The first guideline of Centering Prayer is, “Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.” This guideline reveals much about the nature of Centering Prayer and the purpose of all contemplative practices. The key action of any contemplative practice is consent, that is, consent to fully yield to the Divine will. Only trust in a good God will allow such a total relinquishing of control… yet, as we find the trust and courage to let go, we recognize ourselves consciously immersed ever more deeply in God’s goodness, which encourages us to return to our practice, even though inevitable disruptions.
As the guideline states, whatever word we may choose for Centering Prayer is only intended to function as “the symbol of [our] intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.” Unlike the memorized vocal prayers of our Catholic tradition, or even meditation practices and other Eastern prayer practices, where the words used are a key element to our prayer, the only real value of the “sacred word” in Centering Prayer is the intention behind it, namely, to give God full control of our prayer time. As such, any word can be used, and an ideal sacred word is precisely one which does not lend itself to attracting our focus.