On October 25, Fr. Thomas Keating, architect of the Centering Prayer movement, passed away. Please join me in praying for the repose of his soul.
I have always tried to keep my criticisms focused on the practice of Centering Prayer, not on Fr. Keating himself or any of the others who teach or practice the method. My work has never been about personalities or judging others, but about combating the errors that can keep people from an intimate relationship with God through prayer.
That crusade has not come to an end. In fact, in some ways it has intensified.
Several months ago a Facebook friend informed me that Centering Prayer instructor Kess Frey had written a book in which he mentioned my work, among others’. I promptly bought and studied the book, Bridge across Troubled Waters. Now I have issued a response.
I updated and expanded Is Centering Prayer Catholic? The second edition of the book addresses Frey’s arguments as well as Fr. Keating’s. Dr. Anthony Lilles, Dean of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, wrote the foreword.
Dan Burke has invited me to record several episodes on Divine Intimacy Radio, talking about the book and the problems with Centering Prayer. I will let you know when they will air, so that you can join us.
My hope for all of us is that we attain the deepest intimacy with Christ possible in this life, so we can enjoy His presence immediately and eternally after death. May we live for Him alone.
Connie Rossini
I began to sense this after reading Martin Buber’s “I and Thou”. Here he makes a point against pantheistic philosophy. God cannot be love unless He’s a separate Person; we cannot love unless we are also separate persons. Therefore all pantheistic religions are false.
I was stuck in the practice of yoga at the time, and spiritually, leads to the destruction of the ego (the personality) and provides a path to the ALL. Therefore is no love possible. Then I found St.John of the Cross! All my doubts about Eastern religion dissolved. I think “Centering Prayer” has been replaced by “Mindfulness” meditation. I’ve read all of Connie’s books, and she and Dan have provided clarity and peace for me. Thank God for them!
Thank, Helen! God be praised for using us to help you. I agree, as I wrote a couple of years ago, that “Mindfulness is the new Centering Prayer.” The more things change, the more things stay the same. The Enemy failed in getting most devout Catholics to practice Centering Prayer, but he is succeeding with many in the subtler but similar error of mindfulness. Both come from and lead to a Buddhist worldview and so are dangerous to the Catholic. People are fooled by the fact that mindfulness does not claim to be prayer. But it will nonetheless adversely affect their prayer time.