Centering Prayer

[Ash Wednesday]

Electrons? *zap* Ouch!

St. Padre Pio said that a person is a fool to think they can get through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. He also prayed the rosary throughout his entire day.

[Church Punk]

Your story reminds me of Peter. He was walking on water and was shaken by faith and began to sink. You know what he did?
He shouted SAVE ME JESUS!!!!!

Matt 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, [color=blue][b]fear not to take unto thee Mary [/b][/color]thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.

Mary said that there is nothing the Rosary can not solve!

[Fides_et_Ratio]

What sort of "centering prayer" were they promoting?

I've heard the Jesus Prayer (i.e., "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner") referred to as a "centering prayer" and surely this is not a danger nor a distraction?

[philothea]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Feb 3 2006, 10:28 AM']What sort of  "centering prayer" were they promoting?

I've heard the Jesus Prayer (i.e., "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner") referred to as a "centering prayer" and surely this is not a danger nor a distraction?
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It's only a danger if you're using the words and repetition to forcibly numb your mind into silence.

[jezic]

if the focus is on God and drawing close to him then you are praying. If it is not, you are not.

The mantras are not a good thing in my opinion. I would pick a phrase rather than a word. Mantras were never about what the word was but the sound. And then it becomes the only sound you hear, and on from there.

It is an internal focus which is completely contradictory to prayer. Prayer will always lead externally to God.

[Ash Wednesday]

I just remembered something in one of the Keating/Pennington books that I found troubling -- one of the questioners was a woman who said that when she was attending Mass, at times she felt the need to "center" instead of focusing on the Mass -- and the pastor answering (don't remember which one) told her that this was fine and to just center when you felt drawn to do so, even during Mass. I thought that was very wrong when Mass itself is a prayer and deserves our full attention.

[jezic]

um ... and as well, why would one need to center on anything buy Jesus?

maybe the name of this is backwards, especially if that is not what you do.

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

Meditation, which is what centering prayer is, is in and of itself morally neutral. However, meditation in an effort to place yourself closer to God is a flawed and dangerous concept.

[jezic]

see meditation is not neutral. It can't be.

it is either for Jesus or against him.

If it has an external focus and it draws you closer to God, then it is good.

If it has an internal focus and does anything but draw you closer to him, it is not good.

[Myles Domini]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Feb 3 2006, 04:28 PM']What sort of  "centering prayer" were they promoting?

I've heard the Jesus Prayer (i.e., "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner") referred to as a "centering prayer" and surely this is not a danger nor a distraction?
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I wouldn't place [url="http://www.svots.edu/Faculty/Albert-Rossi/Articles/Saying-the-Jesus-Prayer.html"]the Jesus Prayer[/url] in the same category as centring prayer. From what (admittedly) little I know about centring prayer it seems a lot like what the article from St Vladimir's seminary that I linked to calls 'inner exploration'. Whereas the Jesus Prayers focus is outwards centring prayer seems to focus on techniques and the like. This is extremely dangerous and bad for you.

The reason is because you're going deeply into your own consciousness through layers of emotion and the like that your waking mind has erected a barrier against. When you do this in an unprepared manner you can find yourself being filled with nervous anxiety and becoming very vulnerable and scared. Reducing your reasoned mind to a state of stillness without any real direction can also lead to your irrational animal element becoming more prominent. You'll be more sensitive to threats, more aggressive against things you percieve as threatening. Moreover, beyond all this you can also go completley insane.

If the depression continues go to good Catholic psychologist and tell him that you have been using these auto suggestive methods upon yourself without guidance and he might be able to help you. Centring prayer is very dangerous I wouldn't ever recommend it.

[jezic]

the Jesus prayer would be a good example of something drawing you closer to him. You are asking for mercy.

like myles says.

[gelibeme]

Yup, I agree the rosary is a beautiful prayer, stick with Mary and she will guide the way to Jesus.
On Women of Grace, Johhnette Benchevich addressed Centering Prayer, keep away from it. It will guise as being legit. It's crazy how the New Agers stuff creeps it's way in and poses as being Catholic. When praying let us cling to Jesus humbly.
Have any of you read Sister Josefa Menedez's work of [i]Chirst Divine Appeal for Love[/i]? I belive that is what it is titled. Just come to Jesus knowing how unworthy we are, yet realizing what immense love he has for us.
Centering prayer is stuff like clear your mind of everything and focus on the inner energy or light.

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

[quote name='jezic' date='Feb 3 2006, 02:10 PM']see meditation is not neutral. It can't be.

it is either for Jesus or against him.

If it has an external focus and it draws you closer to God, then it is good.

If it has an internal focus and does anything but draw you closer to him, it is not good.
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Okay, let me give you an example to show how meditation is morally neutral.

You're a field goal kicker for a football team. You're called upon several times a game to kick field goals. You don't want to get distracted by things like the score, the fans, or what you're doing after the game. So as you walk out on the field to kick, you clear your mind of all things, just focusing in on the kick. That is a form of meditation and it is morally neutral. A whole lot of placekickers do a form of meditation like this.

Just because something "doesn't bring you closer to God" doesn't mean it's against Jesus (you said things must either be for Jesus or against him, no middle ground). Eating dinner doesn't bring me closer to Jesus, but it isn't an evil thing to do.

However, doing something that doesn't bring you closer to God when you believe that it will is not a good thing. That is the essence of centering prayer.

[Desert Walker]

[quote name='1337 k4th0l1x0r' date='Feb 3 2006, 01:34 PM']However, doing something that doesn't bring you closer to God when you believe that it will is not a good thing. That is the essence of centering prayer.
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Yes! That's EXACTLY how I felt about it whenever I did it! It was almost like I was taking a step off of a cliff HOPING somehow I wouldn't fall down into the darkness but instead be lifted up to God... it really was a weird chapter of my life...

Whenever I would REALLY try to stay true to the method as described by Fr. Thomas Keating in his book "Open Mind, Open Heart" MY physical heart would start going THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP. It was EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Ultimately I always felt like I was pushing God AWAY from me rather than focusing on Him in Himself with heart-felt love.

In the last couple of days I have truly found answers to this dillemma in my life. Part of it has been sharing it with all of you. But I started to read one of the books that Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington hold up as their primary source book. It was written hundreds of years ago. This particluar book is about contemplative spirituality and how to go about "doing" contemplative prayer. Up until last night I had been reading this book from the wrong point of view. I was reading it as a confirmation of Thomas Keating's book Open Mind, Open Heart. BUT IT ISN"T!!! The kind of spirituality that is described in this book IS NOT CENTERING PRAYER. IT"S NOT ANYTHING LIKE IT. Keating and Pennington have both grossly misread this book. It's called "The Cloud of Unknowing." That book has absolutely NOTHING to do with Centering Prayer. The message in it is completely different. I would say that a summary of the message in that book would go like this:

"Contemplation cannot be achieved by employing ANY method, for contemplation is a PURE gift from God. When GOD thinks we're ready, He will bring us into contemplation. If WE try to grasp at the gift of contemplation BEFORE God brings us into it, we will fall by pride whether we think so or not."

My conclusion is that the Centering Prayer movement is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS for Catholics because it has misunderstood and misrepresented contemplative spirtuality (probably unknowingly). The first mistake was to try and combine the spirituality of Hinduism and Buddhism with that of Christianity. The product has been a weird combination that VERY ODDLY does not mention Jesus Christ that much, and seems to want to completely ignore His Mother.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Desert Walker

[Sarah_JC]

I had a non habited nun come in and speak to my formation group about this... bad times.