June E-bulletin

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image courtesy of Ron Barnett

“Our ordinary preoccupations involve unconscious value systems. Some thoughts are attractive to us because we have an attachment to them springing from the emotional programming of early childhood. When such thoughts go by, all our lights start flashing because of our heavy emotional investment in the values that they stimulate or threaten. Be training ourselves to let go of every thought, we gradually develop freedom from our attachments and compulsions.”

Thomas Keating
Open Minds, Open Hearts

In addition to Centering Prayer, the Welcoming Prayer is a useful practice for attachments, compulsions and the ordinary challenges of every day life. This video playlist is helpful to support your practice of the 24/7 “consent on the go.”

Q: … I have understood that whenever I get carried away by a sequence of thoughts I should return to the sacred word. When I begin the Centering Prayer, what should be my anchor during the prayer period? … When I simply remain silent I am easily taken over by thoughts. To avoid this I end up simply repeating the sacred word.

A: Read the full question and Leslee’s response here.

 

You can read the full bulletin at            https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2025-june-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

Centering Prayer Introductory Retreat At The New Kylemore Abbey. August 15 – 17, 2025

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               Centering Prayer Introductory Retreat

     At The New Kylemore Abbey

    August 15 – 17, 2025

 

In 1984, a Trappist Monk, Fr. Thomas Keating OCSO, founded

Contemplative Outreach, an organization dedicated to sharing the fruits of contemplative prayer. Centering Prayer is a method of prayer that strives to develop a relationship with God, beyond words, thoughts and emotion. Through this silent prayer, retreatants will strive to consent to God’s presence and action in their lives.

This silent Introductory retreat will present four conferences,

Prayer as a Relationship 

Method of Centering Prayer and Practice

Thoughts and Use of the Sacred Word

Deepening the Relationship with God

 

An enhancement to the retreat will be opportunities to pray the Office with the Benedictine Nuns in the new Kylemore Abbey and to  participate in the Eucharist.

 

Participants have options for accomadation

please inquire from Sr. Josephine OSB

 

The retreat will be presented by

Sr. Fionnuala Quinn, a commissioned presenter by Contemplative Outreach Ltd and team.

 

Please register with Fiona at Kylemore Abbey.

 

Contact Information:

RETREATS@KYLEMOREABBEY.IE

 

PHONE: + 353 9552098

 

Kylemore Abbey Retreat Center

Centering Prayer Retreat

     August, 15 – 17, 2025

 

Friday, August 15

03:00pm Check in opens at Kylemore Abbey Retreat Center (Reception)

06:00pm Vespers in Benedictine Community Chapel:

06:30pm Dinner with conversation

07:30pm Welcome–Retreat Opening- Prayer as Relationship (Conference Hall)

(Grand Silence commences until lunch on Sunday)

 

Saturday, August 16

Breakfast on your own

08:00am Morning Prayer in Benedictine Community Chapel (optional)

09:30am The Method of Centering Prayer (Conference Hall)

10:00am Centering Prayer (Conference Hall)

10:30am Coffee/ Tea Break

11:15am Thoughts and Use of the Sacred Word (Conference Hall)

12:15pm Mass in Benedictine Community Chapel

01:00pm Lunch

02:00pm Silent Walk / Reflection / Rest

                 Coffee / Tea Break on your own

04:30pm Centering Prayer (Conference Hall)

04:50pm Deepening Our Relationship with God (Conference Hall)

06:00pm Vespers in Benedictine Community Chapel

06:30pm Supper

07:45pm Compline in Benedictine Community Chapel

 

Sunday, August 17

Breakfast on your own

08:00am Centering Prayer – (Board Room)

08:30am Morning Prayer (Lauds) in Benedictine Community Chapel

09:15 am DVD – Theological Principles for Centering Prayer (Board Room)

10: 00 am  Coffee break

10:30 –11:15      Surrendering to Love (DVD of Thomas Keating)

Closing reflections of the retreat (Board Room)

12:15 am Mass in Benedictine Community Chapel

01:00pm Lunch followed by Departure

Contact Information:

RETREATS@KYLEMOREABBEY.IE

 

May e-bulletin

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heart cells; stock.adobe.com

“What to do with this revelation of a Reality that is beyond reality? A Reality that is beyond being and nonbeing. A Reality that just is, and which has chosen to invite us to IS too. By just being, by just having been born, here we are automatically in relationship to That Which Is. Relationship and being are the same. Being is relationship. You can’t be without being together with everything else that is. …

“This God is awesome but incredibly tender, close, loving, intimate, fatherly, motherly, sisterly, brotherly, friendly, engaged, soul friend, partner, companion, beloved, spouse, and the ultimate unity. We’re never separate from God. We just think so. … When you do Centering Prayer or something similar that cultivates silence, you’re really cultivating intimacy with God, whoever that is. …”

Thomas Keating
excerpted from “Falling Into the Hands of the Living God” video, filmed in 2013

 

Q: I am a long-time traveler on the contemplative and eco-spirituality path. I recently was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and find the tremors to be disruptive to Centering Prayer. Have you any resources to offer?

