The second guideline of Centering Prayer is, “Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.” The introduction of the “sacred word” in this step effectively signifies a relinquishing of control over our prayer time, as we surrender fully to God’s will. It is this full surrender that perhaps most distinguishes Centering Prayer and other contemplative prayer practices from more common prayer practices we learn starting in childhood: Prayers like the Our Father, the Rosary, and even extemporaneous prayers are marvelous and important in their own right, but do not, of themselves, move us into a posture of surrender to God’s presence and action — even though they often ask God for the grace of such surrender! Even in the seeking to surrender, it is nonetheless we who retain control of what and how we pray in these familiar prayer forms (though, if entered into with a proper disposition, these prayers can and should serve as a gateway to full surrender)! Centering Prayer is itself an act of surrender, of welcoming all that God would have flow into our lives and just as readily detaching from it… so that God can fill us again and again, with whatever Divine Love has decreed we need most! In contemplation, we become what we profess to desire in all prayer!