Centering prayer and Lectio Divina sessions Continue in Epiphany
On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 6pm, members of St. Barnabas gathered to practice centering pray as a group. Centering Prayer (CP) is a form of silent prayer, where one empties the mind, and sits with God for about 20 minutes. Each person chooses a "sacred word", usually one or two syllables, to use silently when the mind wanders. This is the primary tool in centering oneself during breaks in concentration. The great mystics call this wandering the "monkey mind," and we all suffer from it in varying degrees. Some CP sessions are better than others. It is best to commence the sessions without expectations. One can have a wonderful CP experience even though one's day was challenging, for example.
The key to CP, like any discipline, is to practice it, preferably at the same time of day, ideally, twice a day. Participants are encouraged to create a space for prayer somewhere in the home that is away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Many use prayer shawls, candles, incense, and a timer with a gentle gong or bell. These practices enhance the experience and emphasize that this is special time set aside for silence with our Maker. Sometimes the person praying must use the sacred word countless times, and other sessions it is needed only a handful of times. The only way to fail at CP is to stop doing it.
After the prayer session, we will begin Lectio Divina, Latin for Divine Reading. Prior to the Great Schism, when the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church split in 1054, all Christians practiced Lectio Divina. It is comprised of four parts, lectio (I read), meditatio (I meditate), oratio (I pray), and contemplatio (I contemplate). A section of scripture is read several times out loud, and participants listen for a word of phrase that speaks to them. In meditatio, each person meditates or thinks about the significance of that word or phrase. In a group setting, these are shared. Next people pray silently on this, and finally all quietly contemplate, or sit with God. Our text will be "Seven Sacred Pauses" by Benedictine monastic Macrina Wiederkehr. The author encourages us to learn to take pauses at certain times during the day to reflect on the passing of the hours in a more abbreviated fashion than monastics do but in keeping with this ancient tradition.
Centering Prayer is much akin to contemplatio in Lectio Divina. The work of Frs. Thomas Keating and M. Basil Pennington revived this practice in the 1960's as a response to increasing interest in Eastern forms of meditation. One of the most influential mystics is St. Teresa of Avila who lived in 16th Century Spain. She wrote about her deepening prayer experiences in her definitive work, "The Interior Castle," and identified increasingly profound levels of prayer that occur with regular practice.
