Resources

A good place to begin: Contemplative Outreach publishes two pamphlets that I recommend highly - one on the ancient practice of Lectio Divina and the other on Centering Prayer. If you would like to join our virtual gatherings, please read these two pamphlets carefully. Although I will review the basics every time we get together, these pamphlets will prepare you nicely. Even if you are experienced in these ways of contemplative prayer, I think these little pamphlets can be re-read, over and over, to remind us of a counter-cultural way of being. The world is reminding us every day about the importance of planning, being organized, and orchestrating things. Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer depend on an entirely different posture: a posture of openness, receptivity, trust, surrender, letting go, and listening, so that another may speak and welcome you home again. These pamphlets can help with that.

Recommended Books

Martin Laird

• Into the Silent Land

• A Sunlit Absence

• An Ocean of Light

Thomas Keating

• Open Mind, Open Heart

Cynthia Bourgeault

• Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

Carmen Acevedo Butcher

• Practice of the Presence (A beautiful translation of Brother Lawrence’s work)

James Finley

• Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God