What must we do to get the Holy Spirit's gifts?

[BroIgnatius]

All I can say is that when I engage in CP, I maintain an image of my love for God deep within the recesses of my mind. Maybe I’m not engaging in CP properly, but what I do seems perfectly consistent with The Cloud of Unknowing.

I’ve read the articles and I see where it claims that Fr. Keating means for CP to result in a totally blank mind, but I know of others (Fr. Carl J. Arico who addressed this directly to me) who claim that CP never was meant to produce a totally blank mind.

Anyway, I call what I do CP and perhaps I should just call it contemplation to avoid a controversy. Again, I never lose sight of my love for God, and getting rid of all other clutter within my mind seems beneficial and most effective.

Well, since Fr Keating and his cohort are the ones who invented Centering Prayer, I think their definition is definitive.

The articles are not “claiming” anything. Rather, they are showing objectively the problems with the approach to Centering Prayer. The authors of the articles did not invent the quotes from Keating, who is likely as heretic for his rather New Age definition of the Eucharist.

Anyway, if you are not doing Fr. Keating’s Centering Prayer, it would be advised not to call it that.

 

[DebChris]

Sorry to hear about your migraines. It seems that so many of us suffer some form of affliction. I suffer from anxiety and major depression. The best we can do is to offer our suffering to God and pray that these afflictions be used as our Purgatory while here in this world.

I fully agree that contemplation, where we have truly come to be in communion with God, is a gift that we cannot obtain on our own.

I just finished one of those on-line quizzes. What saint are you? I actually get a different Saint each time. This time it was St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusians.
chartreux.org/en/

Along with the importance placed on silence, I like that the monks take a four hour weekly hike.
I have in real life visited the Trappists in Conyers. The retreat director I had furthered my understanding of contemplative prayer. He let me know that a retreat there was not like going on a retreat elsewhere, where I would be given a specific verse upon which to meditate and journal.

 

[drac16]

Try fasting. It helps focus your mind on serving the Lord.