Part of an ancient contemplative tradition, centering prayer allows individuals to turn within and rest in God’s presence.
Whether practiced individually or within a group, the rhythm of centering prayer can contribute to both mental and physical wellness.
(1) Find a quiet place. Assume a comfortable sitting position, keeping your back straight and feet on the ground. You may find it helpful to set a timer to mark the prayer period.
(2) Relax and quiet both your body and your mind. Follow your breathing. Close your eyes and gently become aware of your deepest center.
(3) Choose a single, sacred word of one or two syllables. The word may be a name you call God (Lord, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother) or a word that speaks to your understanding of God (Love, Faith, Peace, Trust).
(4) Say your word inwardly and focus on God’s presence in you. When you become aware of competing thoughts, feelings or sensations, gently return to your sacred word.
(5) At the end of your prayer period, remain in silence for a few minutes allowing a favorite saying or prayer to speak itself to you. Slowly open your eyes.
Centering Prayer is a receptive method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself.
Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer - verbal, mental or affective prayer - into a receptive prayer of resting in God. It is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Christ.
This is a form of meditation developed in the 16th century by the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian meditation makes creative use of our imagination through ‘visualization’. You are encouraged to imagine yourself in the Biblical story as if you are there. To ask yourself “What can I hear? What can I see? What can I smell? What can I touch? What can I taste?”
You can use your imagination by holding a conversation with a character in the story, or by imagining that you are telling this same story to someone else. Allow the story to speak to you in fresh ways, including addressing situations of daily life.
Traditionally the stories used would be from the Bible, but poetry and paintings may also be used.
Points for Ignatian Meditation
1. Find a quiet place to pray. This may be in your room, a chapel, your office with its door closed.
2. Establish a sense of inner peace and tranquility. Let the cares and concerns of the moment slip away. Sometimes reciting a psalm or a favorite prayer from memory will help to ease you into the prayer.
3. As you relax into God’s presence, take a moment to greet the Lord. Ask God to give you the grace to see what God desires for you.
4. Slowly read a passage from scripture. Get a sense of its geography and flow. Is there something that stands out to you?
5. Read it again. Is there something in particular that is touching your heart – either enlivening or frightening you?
6. Now be a child: place yourself in the scene. Are you a main character? A spectator? Think about the following: What are you wearing? What are the sights? smells? textures? sounds? What is going on around you? Who else is there? Do you recognize those around you?
7. Surrender to the story. Interact with your surroundings, allow yourself to be guided by the Spirit as you speak and engage with others.
8. Do not try to control the prayer. Surrender! Let the Spirit guide you.
9. How are you feeling? “Is your heart on fire”?
10. As you bring your prayer to a close, take a few minutes to speak to the Lord about your experience. Be candid – tell God what and how you have felt.
Lectio divina is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scripture. We attend "with the ear of our hearts", listening for God's presence.
Choose a text of scripture that you wish to pray. Choosing a story from the Gospels is a good place to begin, but any scripture can be chosen.
Place yourself in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Move through the following four aspects of lectio divina, returning to any one of the aspects as the Spirit moves you.
Lectio: Choose a text of the Scriptures that you wish to pray. Read the text slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase.
Meditatio: Put yourself into the scripture, allowing it to interact with your inner world of concerns, memories, and ideas. Take a word or phrase into yourself. Memories or thoughts that rise up during lectio divina are simply parts of yourself that are asking to be given to God along with the rest of your inner self.
Oratio: Speak to God. Interact with God as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you. Give to God what you have found within your heart.
Contemplatio: Rest in God's embrace. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.
Sometimes in lectio divina, you may return several times to the printed text, either to savor the literary context of the word or phrase that God has given to you, or to seek a new word or phrase to ponder. At other times, only a single word or phrase will fill the whole time set aside for lectio divina. It is not necessary to assess anxiously the quality of your lectio divina, as if you were "performing" or seeking some goal. Lectio divina has no goal other than that of being in the presence of God by praying the Scriptures.