Centering prayer
Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to receive this gift. It presents ancient Christian wisdom teachings in an updated form. Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; rather it casts a new light and depth of meaning on them. It is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. This method of prayer is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with him. The method formed as a direct result of the experiences reading the Cloud of Unknowing by the community at the Trappist St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts where three brothers in particular helped the method come into being; those brothers were: Fr. William Meninger, Fr. M. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating.