Category: Book Review

Bridging from Centering Prayer into Life

8/1/2013

By members of St. Olaf Catholic Church Centering Prayer Group

One Saturday the centering prayer group that meets at St. Olaf Catholic Church discussed a short section from The Path of Centering Prayer by David Frenette. The section we discussed is entitled "Grounding Centering Prayer Practice by Letting Intention and Consent Flow into Your Life," pages 17-22.

This section discusses Centering Prayer's Fourth Guideline: At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. Frenette explains that pausing at the end of centering prayer helps us connect our centering prayer practice to the rest of our life. He offers five suggestions for how to practice the fourth guideline, advising the practitioner to choose one to use at the end of a prayer period. Pausing in this way creates a bridge over which we carry the benefits of deep silence into the whole of life.

We discussed Frenette's five suggestions giving examples from our own practice. Here are some of the comments people offered.

The first suggestion is "spend a few moments just resting in God." One person commented that this time was a very sweet way to end centering prayer, relaxing, letting go of intention and simply resting in God's love -- something like floating in a calm lake on a summer day.

Frenette's second suggestion is to pause after a twenty minute practice for two minutes and simply observe or touch your head, hand, arm or leg. Someone connected this suggestion to wisdom from his grandmother. He said, "Years ago my grandma used to say, 'You are whole, you are missing nothing, you have hands, a head, and legs.' Her intention was to remind me to be grateful and optimistic. Her idea seems similar to what David Frenette suggests in his second bridge. We can connect with our bodies and be grateful for what God has given us."

Several people commented on the third suggestion to "offer your completed centering prayer period for someone in need." One person pointed out that this is a way of expressing our solidarity and sympathy with others. He went on to explain that this prayer can also be for a person we do not like. While we may have difficulty interacting with this person in normal circumstances, following centering prayer we can pause to look at this person with different light.

Another person agreed that the end of centering prayer is a good opportunity to hold the needs of friends and relatives who are in her heart. She commented that doing this seems to carry her into a few deep moments with the Compassionate Christ and strengthens her trust in his healing power.

Frenette's fourth suggestion is "after letting go of your sacred word, visualize a scene from your coming day. Use your sacred word to bless the day." One person commented that she likes to bridge into the coming day by seeing in her inner mind's eye some of the people and circumstances of the day and asking for the blessing of awareness of God's presence in the experience. She added that she is also aware of the Buddhist practice of touching her third eye while asking for her thoughts to be loving, and then placing her hands in front of her mouth, asking that her words be kind, and finally, holding her hands in front of her heart, asking that her intentions be peaceful. Another person shared that he asks to be aware of the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and finds that doing so has changed his whole life.

The final suggestion is "say or listen to the Lord's prayer to integrate silence and words." Many people commented on this suggestion, sharing the way they end centering prayer by praying with words. One person shared that after Centering Prayer, she often says the prayer of St. Francis: Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace. This prayer puts her back into the world and renews her desire to follow Jesus' teachings. It helps her keep on going with her commitments to reach out to others -- especially the needy -- and to use her civic voice to work for justice.

The week following this discussion, people shared how helpful it had been. One person thanked the group for all the insights that were shared. During the week she had begun to incorporate different suggestions and commented that she had found it deeply meaningful to sit after Centering -- knowing she was deeply loved by God, connecting to people in her life, and ending with the Serenity Prayer. She said that during last week's discussion "the Trinitarian living flame described by St. John of the Cross burst into the midst of our group."

The St. Olaf Catholic Church Centering Prayer Group meets in Minneapolis every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m.

Image of God

2/15/2013

By Carol Weber

There is a delightful story of a child busily drawing a picture while sitting at the kitchen table. The mother inquired what the child was drawing, to which the child enthusiastically replied, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” When the mother said that we do not know what God looks like, the child emphatically declared, “they will when I am finished.” Most of us have some image of God. Beginning in childhood I can remember imaging God as a stern father who knew everything I did and would judge and punish me when I died. I believed God created the world in seven days and Jesus was born on December 25th. The catechism, my teachers and my parents helped form my image of God. Fear of punishment was the prime motivator for me to obey my parents and God.

