Somewhere in those depths of silence I came upon my first experiences of God as a loving presence that was always near, and prayer as a simple trust in that presence.
The first book I read on Centering Prayer was Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault. The above quote is what attracts me to Centering Prayer.
I enjoy when I talk to God and share my day’s events. I often need to pray to God for my family, my friends, myself and others.
However, I have discovered that I even more appreciate that I can just sit quietly with God. When I sit in silence with God I feel safe. I feel loved. God seems to calm and refresh me. God fills me with Inner Wisdom that was not there before my silent sit.
God has become more like a constant and loving presence. I realize that God was always with me but for some reason I felt the need to talk to Him to make certain I knew He was present and to make certain He knew I was present.
I now realize that God is an ever present Presence that loves me and sustains me. God is the ground of my being. I live in God.
I walk with God everyday. I get tucked into bed each night by God and greeted by God each new morning. God is my daily partner who walks with me each day.
I sit with Jesus in silence so I can walk with Jesus during my non silent times. My silent prayer practice is a place I live from.
At anytime, I can take a silent pause and reconnect to God who loves me and reminds me that He is ever present.
Silent prayer continues to teach me how to be present with Presence. Silent prayer teaches me to how to enjoy Life with all of my senses.
Silent prayer teaches me that I can trust that God is always present. Silent prayer teaches me that God will never stop loving me.
*I refer to God using masculine gender but I believe that God transcends gender. God is Life and Love itself.
Go Further:
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening was the first book I read as I began my Centering Prayer practice. I have read it numerous times. Here is my review of it.
Books and e-courses by Cynthia Bourgeault:
The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice
(Listen to The Heart of Centering Prayer for Free when you try Audible with a 30-day free trial.)
The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind–A New Perspective on Christ and His Message
Love is Stronger than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls
The early Christians, teaches the Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault, were afire with the spirit of Jesus, inspired fully by his teaching of a total transformation of consciousness. How do we reclaim that fire today? On Encountering the Wisdom Jesus, this brilliant author and dynamic Episcopalian priest presents her first full-length audio course about rediscovering the Master of Wisdom. Twelve immersive sessions cover: the parables as wisdom tools; Jesus’s teachings about kenosis (or self-emptying: a path as radical today as it was 2,000 years ago); Jesus as tantric master; Centering Prayer, an approach to meditation as Jesus lived it, and much more. (Based upon her book, The Wisdom Jesus.)
Centering Prayer by Cynthia Bourgeault: Centering Prayer is a simple, no-frills form of meditation in the Christian tradition. Since it was first developed by Christian contemplative monks in the 1970s, it has allowed tens of thousands of practitioners worldwide to “return home,” developing an authentically Christian meditation practice which not only delivers the healing and quieting of the mind typical of all meditation paths, but also reconnects directly to Christianity’s hidden treasury of mystical and transformational wisdom.
The Gospel of Thomas by Cynthia Bourgeault: This e-course, “The Gospel of Thomas with Cynthia Bourgeault,” is a complete “Thomas starter kit”: everything you need to know to get you up and running with this remarkable text, plus a generous sampling of its most important sayings, arranged thematically so that they speak to issues that contemporary spiritual seekers are actually dealing with.
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