To Center

Laying on my back on a pew in the quiet of the sanctuary on a weekday afternoon, I was acutely aware of my breath.  The few of us gathered had just finished singing "Spirit of the Living God" and now we were entering into a time of centering prayer for 10 minutes.  As I tried to quiet my body and my self, I took measured breaths, closed my eyes, and let my body completely relax.  "Peace."  That one word repeating in my mind slowly as I tried to empty myself and sought to be merely present in the moment.  As thoughts entered in, I gently repeated my word, "peace."  With each repetition, it quietly called me back to simply being.  It reminded me to breathe.  To be empty.  Before long, the hum of cars passing by faded away and I began to feel truly at peace.  Every little bit, a fly would buzz by and pull my attention away, and I would once again speak my word of peace to center myself back into the moment.  Before I knew it, we were being called out of our prayer with a praying of the Lord's Prayer.  All it took was ten minutes, but it changed me and how I approached the day.  It quieted the noise inside of me.  It made room for God to move within me.  All in all, I felt very centered as we drew our time to a close and I went about the rest of my day.

So often, our prayer times are mental exercises.  We are engaged mentally, maybe physically, in addition to spiritually.  Speaking for myself, my mind engages with my soul and with God in a practice that involves some element or combination of conversation, journaling, artistic expression, or heart-felt desire.  It is often more about what *I* am doing in the moment than what God is doing.  Centering prayer is different.  Centering prayer calls us to disengage with our mind in order to make room for the Spirit of God to work within us.  It is a time of intentional relationship with God where we consent to God's presence and action in our life.

Fr. Thomas Keating is my go-to guy for understanding the grace of centering prayer.  In a video you can find here, he lifts up four basic principles of centering prayer.  Remember this first:  Centering prayer is not a replacement to other forms of prayer.  It is best understood as a way to make room and prepare ourselves to more fully engage with God in those other forms of prayer, as well engage with God in our general living.  Keating's 4 principles/how-to's:

1. Prayerfully select a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within.  Keating reminds us that centering prayer is not a perfect art -- we will screw it up and that is OK!!  What matters is our intent to be available to God.  
2. Get comfortable, close your eyes and quietly settle into your space.  After a brief settling, gently introduce your sacred word.  Silently and gently repeating it.  
3. When thoughts arise (and they will!), return ever-so-gently to your sacred word.  Do no shame yourself for the thoughts that pop up.  It is perfectly normal for our mind to drift, to dream, vision, and think.  As this happens, greet the thoughts, but help them pass along as your sacred word brings you back to your intent to be fully present with God.
4. At the end of your time of prayer, allow yourself to remain in silence with your eyes closed for just a couple of minutes - thus allowing yourself to re-enter the world with care.    

Some liken centering prayer to Christian meditation -- I am not sure I would go that far.  My personal understanding of meditation focuses on primarily on the emptying of ourselves.  In centering prayer, we are emptying ourselves with an focused intent to be in relationship with God and to receive God's workings within us.

I invite you to try this prayer.  Fr. Keating suggests we give ourselves 20-25 minutes to partake in this practice, but as a beginner that will feel like too much.  So start slowly and simply -- 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.  Try it once a week, three times a week, and then move to daily.  Remember, there is truly no RIGHT way to do this - what is right is our intention to be in fellowship with God.  So show up, give it a try, and trust that God's grace will do the rest.