As I matured my image of God evolved through experience and education. God’s love for me and for all of creation gradually replaced fear of punishment. I am fascinated by how science is now able to map the brain and actually see where my thoughts are located. Dr. Andrew Newberg, the Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, has written extensively on brain function. Through brain imaging scientists are able to accurately predict how a person images God without the person saying anything. Different parts of the brain light up (become active) when a person images God. Scientists are beginning to map what they call a spirituality center of the brain. Two of Dr. Newberg’s books, entitled Why God Won't Go Away, and How God Changes Your Brain, have given me new ways of understanding how I and some of my spiritual directees vision God. Newberg demonstrates how people's longing for happiness leads them to pursue experiences that reinforce past positive experiences. Religion, music, art, and nature play a major role in assisting people develop the spiritual side of their brain.

Through one experiment, Dr. Newberg scanned the brains of a group of Franciscan Nuns during their contemplative prayer practice of Centering Prayer. He found that the pre-frontal area of the brain became very active while the other parts of the brain were quiet, demonstrating how our spiritual urges and prayer forms are intricately linked to our brains. Through multiple experiments he began to look for the “Spirituality Center” of the brain.

Baylor University’s Institute for the Studies of Religion published results from an extensive study of 1,700 people who answered over 400 questions about religion and spirituality. They described four primary types of God: an authoritarian God, a critical God, a distant God, and a benevolent God. It appears that different cognitive and emotional processes of the brain dramatically affect our beliefs and descriptions of God. We make of God what our brains allow us to make of God. Both physiological and social factors influence our image of God.

As a spiritual director I have been privileged to listen to other people’s spiritual journeys. In listening to others, I have been better able to understand my own spiritual journey. We now know that meditation, contemplation, and Centering Prayer actually do affect the brain by activating parts of the brain associated with compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and inclusivity. In my own experience of Centering Prayer, I have sensed a oneness with others and with creation, God’s presence being all around me and within me. My sense of compassion has deepened along with my sense of pain for the suffering of others. My image of God is in many ways not describable today. God just IS, just as I am. I prefer to pray silently, going to a state of just being rather than saying or doing anything. Having experienced God beyond feelings and thoughts, I have been drawn more deeply into a desire of silence in prayer. The scripture “Be still and know that I am God” speaks to me.

Carol Weber is a commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer and a member of the Minnesota Contemplative Outreach planning group.

Fully Human

6/15/2012

By Carol Quest

Recently I watched the six DVDs that are the follow-up to the Introduction to Centering Prayer. In one of the DVD’s, I understood Father Keating to refer to three steps in Centering Prayer: opening, waiting and transformation.

When we first come to centering prayer, we take the first step by opening ourselves to God’s presence within us. This can be an exciting and affirming step. The growing conviction that the living God dwells within us becomes a firm foundation for the rest of our journey.

The next step is waiting. I understand this step to be waiting in silence for whatever God has in mind. For me it often means the discipline of letting go of the thoughts that continuously come down the stream of consciousness. Faithfulness to this step seems a little like the comparison I once heard between centering prayer and commands given a dog--sit, drop, stay. In any case, waiting in silence eventually presents moments of comfort and contentment--by faith, resting in God’s presence.

In this resting in the silence the third step occurs--transformation. Sometimes we don’t even know when and how God’s grace was at work, but we experience the results in greater patience and compassion toward ourselves and others.

While thinking about these steps, I saw a connection between transformation and a statement by Richard Rohr in his book The Naked Now. Richard Rohr wrote, “...Christian revelation [is] precisely that [we] are already spiritual (‘in God’), and [our] difficult but necessary task is to learn how to become human.”* This statement stopped me short and made me think. If we have to learn to become human it must mean we are not fully human right now. How is that? Could it be a comment on the destructive reactions that result from our woundedness? Each of us can point to thoughts and actions that show how defensive and limited we are. As we faithfully practice centering prayer, however, little by little God transforms us into the divine image we were meant to be--fully human and fully alive. No longer will we excuse ourselves by saying, “I am only human.” Instead we look forward to manifesting the unique human expression of God’s glory that we were created to be from the beginning. As we sit in silence in centering prayer, God’s transforming grace fulfills Paul’s words in II Corinthians 3:18, and we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image we reflect.

Those three steps--opening, waiting, and transformation--guide us along our journey. In the end, faithfulness to the journey will bring us into the fullness of our humanity.

*Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2009), 69.

Carol Quest is a presenter of Centering Prayer and a member of the Minnesota Contemplative Outreach Leadership Team.

A Resource for Prayer

3/1/2010

By Carol Quest

As we follow the urging of our hearts along the spiritual journey, we encounter many sources of grace and inspiration—sometimes in unlikely places, but often in the treasured writings of those who have gone before us. One resource I have come to rely on over the years is the People’s Companion to the Breviary, (1997) by the Carmelites of Indianapolis (ISBN 1-886873-12-7).

