Centering Prayer

Centering Prayer is a contemporary name for the practice that Jesus describes as “prayer in secret” in the Sermon on the Mount. When you pray, he teaches, “Enter your inner room, close the door, pray to your Father in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). In the course of time this prayer has been given other names such as “pure prayer”, “prayer of faith”, “prayer of simplicity”, “prayer of the heart”, etc.

Jesus’ teaching has roots in the Old Testament. For example, Elijah’s experience of God on Mount Horeb as “sheer silence”; the pillar of cloud by which Yahweh led his people for forty years through the desert; the cloud in the Temple built by Solomon at the time of its consecration; and the exhortation of Psalm 46:10, which reads, “Be still and know that I am God”.

In the New Testament we hear of the overshadowing of Mary at the moment of the Incarnation; the cloud that overshadowed the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration; the silent attentiveness of Mary of Bethany at the feet of Jesus in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus; and the darkness that covered the earth at the crucifixion of Jesus.

Christian tradition, especially the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the fourth century interpreted this wisdom saying of Jesus as referring to the movement away from ordinary psychological awareness to the interior silence of the spiritual level of our being and beyond that, to the secrecy of union with the Divine Indwelling within us.

This tradition was continued by Hesychasts of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and in particular by the sixth century Syrian monk known as Pseudo-Dionysius; Meister Eckhardt, Ruuysbroek and the Rhineland mystics; the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing in the fourteenth century; the Carmelite tradition exemplified by Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux; and more recently by Thomas Merton.

This tradition became known as Apophatic contemplation. It is not in opposition to so-called Kataphatic contemplation, which draws on the exercise of our rational faculties to reach divine union. In actual fact, Kataphatic contemplation is normally necessary as a preparation for the Apophatic experience which passes beyond the exercise of the human faculties to rest in God. The Sabbath of the Old Testament is a figure of this rest. Jesus invited his disciples to the same rest when he said, “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls.” Resting in God is the term used by Gregory the Great in the sixth century to describe contemplative prayer as understood in his time.

Christian tradition has excellent instructions and guidance for the beginnings of the spiritual journey, enshrined especially in the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, which became the central practice of Benedictine monks and nuns down through the ages. The prayerful reading of the texts of the Old and New Testaments led to reflection on the mysteries of Christ; responding with acts of faith, hope, and love; and finally, to resting in God as the fruit of discursive mediation and its gradual simplification. The three Theological Virtues just mentioned came to be regarded as the principal transforming inspirations of the Holy Spirit leading to divine union.

Centering Prayer puts into effect the first two recommendations of Jesus’ formula in Matthew 6:6 by leaving behind all external concerns and by discontinuing, at least in intention, the interior dialogue that usually accompanies ordinary psychological awareness. The latter consists of commentaries and emotional reactions to events, people, and sense perceptions entering or leaving our day to day lives.

Jesus’ third recommendation - to pray in secret - seems to be the practice that later became known in the Christian tradition as contemplative prayer. Though there remain several legitimate interpretations of the word, “contemplation”, the state of prayer that John of the Cross describes by the term “infused contemplation” has come to be generally accepted in subsequent spiritual theology as the definite meaning.

There is in fact, in the writings of the Christian mystics, excellent descriptions of the full development of the spiritual journey. But the process of moving from the beginning to its full development in the transforming union is not so clear. There are many forms of Christian spirituality, some of which are organized into stages. But the very variety of these recommendations makes it difficult for the ordinary seeker to find a clear map or guide to negotiate them. These stages come to be called respectively the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive ways. The purgative and unitive ways are well differentiated, but the path from one to the other does not seem to adequately address the physical, psychological, and spiritual obstacles that hinder the process, especially unconscious motivation and habits of negative behavior.

Centering Prayer was conceived as one way to move from the beginning to the ultimate goal of inner transformation. It suggests a practical method of entering what Jesus called “the inner room” by deliberately letting go of external concerns symbolized by sitting comfortably, closing our eyes and consenting to the presence and action of God within. As this disposition of alert receptivity stabilizes through regular practice twice daily, we are gradually prepared by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to pray, or more exactly, to relate to the Father in secret. This was interpreted by the Desert Fathers and Mothers (as well as the later Apophatic tradition) to mean letting go of all personal agendas, expectations for divine consolation, psychological breakthroughs, and self-reflections of any kind. In Centering Prayer a sacred symbol such as a word from scripture, an inward glance toward God, or noticing our breath, helps to maintain the intent and consent of our will toward God’s presence and action within us.

Centering Prayer consists of the first two stages leading to “prayer in secret”. The latter presupposes relating to God beyond thoughts, feelings, and particular acts. The only initiative we take during the period of Centering Prayer is to maintain our original intention of consenting to the presence and action of God within. Centering Prayer thus leads directly into the apophatic experience or “infused contemplation” which is purely God’s gift.

There are other ways of moving or disposing oneself for Apophatic prayer or prayer in secret. Centering Prayer serves the increasing need for a place and time of silence in daily life due to incessant noise, intrusions of the mass media, lack of time, and the accelerating pace of everyday life.

The theological basis of Centering Prayer is touched upon in chapter three of Intimacy with God. The process of Lectio Divina is described in chapter five and the theological basis of Centering Prayer is discussed more fully in the final chapter entitled, “Toward Intimacy with God.”

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