Centering Prayer Guidelines

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

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

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

4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.  

     *thoughts include body sensations,

      feelings, images, and reflections

If you would like a fuller description of the Method of Centering Prayer, you may follow this link to a page on the Contemplative Outreach International web site.  The page has the same description of the guidelines above, plus 1) a link about the history of the practice; 2) a link to purchase a book that is often seen as a "basic text" about Centering Prayer; 3) a link to download a Centering Prayer Brochure; and 4) a link to a video  with Fr Thomas Keating who was one of the founding members of Contemplative Outreach.