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First Things
Morning Centering Prayer for Peace
7:00 AM CT, DAILY Sustaining the intention of peace for the Twin Cities,
we hold prayerful silence together, in unity, in love and support for all people in our communities. Hosted by facilitators from the Minnesota Contemplative Outreach community The Dynamic Center of Being: Awakening to Unity through Centering Prayer
Sunday November 14 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. CT via Zoom Free; suggested donation $35 USD Online presenter: David Frenette Many of us struggle these days with fear, outrage and uncertainty in the face of personal and global change, loss and collapse. All these struggles share a single root: a sense of separation — from ourselves, from one another, and from God. And yet we know in our heart of hearts, and have experienced in deep contemplative practice, that everything is unified in God, the timeless reality in which we live and move and have our being.
This online workshop will explore Centering Prayer as a way to align us and our actions with unity, according to Jesus’ teachings. David will share stories, teachings and guided meditations to renew our experience of unity, opening us to presence, connection and love, the source of contemplative service in the world. We will also have time for small group sharing, and a period of Centering Prayer. David Frenette, author of The Path of Centering Prayer: Deepening Your Experience of God (Sounds True 2012), is a contemplative spiritual director, mentor for other spiritual directors, and spiritual writer. He co-created and co-led a contemplative retreat community where he lived as a monk for 10 years. He has an MA in transpersonal counseling psychology, has been a trustee of Contemplative Outreach, an adjunct faculty member at Naropa University, a founding member of Integral Spirituality, and a teacher at leading retreat centers across the country. From 1983 until his death in 2018, David’s spiritual father was Father Thomas Keating. Thursday Evening Centering Prayer
7:00 PM CT, Thursdays Zoom: https://meditationchapel.org/peace-chapel/ Facilitated by Laurie Erickson Returning to In-Person Meetings? Please let us know if your group is resuming in-person meetings so that we can update your listing. Contact Mark Thiel or Adam Gordon. 
Looking for a way to hold silence in community
AND remain attentive to compassionate social distancing? Click here to join the worldwide community that is practicing Centering Prayer online, together. |
Postcard from MNCO
Attention/Intention Sunday Morning Gatherings
Sundays, September 12 - November 14 8:00-9:00 a.m. CT Please Register Here Sunday Morning Gatherings will resume starting Sunday, September 12. As usual, participants are invited to sit for morning Centering Prayer at 7:00 a.m. before the gathering (not required).
After a break for Labor Day, the Sunday Morning Gatherings group will begin working through The Contemplative Life Program’s “Attention/Intention” practice series. The practice of attention/intention emerges from the disposition to listen, consent, and surrender developed in our Centering Prayer and
Lectio Divina practices and is an intentional experiment to know the moment-to-moment presence of the Divine Indwelling through prayerful attentiveness in the ordinariness of daily life. The practice series will journey with five spiritual teachers; five teachings, five ways of embodying the presence of God, five ways of putting on the mind of Christ. The practice series will include a short daily reading and a suggested intention for the day. The idea is to keep the reading or “work” to a minimum, but rather to bring a purposeful orientation toward God each day during the practice period to observe how such an orientation might bring us more consciously into the (ever) presence of God. We will meet on Sundays to share our experience with setting our daily intentions and to support one another along the way. The practice series will use the “Attention/Intention, a CLP Praxis” booklet that can be ordered here or a digital download PDF version can be ordered here. The cost on the store is $10.00. Please purchase the book soon so you can participate starting on September 12. The schedule for our work through the booklet will be as follows: Sept. 12 – Week 1: Pages 1 – 11 of the Attention/Intention booklet; Introduction. Sept. 19 – Week 2: Pages 13 – 17; The Practice and Preparation. Sept. 26 – Week 3: Pages 18 – 31; Therese of Lisieux. Oct. 3 – Week 4: Pages 32 – 45; Jean-Pierre De Caussade. Oct. 10 – Week 5: 46 – 59; Brother Lawrence. Oct. 17 – Break for MN Contemplative Outreach Fall Retreat. Oct. 24 – Week 6: 60 – 67; Wayne Teasdale. Oct. 31 – Week 7: 68 – 75; St. Paul. Nov. 7 – Week 8: Page 77; Week of Reflection/Intention. Nov. 14 – Week 9: Pages 79 – 83; Consecration. Moving forward. You are welcome to attend any or all sessions. We look forward to journeying with you as we grow in relationship with God and with each other. |
Welcome
- We are an ecumenical group of women and men volunteers ministering together to support and nurture the practitioners of Centering Prayer in Minnesota. We do this by providing teachers, sharing resources and building community.
- Centering Prayer is an ancient form of Christian meditation that deepens a practitioner's relationship with God.
- Minnesota Contemplative Outreach is one of more than 120 chapters in 53 countries formed by National Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., a worldwide spiritual network that provides support and resources for Centering Prayer Practitioners.
- We have 21 teachers offering introductory classes, retreats and other enrichment opportunities throughout the year. We also support Centering Prayer groups throughout the state.
- Please contact us if you have submissions for our blog, Presence & Action; are forming a new group; or would like to announce an upcoming event.