Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Centering Prayer
To consent to God’s presence and action within by gently releasing all thoughts via a ‘sacred word,’ resting in silent, imageless openness to God.
Centering Prayer in 5 lines: Choose a short sacred word as a symbol of your consent to God’s presence. Sit comfortably, eyes closed; gently introduce the word. Rest in silence. Whenever you notice you’ve gotten caught in a thought, ever so gently return to the sacred word — not as a chant, but as a release. Sit ~20 minutes; end in silence.
What it is
Centering Prayer is a modern Christian contemplative method developed by Trappist monks in the 1970s to recover the church’s own ancient tradition of silent, wordless prayer. It is not concentration on a word, visualization, or petition; it is a prayer of consent — you sit in silence and gently consent to God’s presence and action within you, using a single “sacred word” only as a means to let go of thoughts whenever you notice you’ve become engaged with them.
The point is not to repeat the word continuously (that would be a mantra) but to return to it briefly as a gesture of release, again and again, resting in imageless openness. It draws directly on the 14th-century English classic The Cloud of Unknowing, which counsels approaching God through “a cloud of unknowing” — beyond thoughts and images — with “a naked intent unto God.” It operationalizes surrender/letting-go (The Inner Creates the Outer), present-moment rest (Everything Happens in the Now), and non-resistance (The Inner Creates the Outer).
The Method
Thomas Keating codified four simple guidelines in Open Mind, Open Heart (1986):
- Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent. A short word — e.g., God, Jesus, Abba, peace, love, silence, trust — chosen prayerfully, then kept the same throughout the prayer period (and ideally across sessions). It is a symbol of consent, not a magic word and not something to “think about.”
- Sit comfortably, eyes closed, and settle briefly. Take a minute to relax, then “introduce the sacred word inwardly” — gently, silently, “as gently as laying a feather on a piece of cotton” (Keating’s image).
- When you notice you are engaged with a thought, return ever so gently to the sacred word. “Thought” is meant broadly — any perception, feeling, image, memory, plan, or even a spiritual experience. You do not fight, analyze, or banish thoughts; the moment you notice you’ve gotten caught up in one, you simply, gently reintroduce the sacred word as a gesture of letting go and re-consenting. Keating: resist no thought, retain no thought, react to no thought; just return to the word.
- At the end, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. Let the silence carry over; Keating suggests slowly praying the Lord’s Prayer interiorly before opening the eyes, to transition gently back.
- The recommended dose. Two periods of about 20 minutes daily (morning and evening) is the standard.
- Attitude — consent, not effort. The sacred word is used only when needed (when you notice you’re thinking), not chanted constantly. Between returns, you simply rest. The whole posture is one of gentle surrender — “we are not trying to make the mind blank; we are consenting to God’s presence.” (Sourcing note: “naked intent unto God” / “a cloud of unknowing” are from the 14th-c. text; “as gently as laying a feather…” and the four guidelines reflect Keating’s published teaching, attributed. The protocol is faithfully described, not reproduced.)
Source & Lineage
Centering Prayer was developed at St. Joseph’s Abbey (Spencer, Massachusetts) in the mid-1970s by Trappist (Cistercian) monks William Meninger, Basil Pennington, and Thomas Keating (1923–2018), as a way to teach the church’s contemplative heritage to laypeople — partly in response to Westerners leaving for Eastern meditation.
Its roots are the Christian apophatic tradition: The Cloud of Unknowing (anonymous, 14th c.), the Desert Fathers and John Cassian (the practice of a single repeated phrase), and John of the Cross (the “dark night,” union beyond images).
Keating co-founded Contemplative Outreach to spread it. It is distinct from, but allied with, the Christian Meditation of John Main / Laurence Freeman (which uses the continuous mantra Maranatha). → (Christian mystics — Keating, the Cloud author, John of the Cross).
The Traditions' versions
The Jesus Prayer / Hesychasm (Eastern Orthodox) — “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” repeated into the heart, sometimes on the breath. → (Christian mystics)
- Christian Meditation (John Main) — continuous repetition of Maranatha; a mantra form of the same lineage.
- TM / mantra meditation — effortless return to a word; structurally parallel in a Vedic frame.
- Zen shikantaza — imageless resting without object; apophatic “just sitting.”
- Sufi dhikr — remembrance of God via a repeated divine name, often with the breath.
Common refinements
Turning the sacred word into a mantra. It is not repeated continuously — only reintroduced gently when you notice you’ve gotten caught in a thought. Constant repetition makes it a concentration practice instead.
- Fighting or analyzing thoughts. “Resist no thought, retain no thought.” Engaging thoughts (even to push them away) keeps you in them; just return to the word.
- Treating it as relaxation or problem-solving. The aim is consent to God’s presence, not stress relief or insight (those may follow, but chasing them is a subtle grasping).
- Expecting “nothing happening” to mean failure. Apophatic prayer often feels like sitting in dryness or darkness; the Cloud author says that very unknowing is the point. Faithful sitting “in the cloud” is success.
- Quitting at emotional turbulence. Surfacing feelings (“unloading”) is expected; sit gently with it (within limits — see safety).