yet life remains. Something has held us and carried us. And this same something, we gradually come to trust, will hold and carry us at the hour of our death. To … really know this is the beginning of resurrection life. 

Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohara Koson, Lily and Butterflies, 1912

 

 

Q: What’s the difference between Centering Prayer and contemplation, and why does this matter?

A: Read the full question and David’s response.

 

You can read the complete bulletin at     https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-april-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

 

March E-bulletin

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“Forgiveness is central to the Christian religion. It was Jesus’ chief concern on the night of his resurrection when he revealed himself to the apostles … breathed on them, and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them. Whose sins you retain are retained’ (John 20:22-23). …

“God is nothing but forgiveness. We too must practice forgiveness to be God’s children. There may be events and people in our conscious and unconscious memories that we have not forgiven. This leaves them in deep, even if repressed, psychological pain. It is in our power to heal them or to leave them in their pain. … In actual fact, not to forgive others is not to forgive ourselves. At the deepest level, we are everyone else. We can only enjoy the world of unconditional love with hearts that are completely open to everyone.”

Thomas Keating, Manifesting God

 

Q: How does God work in me in Centering Prayer? … 

How Does God Work in Centering Prayer?

Posted on

 

Q: My problem is in understanding in what way and how God works in me in Centering Prayer. I know that to enter in Centering Prayer is to let go of all thoughts and words and verbal or silent “actual/conventional” prayer and to just be in God’s presence and let God work in me, but how do I know what and that God has worked in me??

 

A: Read the full question and Fr. Carl’s response here.

 

You can find the complete E-bulletin at     https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2022-march-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

February E-bulletin

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There is something very simple about God. Simple like a child’s laughter that breaks forth, spontaneously, without guile. Simple like when you act, immediately and directly, to help someone who falls in front of you. … God is simple like the way every moment of time, in its ordinariness, holds the gift of your life — like this moment now.

Entering into a simple contemplative practice and remaining with its simplicity awakens you to God’s simplicity. When you simplify your mind’s actions in Centering Prayer, you reduce them from many to one. In contemplation, your many thoughts and strategies of finding truth, of seeking God, of discovering what your own life is about, are simplified into truth itself, into God, into life itself. In the clear, immediate, unadorned moment of life, God just is. 

 David Frenette
The Path of Centering Prayer: Deepening Your Experience of God

 

 

Q: I have a question about charisma –  I heard it can be a gift of the Spirit but I also know it can be a serious ego trap (a certain guru with a fleet of luxury limousines comes to mind). What kind of energy is there behind charisma? Is it a gift or a curse? It seems to me that Fr. Keating had a bit of a struggle on that front at the time he was an abbot. 
A: Read Cynthia’s response here.

 

 

 

 

 

You can read the complete bulletin at           https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/feb-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

A Silent Introductory Retreat to Centering Prayer. Mercy International Centre,   64A Baggot Street, Dublin 2

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Monday, August 29 – Friday, September 2, 2022

Catherine’s House: Mercy International Centre,   64A Baggot Street, Dublin 2

 

Fionnuala Quinn O.P.

Suzanne Ryder RSM

Maire Hearty RSM

 

A Silent Introductory Retreat to Centering Prayer

with Readings from Catherine McAuley

Retreatants will participate in the full Introduction to Centering Prayer, suitable for newcomers and those familiar with Centering Prayer. The retreat will also include Lectio Divina, a Contemplative Tour of Catherine’s House and viewing of A Rising Tide of Silence: A Reflective Portrait of Father Thomas Keating.

There will be optional opportunity for spiritual accompaniment

with the retreat presenters.

Please register directly with Mercy Centre

01 661 8061 or info@mercyinternational.ie

Listen to the Spirit Speaking to your Heart. ENNISMORE RETREAT CENTRE

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Sunday July 10 – 15, 2022

ENNISMORE RETREAT CENTRE, Montenotte, Cork

Fionnuala Quinn O.P.

Lesley O’Connor

Listen to the Spirit Speaking to your Heart

This contemplative retreat welcomes those who are drawn to silence and yearn to learn more about the ancient Christian practices of Monastic Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer. The retreat will be underpinned by the teachings of Thomas Keating from his series God is Love, the Heart of All Creation.

There will be an optional opportunity for spiritual accompaniment with the retreat presenters.

Fionnuala and Lesley are commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach Ltd.

Please register directly with Ennismore Retreat Centre at

021 4502520 or info@ennismore.ie

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In the experience of silence, especially if it is deep, you may experience at times a certain pure awareness. Even if it is brief, you are in contact with That Which Is, and this Reality is obviously in love with you.

 Thomas Keating
God is Love: The Heart of All Creation

 

Thoughts about Thoughts
by Eben Carsey
Boulder, Colorado, USA

 … My capacity for ever-so-gently responding to thoughts is influenced by my attitude toward them and ways in which I understand them. … 

To bless them does not necessarily mean to approve them, and it does not require engaging with them, examining them, nor controlling them.  Blessing them involves a gentle attentiveness to them, recognizes God’s presence in them, and releasing attachment to them, letting them go to be in God. Read more >>

image: Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889

You can read the complete bulletin at  https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/jan-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74