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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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
 

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

“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

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

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