Last week’s Corner reviewed the Four Guidelines of Centering Prayer. Recall that the guidelines direct practitioners of centering prayer to use a “sacred word.” Per the first guideline, the sacred word is “symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.” There doesn’t need to be anything special about the word – it’s not intended as a magic word and doesn’t have to evoke “spiritual feelings” – in fact, the sacred word most faithfully serves its purpose if it evokes nothing from us at all. It is not used like a mantra, as in Eastern prayer forms, where the word itself becomes the focus of our prayer. Rather, the sacred word serves as a tool, a stepping stone or “training wheels” as we learn how to enter into a progressively deepening relationship with our God. The word is what we use to bring our focus back to that relationship when we become distracted, a way to anchor down when we sense ourselves getting swept into the current of our thoughts. The sacred word is a way to declare to God that “I love you” even when we’re challenged to stay in the give-and-take dynamism of love. But, when we do find ourselves naturally embracing the flow of love, words are no longer needed.