Ancient prayer form being revived

By Jodi Mailander Farrell
Knight Ridder News Service

•	Prayer group in Hawai'i Contemplative Outreach of Hawai'i Information: 536-6090 Upcoming retreat: July 14-23, St. Anthony's Retreat Center, Kalihi

This isn't a Hindu ashram or a New Age retreat. These are middle-class, retirement-age Catholics sitting in the living room of a two-story Kendall, Fla., townhouse. What they're practicing is part of a quiet revolution, rooted in ancient Christianity and, until recently, seemingly lost within the confines of monasteries. Commonly referred to as "centering prayer," this form of contemplation is being revived here and nationwide by those seeking to dig deeper into their faith.

Contemplative prayer groups reached Hawai'i about 10 years ago, largely through the efforts of Sister Katherine Thieler, a co-founder of the Spiritual Life Center. Now, co-coordinator Susan Thornett says there are about 10 centering prayer groups operating in the Islands, and the organization has an office and holds periodic retreats, such as one coming up in July on O'ahu.

Sparked by Eastern meditative techniques, today's version of centering prayer is bent on stilling the mind. But unlike Buddhism, which uses meditation in a search for personal enlightenment, the intent here is for contemplation to be a receptive prayer, a resting in God's presence to raise awareness of God.

In centering prayer, those meditating try to disregard the thoughts that usually ricochet through one's mind. Instead, they focus on listening to the silence of God. People who practice centering prayer don't denigrate conventional, bow-your-head-and-clasp-your-hands prayer — many continue to say the rosary and pray in a traditional fashion — but they say centering prayer has brought a new dimension to their spiritual lives.

It is very much an ecumenical effort: For example, Thornett, an Episcopalian, heard about centering prayer from a Lutheran minister who suggested she call Thieler, a Roman Catholic nun. Thornett had expressed an interest in adopting some kind of daily prayer practice. "She told me to go over and talk to Sister Katherine — 'she's got something really good,' " said Thornett.

"It's a life-changing practice," says Barbara Rietberg, 66, a retired medical researcher who hosts a centering prayer group in her Kendall, Fla., home every Tuesday evening. "The intention is to be quiet before God, the mystery. You don't empty your mind, you let thoughts come and go, but you don't hold onto them."

Rietberg and others who practice centering prayer say the method and its benefits have seeped into their everyday lives.

"I feel calmer, less judgmental and more able to listen," Rietberg says. "I'm just more laid back and more peaceful."

Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk, is largely credited with rediscovering centering prayer and introducing it to modern Christians. He visited Hawai'i early in the movement's history here and returned in 2000 to give talks and lead a retreat.

Through the late 1960s and early '70s, Keating and two other monks met with Buddhist and Hindu teachers in an effort to understand the mass defection of young Catholics at the time, people drawn in part to the East's meditation practices. Their research led Keating, then an abbot at a Massachusetts monastery, to begin unearthing a similar meditative method based on the Christian tradition.

Keating helped found St. Benedict's Abbey in Snowmass, Colo., and has written 15 books on meditative prayer.

Although some critics have frowned on the practice, saying it compromises Christian prayer in its use of Eastern meditation methods, Keating and other advocates insist that centering prayer is firmly rooted in Christian tradition as far back as the third and fourth centuries. They point to the gospel of St. Matthew, which urges Christians to pray privately and in secret (Matthew 6:6).

"It's a movement beyond thinking intentionally, to listen to the silence of God within, believing that silence is God's first language," Keating says. "Everything else is a poor translation."

The practice of Christian contemplation fell out of favor in the 16th century after the Protestant Reformation, when the Roman Catholic Church, reeling from scandals and corruption, began to stress sticking to the letter of dogma and rules. Then in the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council began opening up practices again. (An exception among Christian churches was the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, founded in 17th century England, for whom meditation is a centerpiece of worship.)

Those who join the groups vow to practice centering prayer on their own twice a day but meet weekly for support and discussion. Roughly half of adherents are Catholics, half Protestants.

Centering prayer is rooted in the Lectio Divina, a Christian discipline from the Middle Ages, Thornett said — meditating on scripture and moving into silence.

"What's wonderful about contemplative prayer you can pray silently with any religion and come to a union. In contemplative prayer, there are no boundaries," she said — Keating even visited Buddhist masters when he was in Hawai'i.

When asked to explain centering prayer, Keating likes to quote Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who spent much of her life caring for the poor of Calcutta's slums. The nun was once asked, "How do you pray?" to which she replied, "I listen to God." Then she was asked, "What does God do?" and she said, "He listens to me."

"It's a wonderful description that captures the fact that you seem to do nothing," Keating says. "When you're listening, you are all alert, but you're not doing anything so you won't miss what you might hear. Eventually, the Holy Spirit takes over the prayer more and more."

Advertiser assistant features editor Wanda A. Adams contributed to this report.