Many mornings as I sit down for a time of centering prayer, I prepare by reading the morning prayer from this book. If I have plenty of time, I read the complete morning prayer, but if I am short on time, I simply read the reading for the day and allow the words to make my heart open and receptive to God’s presence.

Some readings come from the writings of mystics whose words have been treasured for centuries—respected guides like Teresa of Avila and Francis of Asissi. Others are seekers and guides from our own time including Teilhard de Chardin and Elizabeth Johnson. As I cycle through the year, I rejoice when I return to a favorite reading. Just as often, however, I am surprised when a reading I did not remember speaks to me in a profound way. Let me share an example from this recent Easter season. The reading is from evening prayer for the second Thursday of Easter. It is quoted from the writings of Elizabeth Meluch, OCD.

Each of us is still in the making, but as responsible for our lives as we are, we do not have to do it all alone. God is creating the world through us, but we are part of the world that God is helping us to create. If at times we can just be, just quietly sit in the sun of God’s love for us, if we can believe that the One who formed us in the first place is waiting to transform us in the embrace of love, then in what we are doing with our lives, God will increase and we will decrease in the best sense of the word (224).

I encourage anyone who is looking for a resource to use as a short inspiration before centering prayer to peruse the People’s Companion to the Breviary. Perhaps you will discover that it is what you are looking for to help you “sit in the sun of God’s love.”

Carol Quest is a presenter of Centering Prayer and a member of the Minnesota Contemplative Outreach Leadership Team.

Book Review: Sabbath, Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight In our Busy Lives (Wayne Muller)

9/1/2009

By Diane Boruff

Wayne Muller's thesis is that we have lost the tradition of rest in our lives. There is so much emphasis on productivity and multi-tasking that, in general, our lives are filled to overflowing, but we feel exhausted and deprived. Muller offers suggestions for establishing a time of rest and renewal and has insights into the various reasons for a Sabbath. He uses the word Sabbath in the traditional sense as well as to write about the forgotten need for rest. He broadens the definition of Sabbath to include, "anything that preserves a visceral experience of life giving nourishment and rest," expands the concept and allows for chapters regarding rest, rhythm, time, happiness, wisdom, consecration and Sabbath day. Muller provides many practical Sabbath exercises that can take a few minutes or hours but that lead to implementing the practice of rest in our lives.

As most of you who will be reading this already practice contemplative prayer, this book may seem to be "preaching to the choir." However, Muller's thoughtful commentary provides topics for reflection and new insights. In Genesis 2:2, "on the 7th day God finished God's work," is a passage that I have read all my life and not paid attention to the verb "finished" that implies that God did indeed work on the 7th day. Muller explains that the rabbinic tradition teaches that on the 7th day God created menuha – peace, tranquility, healing, and stillness – so that creation was unfinished until God created rest. In the Christian tradition, we rest on the first day in remembrance of Jesus' resurrection. As a child I remember wonderful long Sunday afternoons and evenings of visiting and game playing. All stores were closed and my farmer relatives did only the necessary chores. Mueller reflects on Mary that first Easter morning going early to be near the tomb of Jesus and writes that, "Sabbath implies a willingness to be surprised by unexpected grace," as Mary was at the tomb. (p 37)

As Mueller writes about fear of rest that is truly the fear of emptiness, he uses this poetic language to describe the experience of stillness. "All life has emptiness at its core; it is the quiet hollow reed through which the wind of God blows and makes the music that is our life." (p 51)

In addition, Mueller questions how we evaluate our lives. How do we measure happiness? As he evaluates selling happiness with consumerism, he notes that in many of the ads the people are not working but are resting and enjoying one another's company. Of course, the implied agreement is that if we buy that coffee maker or car we will be having fun and joining this picture of rest time. Mueller writes that, "Sabbath is a time to stop, to refrain from being seduced by our desires. To stop working, stop making money, stop spending money. See what you have….That is, after all, what they are selling you in the picture: people who have stopped. You cannot buy stopped. You simply have to stop." (p 137)

The Way of Enough is an intriguing look at "abundance" which is sought by a lingering fear of scarcity. Mueller makes the point for "sufficiency" which is the experience of satisfaction and well-being." (p 201)

The contemplative goal of resting in God's presence prods me to stay faithful to my daily practice of centering prayer. Indeed, I do find that my body welcomes the quiet time of prayer, but this book encourages me to expand the Sabbath rest into the rhythm of my life beyond the prayer time. The variety of exercises inspires and gives permission for playful rest that restores my soul.

