Pray-er in Contemplative Prayer

You can use any word you want for the title here. "Contemplative" might be a word that conjures the “I had a bad experience” motto. Furthermore, our western culture has viewed words such as contemplative, meditative, or centering prayer, as possibly suspicious in their origins. Rest assured, I have no designs to deter you on your journey to Jesus’s Tree of Life.

We can all agree with the ideas of the novice artwork above. A little red boat is tossed on a tumultuous sea towards a distant shore. Maybe there are dolphins as kind companions and escorts nearby, but they can be somewhat hard to notice. Our prayer as pray-er can be very similar at times, er, all the time, even? We go to pray, and WHAM! distractions are waiting and ready. The steps below will never rid you of this circumstance, and at this point, I would never deprive you of the joy of developing a prayer in the midst of tumult. The prayer below will help you harness your circumstance to refine your inner life. Simple steps for a complex life seem too obviously clear. However, the complexity comes in building the habit…then, sharing with your kids. Or, better yet, building the habit with your kids at the same time as your kids.

Complicated challenge I am presenting today, right? Worth it, though, right?

Prayer PREP Step by Step:

• Finding the Present-

  • Deep Breath in for 1, 2, 3/ Deep breath out 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

  • Fix into a settled position you can stay in without moving for 3-5 minutes

  • Settle the eyes on a spot with a soft gaze or close your eyes

  • Feel something touching you on your body (hands in lap, hair on your neck, etc.)

  • listen to an ambient sound of something in your home, outside in nature or gray noise from a speaker.

• Contemplative PRAYER

  • Keep everything the same as above, but replace the sound with a sacred word instead, (so, still body, still eyes, feel something on your skin and hear a word resounding in your heart).

    • Jesus, HOLY, Father, Peace, Savior

      • Repeat word or better yet, hear the word echoing deep inside of yourself over and over without effort while you remain in this suspended state.

Looking for the invitation to learn more? I am SO glad you asked!

• Need MORE to read?

  • https://centeringprayer.com

• Want a video to help?

  • Centering Prayer led by Father Thomas Keating

    • https://youtu.be/rvsnoH8zlBs?si=Y8Oiwd7reejyz3-3

  • Centering Prayer Explanation by Father Thomas Keating

    • https://youtu.be/5FWvxwfN_CE?si=oVi5i6mDxr9uMEps

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