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“St Paul gives three stages to self-knowledge: letting go, allowing our minds to be remade, and becoming a new creation – a child of God. [1] ‘Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed’ (Phil 2:5–6)”
This is what happens during my centering prayer practice. Each time I sit with God I progress through all three stages.
Let Go
I let go of my thoughts, emotions and even physical sensations when I re-center with the use of my interior sacred Jesus icon. I then let go of my sacred icon too. (You might also use an interior word, your breath or even a glance.) This is not time to plan, worry, or even daydream. This is my time to sit with God. I need to give my attention to God. This moves me to the second stage: be remade.
Be Remade
The only way I will be remade is if I let go of all thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. They are not who I am. I can observe them. I can see what they teach me. However, ultimately they are not who I am.
This moves me into the third stage: become a new creation.
Become A New Creation
Each moment I let go, I give God an opportunity to act in me. As the Quakers say, I expect Jesus to show up. Jesus will replace my fears, anxieties, pride, anger or physical ailments with an inner peace, an inner love, an inner wisdom, an inner knowledge that I will take with me as I arise from my silent sit.
I arise from my sit a new creation. I am like a new child of God who is sent forth into the world.
This is not a once and done effort. This is a daily process. I love this time with God. I need this time with God. It excites me to know I can be remade into a new creation.
I encourage you to try a silent prayer practice such as centering prayer. Jesus will show up. Jesus will act in you. You will arise a new creation!
Go Further
Stefan Gillow Reynolds, Living in the Mind of Christ: Mindfulness in Christian Spirituality
Laurence Freeman, Jesus the Teacher Within
Laurence Freeman, First Sight: The Experience of Faith
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[1] Stefan Gillow Reynolds, Living in the Mind of Christ: Mindfulness in Christian Spirituality, (Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd): 2016
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I am currently taking on clients for Centering Prayer One on One Coaching sessions. I am happy to setup weekly, bi-weekly or monthly sessions with you over the phone or skype to help you go deeper into your centering prayer practice and integrate it into your daily life. Contact me for more information. The first session is 1/2 off.
Are you in the Philadelphia PA area? Invite me to speak or teach Centering Prayer at your church or community gathering. Feel free to contact Rich to obtain more information.
Learn how I use my prayer bracelet.
Our friends at Contemplative Light are offering Contemplative Practices. This course examines in-depth traditional practices of the Christian mystics, including: The Examen, Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, The Jesus Prayer and Christian Meditation.
Contemplative Perspectives: Frameworks for the Divine: With the historic practice of The Jesus Prayer as a jumping off point, we explore the experiential aspects of the Purgation/Illumination/Union path of Christian Mysticism.
I am currently reading The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind – a New Perspective on Christ and His Message by Cynthia Bourgeault and Contemplative Living: An Invitation to a Deepening Journey by .
The Way of the Wisdom Jesus: Going Beyond the Mind to the Heart of His Teaching – If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. In this online course, Episcopal priest, teacher, and retreat and conference leader Cynthia Bourgeault serves as a masterful guide to Jesus’s vision and to the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teaching for yourself. Based upon her book The Wisdom Jesus.
Prepare to be immersed in the 1st Century A.D. context of the life, work, teachings, and actions of Jesus. Check out Simply Jesus by N. T. Wright. It is based on his book Simply Jesus. Enjoy an article I wrote about one of the lectures on the Beatitudes.
This course is a short course based on Prof. N.T. Wright’s latest book, Simply Good News. Tom Wright will guide you through the chapters of his book through videos that suggest what some of the main points are. You will instantly get into the heart of the idea of ‘good news’ as it was understood by the 1st Century writers of the New Testament. You will be brought into their world in order to make more sense of what ‘good news’ means in our world.
Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks – This is a great way to listen to books with your cell phone while you drive, walk or relax at home. I frequently listen in my car during my commute to and from work. I’m a proud affiliate.
David Frenette’s book The Path of Centering Prayer reenergized the Centering Prayer tradition with its fresh insights and teachings. Centering Prayer Meditations: Effortless Contemplation to Deepen Your Experience of God is a wonderful companion audio program created to be equally rewarding as a stand-alone guide – gives listeners an immersive resource to learn contemplative prayer, step by step and in the moment. With clarity and compassionate presence, Frenette explains the essential principles of this contemplative practice for both new and seasoned practitioners.
Centering Prayer is a silent prayer practice that can move you toward a profound relationship with the Spirit of God within. It is a way of praying that opens the door to the Divine Indwelling—the ground of our being. With Centering Prayer, Father Thomas Keating and his colleagues Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Father Carl Arico present the first online course in this method for deepening your intimacy with God and ultimately consenting to the presence and action of the Divine in all aspects of your life.
Since the time of the Desert Fathers in the third century, Finley begins, Christian mystics have practiced meditation as a way of opening to the direct presence of God in daily life. Legendary seekers such as Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Meister Eckhart explored how meditation can lead us beyond the closed horizon of the ego, to an interior and holy refuge that is always available to us. On Christian Meditation, James Finley offers a gentle introduction to this all-transforming way of life, and the ever-deepening realization of oneness with Christ it leads us to. (Based upon his book, Christian Meditation.)
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