Prayer With and Without Words

 

Lorna and I have returned from our “home” in Prince Edward Island to our “home” in Parkhill.  This raises the question regarding my home i.e. where is my home and what makes a home a home.  However, I don’t want to go there this week.  I have written about that previously and perhaps I will again at some point.  However, I want to expound/explore another subject which is near and dear to me – prayer.  I have tried various types of prayer and use some of them on a regular basis both privately and corporately.  One which I find myself most in tune with is Centering Prayer.   I think that this type of prayer is most suited to me or perhaps I should say that I am most suited to this type of prayer.

I have made a concerted effort to practice Centering Prayer daily for many years since being introduced to it as part of my Spiritual Direction training.  There were times when it was honoured more in the breech than the observance. However, recently I have been able to reverse that and have managed, with God’s help, to be quite faithful in that part of my prayer life.  I look to that prayer practice to provide a grounding in my relationship with the divine.

Centering Prayer is a form of silent prayer in which you make space for you to be more aware of God’s presence in your life. God is always there but we often have difficulty perceiving it. The process is quite simple with just a few steps:

·         Choose a word or phrase that resonates with you as an expression of your intent and desire – I use the word ‘return’.

·         Sit comfortably and upright, eyes closed, breathing naturally, and begin to
repeat this sacred word silently. As your attention is focused on the desire behind the word, gradually let the word slip away.

·         Rest in silence. You will find that thoughts and image and feeling may come into your mind. We are not used to quiet in our culture – our brains want to fill silence. This has been called our monkey brains - which is very descriptive. When these thoughts, images or sensations arise, gently return to the sacred word as a symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within you.

·         The recommended period for prayer is twenty minutes each day.

Cynthia Bourgeault, one of the leading proponents of Centering Prayer, writes:

Gradually, as we progress in Centering Prayer—or in any meditation practice, for that matter—we begin to reorient. Centering Prayer’s instructions to let go of all thoughts, regardless of content, directs us back to the silence itself, and we gradually learn the shape of the new terrain. As we stop grabbing for content, we gradually discover that silence does indeed have depth, presence, shape, even sound. As we mature in Centering Prayer, the perception that the emptiness is in fact the presence becomes more and more palpable.

 

I would encourage you to find a form of prayer that you find suits you and enables you to be in closer relation with the divine in what ever form you know and pray on your journey.