M. Basil Pennington - Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina

[DaveBj]

I have read the entries on the thread about centering prayer begin dangerous. As I understand it, this movement was started by Pennington and Thomas Keating. Pennington has also written a well recommended book on Lectio Divina which I am reading since it was the only book on the subject I could get. I am very concerned that some of his centering prayer problem areas may also be in this book. Any advice on what to look out for or to be cautious about. I am new to this and not able to be very discerning yet in this area. I would appreciate some advice from some of the sages from the forums. I need to leanr how to do Lectio and it has been a long hard slog so far with not much success. I just don’t hear anything to speak of when I read the Scriptures and my monasatic Rule. This really bothers me. Help!! :crying:

 

[buzzcut]

Hi, Dave,

I haven’t read the book you’re talking about.

There’s a 32-page booklet on Lectio that I found very clear and straightforward, ***Lectio Divina and the Practice of Teresian Prayer ***by Sam Anthony Morello, OCD. Details on my homepage if you’re interested.

 

[contemplative]

DaveBj:

I have read the entries on the thread about centering prayer begin dangerous. As I understand it, this movement was started by Pennington and Thomas Keating. Pennington has also written a well recommended book on Lectio Divina which I am reading since it was the only book on the subject I could get. I am very concerned that some of his centering prayer problem areas may also be in this book. Any advice on what to look out for or to be cautious about. I am new to this and not able to be very discerning yet in this area. I would appreciate some advice from some of the sages from the forums. I need to leanr how to do Lectio and it has been a long hard slog so far with not much success. I just don’t hear anything to speak of when I read the Scriptures and my monasatic Rule. This really bothers me. Help!! :crying:

Dave, I am reading B. Pennington’s very good book Lectio Divina. In this book B. Pennington very clearly describes the difference between lectio divina and centerprayer. I think the real danger is in not knowing the difference between the two. You can check out this thread for more info about lectio divina Stop for a moment. Listen to all the voices around you.