What is "centering prayer?"

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I haven’t read the threads on centering prayer. I have read about it and may be able to shed a little light on the topic. From my perspective many Christians see centering prayer in a cautious posture becuase it tends to disembody God in that He is just seen as like an energy mass. And even sometimes depending on who is teaching it almost places the focus of spiritual power on ones self. There is also the fear of opening ones spirit to something other then the Holy Spirit. I am not a scholar and this is a really simplifyed version of some of the oppostion to centering prayer. I am sure that catholic doctrine probably goes into it in more depth then I have so please consider all sources. This is merely my opinion.
In my opinion there is a type of contemplative prayer that many Saints and Christian Mystics practice that can provide a deeper experience with the Lord. If you are seeking a deeper level with the Lord then I would suggest reading some things by Saint John of the Cross, Thomas A. Kenpis, and many other writtings of the Saints. I hope this is useful for you as a brief explaination.
 
embraced, thank you for the reading recommendations. I do have a “My Imitation of Christ” by Kempis and do read from it periodically.

beckycmarie, awesome. Thank you for the link. Now that I know it’s banned, I won’t bring it up. I was just wondering what it was. I’ll check it out.
 
GodIsGracious your quite welcome.
My aplogies, beckycmarie
 
No need to apologize to me - just letting you know before someone swoops in with a lock. 😉

PS - what is fluid Christianity?
 
You are the first person to ask me this question…made me smile.
Well, lets see…I suppose it is a personal view of how I believe the Lord wants me to serve Him. I guess a good analogy would be I see my life kind of like a stream. When the water in the stream has movement and it flows there is life, when it becomes blocked or stagnant it begins to die. The stream flows towards the ocean and along the way it picks up things and deposits things, aborsbs things and filters things.This is a picure of my life. As I allow the Lord to lead me I do the same no matter who ends up in my stream. The Lord may have them in my “stream” for a long period of time or a short period of time I never really know. It reminds me of the Lord when He would interact with people, He naver drew a line in the sand. Whoever entered the flow of His stream were touched in some way. This is my desire to touch peoples lives in whatever way the Lord so desires and in order for this to be so my Christianity needs to be fluid.

Thanks for letting me share this…🙂
 
+The Lord brought a marvelous teacher . . . all the way across the Atlantic Ocean from England . . . to our humble little city . . . and a filled to overflowing church . . . to teach us about Christian meditation and prayer . . . and I’ll never forget his warning on “centering prayer” . . . wherein one is counseled to *“empty” ones mind/self and embrace . . . * nothingness . . . He warned us **not **to have anything to do with this activity . . . that it was not of God and couldn’t stress more strongly that:

:rolleyes:"The devil LOVES an empty mind . . . then it’s open for him to fill it.":rolleyes:

Father Dubay of EWTN fame has made some marvelous sharings available juxtaposing the dangerous falsehood of so called “centering prayer” against Christian prayer and meditation . . .

Sacred Scripture teaches the complete opposite of becoming “empty”:

:bible1:*"Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper."* Psalm 1:1-3

All for Jesus,

a Franciscan soul among you . . .

*Heavenly Father . . .
*"…lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen." Matthew 6:13

. . . blessed Archangel St. Michael
pray for us
. . . protect us from evil
:signofcross:​
 
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