2023 July E-bulletin

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“One advantage that Centering Prayer offers is that it establishes the letting go of self, the total sacrifice of ourselves, as the orientation and direction that grows along with our relationship with God. But, sacrifice in this world is not like it is in Heaven. It can be very difficult, very painful, even unbearable at times. All kinds of difficulties can arise, both socially and emotionally, and spiritually. Faith believes that whatever happens in the present moment is God’s will, and the only thing God can will is what is for our greatest good. By letting go of our doubts and turning them over to God, the presence of God begins to grow even in the midst of activity and adversity.”

Thomas Keating
“The Present Moment and All That Is”

That We May Be One: Christian Non-Duality

 

 

Q: Can I practice Centering Prayer as my main prayer (morning and afternoon) and during the day practice the Jesus prayer? Am I using two practices with different meanings and therefore leading my spiritual path in two directions? I also do Welcoming Prayer during the day. Should I choose between the Welcoming Prayer and the Jesus prayer?

 

 

 

 

A: Read Leslee’s response here.

 

You can read the complete bulletin at     https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2023-july-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

June e-bulletin

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Nicholas Roerich, Behest of the Sky, 1915

 

“Suppose you’re in mythic membership consciousness and totally absorbed in your particular belief system. Remember belief systems are the effort of people who haven’t had the experience to explain the founder’s experience of the Ultimate Reality. Most religions begin by some gigantic experience of someone or some group of people and then after a generation the others—the disciples or the students—try to put it in writing in order to preserve it. Actually, they’re at high risk of ruining it because they’ll put down their perspective of the experience which is likely to be not quite the same as the person who had it first. But that doesn’t mean that religion doesn’t continue to evolve, but it has limitations. So to treat it as the last word on every subject is to misunderstand its purpose … 

Thomas Keating
Gifts for Living video excerpt

 

Q: I’m a practitioner of “A Course in Miracles” and other non-religious pathways. Can I or anyone that is not a traditional Christian practice Centering Prayer? Is Centering Prayer for anyone who has a sincere desire to find God regardless of their tradition or non-tradition?

A: Read Lindsay’s response here.      

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can read the complete bulletin at        https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2023-june-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

May e-bulletin

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Om Lotus Tibetan Mandala, hand painted in Kathmandu, Nepal
“The Word of God, named Jesus (Savior) by divine command, was active before the incarnation. The Word and its activity is not limited by the historical reality of the man Jesus, whose humanity it possessed. The Eternal Word may have manifested in other persons, such as Krishna, Laozi, Buddha, Muhammad, and in the teachings of the Absolute in Buddhism, the Upanishads, Advaita Vedanta, and other experiences of the divine. These were channels of bringing Divine Love into the world.”

Thomas Keating
Reflections on The Unknowable

 

Q: I’ve been practising Centering Prayer for many years now and I still get very distracted and my mind is very busy and I rarely feel rested at the end. I realise that feeling peaceful is not the ultimate goal but I’m wondering if others feel the same way. I feel discouraged at times to continue and I don’t always keep to the same mantra. Can you offer any thoughts to encourage me to continue?

A: Read Leslee’s response here.

 

You can read the complete bulletin at   https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2023-may-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

Upcoming retreats 2023

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Centering Prayer Retreats – Contemplative Outreach Dublin 2023

Mercy International Centre, Baggot Street, Dubin

Sunday – Friday, August 20 – 25, 2023

SILENT CENTERING PRAYER RETREAT

This five-day retreat will provide a contemplative space to centre yourself in prayer and explore a call to deeper listening. This silent method of meditation will lead participants on a journey of connectedness to Catherine. The retreat will include time in Catherine’s house at Baggot Street, and access to spiritual direction.

Residential: €575 (Accommodation & all meals provided) Non-residential : €290 (Lunch provided)

Presented by Fionnuala Quinn O.P. and Suzanne Ryder RSM

Commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach Ltd.

Please book directly with Mercy International Centre, 64 Baggot Lane, Dublin 4.

Email: programmes@mercyinternational.ie Phone: + 353 (1) 661 8061

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Dromantine Conference Centre, 96 Glen Road, Newry BT 34 IRH, U.K.

6:00 p.m Friday October 13th – 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct 15th, 2023 .

Introductory Retreat – Centering Prayer

Presentations during this introduction will address Prayer as a Relationship; The Method of Centering Prayer; Use of the Sacred Word and the Deepening of the Relationship with God.  This introduction to Centering follows a method taught by the late Fr. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk.

Presented by Denis Gleeson cfc and Fionnuala Quinn O.P

Commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach Ltd.

Cost: €250 /£220

Please book directly with Dromantine. www.dromantineconference.com Phone: +44 2830821964 

Email: admin@dromantineconference.com

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Kylemore Abbey, Connemara

Friday – Sunday, November 17 – 19, 2023

A silent Centering Prayer, presenting the teachings of Thomas Keating OCSO.

The retreat will include times of prayer with the Benedictine Community

and Lectio Divina.

Presented by Fionnuala Quinn O.P. and Lesley O’Connor

Commissioned presenters of Contemplative Outreach Ltd.

Cost: €200 for 2 nights, 3 days includes accommodation, meals and sessions.

