| SILENCE SOLITUDE SERVICE |
| CONTEMPLATIVE OUTREACH CENTRAL FLORIDA |
| What is Contemplative Prayer?
It is through prayer that we develop and deepen our relationship with God. The root of prayer is Interior Silence. Contemplative Prayer is a prayer of Silence, an experience of God�s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment. Contemplative Prayer is a process of interior transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to Divine union. One�s way of seeing reality changes in this process. A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the Divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists. In silence we come to know and live from the Divine Mystery within us. The fruit of contemplative prayer manifests through the growing awareness of God as the Source and Center of all and in the increasing capacity to live ordinary life with extraordinary love. What is Centering Prayer and how it leads to the gift of contemplation? Centering Prayer is The Prayer of Consent. It is based on the wisdom saying of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: |
| �Be still and know that I am God.� Psalm 46:10 |
| �...But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.� Matthew 6:6 |
| Centering Prayer is a method of prayer, which prepares us to receive the gift of God�s presence, traditionally called contemplative prayer. It consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God�s presence and action within.
Centering Prayer facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer into a receptive prayer of resting in God. It is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. Centering Prayer is meant to enrich and compliment other forms of prayer, not to exclude or replace them. It is Trinitarian in its source, Christ-centered in its focus, and ecclesial in its effects; that is it tends to build communities of faith and bonds the members together in charity. Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert, the monastic practice of Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures), The Cloud of Unknowing, St. John of the Cross, and St. Theresa of Avila. It was distilled down into a simple method of prayer in the 1970�s by three Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Basil Pennington and a former Abbot at St. Joseph�s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, Fr. Thomas Keating. |
| Photography by Jeff Ripple |
| Fr. Basil Pennington, OCSO |
| Last updated January 25, 2009 |
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