The 16th century mystic John of the Cross said that (God) “speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must (God) be heard by the soul.” Paraphrasing John of the Cross, Thomas Keating said; “Silence is God’s first language and everything else is a poor translation. If we want to listen to God, we must learn to be still and rest in God’s presence.”

Centering Prayer, a way of praying in silence without using words or thoughts. We do not resist or suppress our thoughts and emotions. We accept them and go beyond them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by. The intention is doing so is to consent with open minds and open hearts, to the Ultimate Mystery, to the Source of all that is.

The following Centering Prayer Guidelines help us with this practice.

Centering Prayer Guidelines

• Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.

• Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word into your inner awareness as a symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.

• When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

• At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a brief period of time.

The sacred word is a simple word—love, peace, yes or perhaps two brief words such as just-be. During the Centering Prayer practice, whenever one becomes aware of being engaged with a thought or distracted by anything at all, silently use the sacred word to renew one’s intention to consent to the Divine Indwelling.

-Rev. Don Bredthauer