Centering prayer?

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I am in high school and my theology teacher is teaching us something called (centering prayer) i have read of the article on this cite (THE DANGER OF CENTERING PRAYER)
and he has read it too . I approached him on this subject and expressed my concern, he seemed mildly frustrated with me (but the class was pretty rowdy that day so i dnt think it was me) anyway he took us to our school adoration chapel where he began to teach us breathing methods (to center our minds on God) he told us to keep our spinds straight and to relax, it wasnt centered on the eucharist it was centered on silence and deep breathing, I told him this scared me and he told me that we were using eastern methods to pray to the Western God the only God,
he has said that when our lives begin to become hectic that we must know how to quiet our minds and focus on the lord,
I dont like his words “centering prayer” mabey he just means something different
 
Seems to me I read a warning about centering prayer, too, but I don’t remember where or exactly what the objection was. It sounds like meditation. If you’re not sure, don’t do it. Well, if your teacher forces you, maybe go through the motions. And pray for your teacher. (Regular prayer)
 
you have the right to refuse, don’t let anybody kid you.

Be polite and respectful, perhaps just sit there and be quiet, but don’t participate. Nobody! Nobody can order you to pray a certain way.

Go to the school principal right away and express your concern. If this teacher is bothering you, you have to ask the principal to get him to back off.

Just get right up and walk out of class or whatever and go to the principal. Be polite and compose yourself, don’t lose control or raise you voice.

I’m 61 years old and I don’t know what centering prayer is. It was never important enough for anybody to make it a point with me my whole life.

As a last resort, change schools. I’m serious. Nobody has the right to brow-beat you that way.
 
I share your wariness of centering prayer. As far as I can tell, it’s a way of “forcing” oneself to think we are in a high level of contemplation, when in fact, we are merely engaging in a form of self-hypnosis that simply “feels” good.

I can’t believe how it has been let seep into the Church though, is taught with diocesan approval, etc, etc. St. Teresa of Avila, 16th century Carmelite nun is considered by the Church to be one of the experts on prayer, and thus given the title Doctor of the Church. She says time and again that contemplation is a **gift **from God. It’s not something we can reach by our own efforts, and more importantly, it’s not something we should be trying to reach. Pray as you are, through the Church’s accepted methods, and if contemplation comes, then great, but don’t go searching for it. This idea of trying to create a vacuum in your mind and quell all distractions is actually very dangerous in the spiritual realm. Also, this idea of praying so we can get this inner peaceful feeling is wrong. Prayer shouldn’t be about feelings - it’s about persevering through dry periods, times when we feel like we’re talking to thin air, etc. Just communicating to God.

If you think your opposition to this would cause more harm than good in the specific situation then just let it be and pray that the situation will improve. Well done though for being so spiritually alert.

As an aside, I was recently talking to a lady in my own parish who everyone would consider very holy, and she genuinely is a lovely lady. However, she has become obsessed (that’s the only word for it) with this new type of prayer, led by a local priest who instructed himself in the Buddhist ways of meditation and formed a centering prayer course based on this, and she now says things like, “Contemplation is brilliant, I’m off to do some now”. If she knew what it really was as per the Church, she wouldn’t be saying that. Also, she comes across as someone in a cult more than anything else now.
 
In Mother Theresa’s book “No Greater Love” she writes that to learn how to pray we must learn silence. We should sit quietly and allow our mind to be silent so that we may hear the voice of God. How can God speak to us if our minds are busy chattering? Centering prayer is way to be silent, to sit at the Lord’s feet and spent time with Him.

IMO, while Fr. Keating has gone a bit awry with some of his teachings, the centering prayer is not harmful. All prayers are methods, techniques to be with and communicate with out Beloved. If your intention is to wait for the Lord, to be quiet and spend time alone with Him, what’s the problem? I believe intention is very important when asking whether a method of prayer is beneficial.

I’d suggest that what Mother Theresa is teaching and the centering prayer are not much at odds. I repeat Jesus’ name in my heart throughout the day, bringing my attention on his Holy Name. Perhaps you can do this. I read it in a booklet which had an imprimatur, so I assume it’s a safe way to pray.
 
