Commitment to contemplative practice, like any practice, requires the cultivation of a certain discipline, and thereby, habit. If you are uncertain of how contemplative practices like Centering Prayer might fit into your life, you are welcome and encouraged to “test the waters,” engaging in prayer periods of different lengths and experimenting with...
The MMOC Contemplative Core Team grieves the passing of our friend and former member, Joy Kleucker, who had a particular fondness for the work of the Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins !1844-89). We offer you two of his works today, in memory of Joy:...
This week, we offer you the painting “An Attempt to Stability” by Indian artist Prayag Jadhav. What does it stir in you? How is the Holy Spirit calling you to respond?..
Jesus tells us that “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13) and challenges us, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn 13:34). He then lives out this kind of love ...
Though Christianity has deep contemplative roots, contemplative insights and experiences can radically alter our concepts and perceptions of God to something beyond those typical to the Western Christian culture in which most of us were...
God’s mercy is freely given – perhaps the deepest meaning of the cross. The only “barrier” to God’s mercy is our willingness to allow, accept, and welcome it. Yet, this “barrier” proves significant to so many, who have misunderstood mercy as somehow a response to some intention or behavior on our part, rather than as intrinsic to the Triune God, whose very nature it is to pour forth in love. We who...
Centering Prayer is an apophatic form of prayer – prayer without the use of words and images. There are also cataphatic forms of prayer, which involve the use of words and images as part of the substance of prayer. Prayer forms such as Lectio Divina, the Rosary, and probably most other common prayers in recent history are ...
A Book Review
For those wanting to enhance their spiritual awareness and response to the world we live in, I recommend “We Make the Road by Walking” by Brian D. McLaren. Brian is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian as well as...
It is a testament to our incarnate nature that our spiritual lives and prayer practices impact our physical bodies. Anxiety and joy, spiritual wounds and healing a carried in the body – as the shallow breath of excitement, the sweaty palms of nervousness, and the ...
The chief dispositions of Centering Prayer and other contemplative practices are welcoming and detaching from all that we receive – without judgement, hesitation, or expectation. These dispositions do allow us to withstand the difficulties and celebrate the blessings of life without becoming bogged down in either, but welcoming and detachment represent so much more than spiritual self-help techniques. These two...
The use of the sacred word in Centering Prayer practice is designed to facilitate a comfort with detachment – a disposition of not possessing or clinging – by supporting the...
Life experience will tell us that prayer does not erase suffering and hardships. In fact, the great irony is that prayer often calls us more deeply into them! As we grow in our contemplative practices, a common fruit is...