Please book directly with Kylemore Abbey. Email: kylemore@nd.edu Phone +353 9541815

https://kylemore.nd.edu/programs/retreats/centering-prayer-retreat/

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April e-bulletin

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Vela Zanetti, Mural of Human Rights. Emblem Un (detail), 1953

           Seekers are people of faith even if they do not belong to a particular religion. Faith in this sense is deeper than one’s belief system. Belief systems belong to the level of pluralism; faith to the level of unity. Faith is constitutive of human nature itself. It is openness to Ultimate Mystery before It is broken down into various belief systems. It is the acceptance of authentic living with all its creativity and the acceptance of dying with its potential for a greater fullness of life. The experience of the transcendent dimension in oneself is an expression of this fundamental faith at work.

One aspect of the search for Ultimate Mystery requires special emphasis today. I refer to Its identification with other human beings and with their needs, rights, and heartbreaks. The seeker must search for Ultimate Mystery not only in Itself, but also in Its manifestation in individual human beings, especially in those who are suffering unjustly. …

If seekers of Ultimate Mystery perceive themselves as citizens of the planet earth, then their first loyalty is to the human family as a whole. The particulars of race, nationalism, religion and culture can be transcended without reacting against them or trying to destroy them.

Thomas Keating
“Seekers of Ultimate Mystery,”
The Contemplative Outreach News, June 2010
(the full newsletter archive is here)

 

 

Q: I’ve been meditating for about 10 years every day three or four times for about 30 minutes each. I’ve practiced mantra and just sitting or Shikantaza,
Later on I’ve been doing Centering Prayer twice a day and Christian meditation per John Main. Can I practice both or should choose one? I really love the silence and resting in the presence of God.

A: Read Lindsay’s response here.

 

 

 

 

You can view the complete e-bulletin  at    https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2023-april-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

2023 February e-bulletin

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Hilma af Klint, What a Human Being Is, 1910

 

“Bonding with others takes place as the love of the Spirit is poured forth in our hearts. We feel that we belong to our community, to the human family, to the cosmos. We feel that our prayer is not just a privatized journey but is having a significant effect in the world. We can pour into the world the love that the Spirit gives us in prayer.”

Thomas Keating
Intimacy with God

 

Q: I’ve been practicing Zen meditation with a Christian group for 18 years. What is your view with respect to how Zen contemplation relates to Centering Prayer? The principles seem to be very similar. I ask because I’m trying to figure out the best next step for me to continue deepening in my contemplative prayer life. 

A: Read Joy’s response here. 

 

 

 

 

Join in Global Community
United in Prayer Day
March 3-4, 2023
 

In honor of Thomas Keating’s birthday (March 7) and dedicated to healing the suffering world.

Join in Centering Prayer in community hosted by local groups around the world. You may enter and leave as many times as you wish. Some people make it an at-home retreat day.

More information may be found here on the calendar, including the schedule.

The Zoom link to the event will be posted on the calendar
early in March.

If you are interested in facilitating prayer for an open time slot, please reply to this email.

 
 

You can read the complete e-bulletin at   https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2023-feb-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

December e-Bulletin

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The Helix Nebula, NASA and Tommaso Stella

 

“God is manifesting in each moment as the human condition in each of us. … ‘We are icons of God.’ God experiences Godself in us and awakens God’s dispositions in us, especially humility, forgiveness and compassion. …

“Christ lives in us means that Christ prays, acts, thinks, loves, suffers, and dies in us; and at the deepest level is our true Self. … Our precious days on earth -– the spiritual journey – are not primarily about us, or even about our transformation in Christ. They are about God taking over our lives in every detail. … Living daily life and the evolution of consciousness are … about God …. The goal is not just union, or even unity with God, but God incarnating in our humanity with all its circumstances.”

Thomas Keating
Reflections on the Unknowable

 

 

Q: I heard you share this quote: “The greatest experience of God is no experience of God” (Thomas Keating). This saying has me very confused.  My life has been filled with both giving and receiving love, including mercy and forgiveness, which to me is the experience of God in the my life. I’ve also been witness to the healing love of God in my life and many others. All of creation is the manifestation of God’s love, constantly pouring out, renewing, expanding and birthing more love. Please explain how this contradicts perhaps my false sense of God experience.

A: Read Fr. Carl’s response here. 

 

 

 

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

October e-bulletin

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“Be still, and you will know, not by the knowledge of the mind, but by the knowledge of the heart, who God is and who you are.”

Thomas Keating
Consenting to God as God Is

 

Q: Sometimes during Centering Prayer, an emotional pain comes up that causes me to cry from a deep level.  Is this Divine Therapy or is it the “emotionality” teachers tell us to avoid? 
A: Read Mary’s response.

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Q: I’m at times confusing Centering Prayer with mindfulness meditation. At times when I’m doing Centering Prayer, I find that I’m focusing on my breath and I know I’m not supposed to focus on anything. I’m wanting to build more of a relationship with God and feel God’s presence in my life, but also I’m wanting to reduce the anxiety in my life. So, do I do two different sits each day?
A. Read Mary’s response.

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Have questions? Submit your questions about your Centering Prayer practice or other contemplative practices, the spiritual journey and the contemplative life to any of our contributors by emailing pamela@coutreach.org.

 

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

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