The Prayer Banned 6 Centuries Ago—and its Amazing Return

This story appears in the new book Wake Up Call: Daily Insights for the Spiritually Curious.

What do you do when it feels like your prayers are going into a deep, dark void and you aren’t connecting with the Divine?

Well, in the 14th century an English Christian mystic had an answer, an alternative to traditional prayer that he believed offered a direct connection to God. The mystic, who has never been identified, put his thoughts down in a book titled The Cloud of Unknowing. It included guidance like this:

This is what you are to do: Lift up your heart to the Lord, with a gentle stirring of love desiring him for his own sake and not his gifts. Center all your attention and desire on him and let this be the sole concern of your mind and heart.

The unknown author had set the foundation for contemplative prayer, which for centuries was largely forgotten—and for good reason.  According to Father Thomas Keating, one of the prayer’s great modern-day proponents, when the Inquisition began to expand in the late-1400s, the prayer was judged to be heretical. He tells us that “a negative attitude prevailed with growing intensity from the 16^th century onward” and it was effectively banned from the Catholic church.

But in the past few decades, the prayer has made an amazing comeback. When the church began to lose members to Eastern philosophies and the lure of meditation in the 1960s and ‘70s, a small band of renegades on the fringes of the church began reintroducing the idea of contemplative prayer. They were inspired by Thomas Merton who wrote “the simplest way to come into contact with the living God is to go to one’s center and from there pass into God.” The practice became known as centering prayer.

What is centering prayer and how does it work?

Essentially, it is a prayer without words, or more accurately a prayer with a single word. Its aim is to help you establish a deeper relationship with God (or for some practitioners, Jesus) to the point that God becomes a living reality in your life, available to you at all times.

Thomas Keating explains the powerful effect of centering prayer this way:

It is the opening of the mind and heart—our whole being—to God, the ultimate mystery, beyond thoughts, words, and emotions. Through grace, we open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking…closer than consciousness itself.

There’s an excellent book on the subject titled The Path of Centering Prayer by David Frenette. The author describes the practice as “a state beyond walking, sleeping or dreaming.” With help from his writings, I’ve developed a six-point “how to” guide on the subject.

Centering Prayer in 6 Easy Steps

1. Choose a one-or two-syllable sacred word such as God, Jesus, amen, love, peace, stillness, faith or trust.
2. Sit comfortably and with your eyes closed. Silently introduce the word as the symbol of your consent to allow God’s presence within you.
3. Repeat the word over and over, moving deeper and deeper within your self.
4. As in meditation, if your mind wanders or becomes aware of anything else, gently return to the word.
5. Rest in God “as if you put your head back down on the pillow after waking.” Sense the presence of God within you.
6. As your prayer ends, let go of the sacred word and rest your mind for a minute or two before going about your business.

As with most things you want to be proficient at, the key to success in centering prayer is practice, practice, practice. Another modern-day expert on the subject, M. Basil Pennington, recommends two 20-minutes sessions a day: “The first in the morning, introduces into our day a good rhythm…the second, after 8-10 hours of fruitful activity, is a period of renewal to carry us through.”

 The next step: Praying without words.

Frenette writes that the next step is to engage in centering prayer without any words, to just rest and simply be in God. He says that the sacred word or symbol you use is really like a life preserver you might need when entering deep waters for the first time. He recommends that as you become better versed in centering prayer you “let go of the life preserver and just float.”

It’s easy to see the parallels between centering prayer and secular meditation. But while the calming effect is much the same as meditation, there’s an added element in centering prayer. It’s the sense that in the vast nothingness within, there’s a presence, one that’s part of the soul but greater than the soul. And that presence is what many refer to as God.