Diane is a presenter of Centering Prayer and member of Minnesota Contemplative Outreach.

A Day of Teaching: Cynthia Bourgeault on her book, "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening"

7/19/2008

By Mary Schulz

Words cannot describe how our eyes and hearts were opened in fresh ways to the breadth and depth of the gift of Centering Prayer. We, in Minnesota, were honored to spend a day opening this gift under the tutelage of Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault.

This well attended conference was held July 19, 2008 in Minneapolis, MN. The day began with Taize, Ubi Caritas, and Prayer from Ephesians 3:16-19. Rev. Bourgeault’s teaching expanded on the most important points of her book, which are summarized in the book’s Epilogue. Interspersed, between teachings, were two periods of Centering Prayer and Q&A.

The following are a few of the many points that were discussed as we follow the evolution of Centering Prayer:

The insights, of the first generation of Centering Prayer, are that the effects are both personal and divinely therapeutic. As the 2nd generation evolves, the effects will, in addition, be characterized as prophetic and global.

The theological basis of the prayer is self emptying on the model of Jesus life and practice. The continual practice of surrender through letting go of thoughts becomes physically embodied, with a release in the solar plexus. Over time, this release coalesces into a distinct "magnetic center". It is this magnetic center that is likened to a GPS, "God positioning system". Eventually, there is a tug toward this center that is felt in daily life. This reminder signals a deepening life of prayer that is flowing within, even when one is not at formal prayer. Another way to describe this center is to call it the "heart". Classically the "heart" was the organ of spiritual perception, not merely an organ of affect. It lies at the intersection of the "cosmic mind" or God, and the human individual. The "heart" has the capacity to create alignment with and connection to Cosmic Consciousness. The 'heart' is the ombudsman of divine dialog between the universal life force and our particularity. In this way a voice inside is created that hears the music of God, which is our life lived as the true self. Absurdity is the result of tuning out this music. Each person is "Logos", Word of God, and the 'heart' is the tool for staying on course.

The Welcoming Prayer was briefly discussed as a powerful tool for daily living that can aid the growth toward “unitive” consciousness. Of interest, is that by immediately reacting negatively, the reptilian neural pathways of the brain are activated with limited primitive possible responses. Openness activates the pre-frontal cortex, with option for a wiser response.

In all, much was covered that will continue to be pondered by the many seekers present at this amazing conference. Rev. Bourgeault was a delight to work with. She was able to take people where they were at, with joy, humor and great insight. It is obvious that she practices what she preaches. As a gift of gratitude Sr. Joan Tuberty presented her with a Gethsemane Icon she had painted. It represents the surrender of Jesus that all are called to, which is the basis of Centering Prayer.

Review of "The Wisdom Way of Knowing"

9/1/2007

By Mary Schulz

The St. Olaf centering prayer group recently discussed The Wisdom Way of Knowing by Cynthia Bourgeault. This book focuses on repositories of Wisdom carried in the world religions. In contemporary society, religion has been losing ground, and we are in danger of discarding an ancient path for opening the heart to wisdom. Ironically, modern quantum physics is uncovering and affirming this ancient wisdom. How is it that some recognize Jesus, and some, though in His presence, do not? It is not the head that recognizes, but the heart. Wisdom practice brings the body, heart and mind into a balance that optimizes the clarity of unitive seeing. Consistent practice supports the opening of the heart to the divine I AM. Practices, done in surrender, such as Lectio Divina, prayer and work (ora et labora), meditation, sacred chanting, and mindfulness, are tools that help us to open to the divine.

This little book emphasizes the "practice" part of wisdom tradition at the base of all world religions. At their headwaters all world religions are about surrender, detachment, compassion and forgiveness. Cynthia states that "Whether you're a Christian, Buddhist, a Jew, a Sufi or a sannyasin you still go through the same eye of the needle to get to where your true heart lies."

My reaction to this little book was one of gratitude to the author, for the concise pulling together of the threads of wisdom scattered in history. Much of the confusion in spirituality today comes from a lack of understanding of the path to awakening. The path is well known. It has been hidden and found many times in history. This book describes the what, the how and the why of wisdom practice. I recommend it to anyone who desires to deepen their knowing of the heart. Sources, both ancient and contemporary, religious and secular are well documented. I read it three times, and found it richer with each reading.