If you are uncomfortable go to your principle and show him this link

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711fea1.asp

Another thing to remember is that centering prayer and contemplation/meditation are two separate things. Sitting in silence and being silent is good it’s something that the Desert Fathers preached as do the Benedictines and many others, the Carthusians live in silence. Centering prayer only serves the purpose of centering on yourself therefore becoming selfish. Eastern traditions say that you want to become eliminated from the cycle of reincarnation and this is done by centering on yourself. We as Christians are called to center all of our attention on God. These two viewpoints do correlate.

God bless
 
Mea Culpa
sorry i didnt know the part of the forum rules its okay if this is closed
anyway i think…no… i know his intentions are good but i will sway him to use different words but mostly pray for him
 
KaneKatholic said:
I am in high school and my theology teacher is teaching us something called (centering prayer) i have read of the article on this cite (THE DANGER OF CENTERING PRAYER)
and he has read it too . I approached him on this subject and expressed my concern, he seemed mildly frustrated with me (but the class was pretty rowdy that day so i dnt think it was me) anyway he took us to our school adoration chapel where he began to teach us breathing methods (to center our minds on God) he told us to keep our spinds straight and to relax, it wasnt centered on the eucharist it was centered on silence and deep breathing, I told him this scared me and he told me that we were using eastern methods to pray to the Western God the only God,
he has said that when our lives begin to become hectic that we must know how to quiet our minds and focus on the lord,
I dont like his words “centering prayer” mabey he just means something different
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Your information is flawed.

Go here for the Origins of CP

kyrie.com/cp/a_gift_from_the_desert.htm

Jim
 
josesiem said:
In Mother Theresa’s book “No Greater Love” she writes that to learn how to pray we must learn silence. We should sit quietly and allow our mind to be silent so that we may hear the voice of God. How can God speak to us if our minds are busy chattering? Centering prayer is way to be silent, to sit at the Lord’s feet and spent time with Him.

IMO, while Fr. Keating has gone a bit awry with some of his teachings, the centering prayer is not harmful. All prayers are methods, techniques to be with and communicate with out Beloved. If your intention is to wait for the Lord, to be quiet and spend time alone with Him, what’s the problem? I believe intention is very important when asking whether a method of prayer is beneficial.

I’d suggest that what Mother Theresa is teaching and the centering prayer are not much at odds. I repeat Jesus’ name in my heart throughout the day, bringing my attention on his Holy Name. Perhaps you can do this. I read it in a booklet which had an imprimatur, so I assume it’s a safe way to pray.
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Thomas Keating’s and Basil Pennington’s writing and tapes on Centering Prayer have been a great help to me. It is an ancient Catholic practice. It supplements other kinds of prayer.
Tom
 
FCEGM said:
Tom, the moderators have made this decision regarding discussing the topic:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=434589
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Well. let’s take “centering prayer” off the table here, and maybe think about Catholic Spirituality in the form of The Prayer of Faith of The Cloud of Unknowing.

There was a time when I gave God an hour a day in this way: go to parish, sit near Eucharist, quiet self and concentrate on … uh-oh. See, your brain always supplies something and anything is not-God. So, after I read Cloud, a classic in Catholic spirituality, I began to imagine that scene that opened the time-travel TV show, Quantum Leap, where he was between cloud banks. The one above bright because the Light was above it, the one below dark, and that’s where I pushed all my thoughts while yearning (“listing” in the book) for the Light of Christ.

So, we can still clear our minds, and not be so self-involved, but Other-directed without interfering with God’s Will for us in that prayer time.

I actually had a sponsor in RCIA who told me something about the breathing. I tried it, but… that just made me think about me, so, to me, if God is what I want, then I want all my yearning to be toward Him.

So, that’s one Catholic’s way, does anyone else have a method for listening prayer that isn’t this self-directed centering thing?
 
STRANGE TO SEE THIS THREAD UP AND RUNNNG JUST AFTER I READ THE STICKY BANNING THIS TOPIC ABOVE I noticed it as I was checking why a thread I started seems to have been pulled 😦
 
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