The third Centering Prayer Guideline is, “When engaged with your thoughts [including body sensations, feelings, images, and reflections], return ever so gently to the sacred word.” In examining this guideline, we must recognize that thoughts will come, as thoughts (and all the other things covered under the umbrella of thoughts) are part of what it is to be human! And the thoughts that come to us are never “wrong”, “a problem”, or “the enemy”, even in the context of a prayer period! To understand the proper relationship to thoughts cultivated in Centering Prayer, we can look to the wisdom of the Lenten season in which we find ourselves: generally speaking, the food, pleasures, and other stimuli from which we fast during Lent are goods in their own right, yet we recognize them as non-essential, passing, not part of our True and eternal self. All these things are good, but not the Supreme Good. Likewise, the thoughts we encounter during a prayer period are generally good… just not the Supreme Good. Seasoned practitioners of Centering Prayer aren’t people who have stopped thinking – that’s impossible as long as we continue to draw breath. Rather, contemplatives in general, and Centering Prayer practitioners in particular, simply recognize the truth about our thinking – that it is not part of the True Self in God – and thus assign it the less-than-primary focus it deserves.
Thanks to everyone who participated in Part 1 of “A Lent to Renew Your Life”! Please join us for Part 2 on March 26 (participation in Part 1 is not needed to join Part 2). Register using SignUpGenius at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0d4bafab2da3fe3-alentto or call the Parish Office at 314.894.1373. Contact Paul Schulte with questions: 314.954.2299.