 

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A: Read Lindsay’s response here.

 

You can read the complete e-bulletin here      https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2025-may-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

February e-bulletin

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Christina Bernazzani, know thyself

“The absolutely certain help you can give to someone else is to work on yourself — that is, by loving more, becoming more humble, by trusting more. You do not usually have to do anythjing else, and that will save you a lot of useless trouble. Yes, God will inspire you to particular things, but you do not worry about the results or the success or lack of it. It is love that is doing the work, and as it becomes purified, it becomes the immaculate love.”

Thomas Keating
God is All in All: The Evolution of the Contemplative Christian Spiritual Journey

 

 

Q: I have been practicing Centering Prayer for more than 20 years, but I have never experienced “evacuation” of emotions during the prayer as Fr. Thomas describes. … [I]s it a negative sign that I am still not able to surrender enough for it to happen during the prayer!? I rarely “go deep,” even after all these years. …

A: Read the full question and Leslee’s response here.

 

 

You can read the complete bulletin at    https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2025-feb-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

January e-bulletin

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“The divine action in daily life and prayer is working with incredible wisdom. It provides us with the same situations over and over again, until we are completely detached all the way down to the soles of our feet. We can postpone this process by disregarding it, but the vocation we have and which we are trying to transmit to others is a desire for a state of mind that does not get discouraged by difficulties. It allows the Spirit to join us in our difficulties.”

Thomas Keating
Illuminations of Love: Words of Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O
illustrations by Meridith Schifsky

Q: I facilitate a contemplation group and there is a challenging man who clearly has anger issues and likes to argue about whatever has been read. How should I deal with this? I find it quite upsetting and disturbing.

A: Read Josie’s response here.

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You can read the complete bulletin at     https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2025-jan-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

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Kreg Yingst @psalmprayers

Incarnatio continua 
The Incarnation continues in you, as you.
We wish you a blessed Christmas season living the Light into this world.

“God is manifesting in each moment as the human consciousness in each of us. As the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984) said, ‘We are the icons of God.’ God experiences Godself in us and awakens God’s dispositions in us, especially humility, forgiveness, and compassion. God receives God’s own love from us in the Spirit and delights in sharing with us the Trinitarian life of total self-giving.”

Thomas Keating
Reflections on the Unknowable

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“The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ.”

Thomas  Merton
Seasons of Celebration

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Q: I have ADHD and I love to use the ideas from the book Praying in Color. Am I praying contemplatively if I use paint or drawing to center myself so I can listen for God? No matter what group I have belonged to, the idea of contemplative prayer is to be still and let go of inner distraction through breathing or a mantra. I know inner distractions are part of being human but sitting still is not easy for me.  

A: Read David’s response here

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You can read the complete e-bulletin at      https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-dec-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

 

November e-bulletin

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“We often project onto others what we most dislike in ourselves. This is why to bring our prayer life into confrontation with the reality of daily life, with its unexpected happenings and ups and downs, is a very important part of the purification and transformative process, and has been called ‘the discipline of the Holy Spirit’.”

Thomas Keating
Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ
($6 USD; available as hardcopy and digital PDF)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q: … During the last few months I get very sleepy during the prayer (especially the second session) and I very often fall asleep, sometimes even for a few hours. I understand it is fine to fall asleep during the prayer. However, falling asleep after the prayer is inconvenient and it makes me feel the prayer is “stealing” my free time this way. … 

A: Read the full question and Joy’s response here.

 

 

 
 

Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness: Wisdom for the Journey
by Kimberly Yaeger, Grand Island, New York, USA

” … I’m not sure how to describe it, but there’s a way in which the point of pain becomes this direct connection to God, this thing that, when you open yourself up to it, stop resisting it, and consent, obliterates all other thoughts and leaves just this deep, strong, almost electric connection. Often I find it arcing through from my seat of intuition to the place(s) of pain. In Open Mind, Open Heart, Fr. Thomas distinguishes non-disturbing versus disturbing thoughts and how each can be let go, which sums up my experience …”

Read more here >>>

 

You can read the complete e-bulletin here        https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-nov-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

October e-bulletin

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Nicholas Roerich, Defender Cloud Archer, 1937

 

“The psychological experience of a separate self sense is the root of all sin [meaning ‘to miss the mark’]. … It is the anxiety, the sense of separation, loneliness, or alienation — and all the negative feelings that flow from them — that are really the inspiration of seeking what we imagine as happiness, wherever it can be found, without being concerned about the consequences. …

“What would be the proper response to missing the [mark, the bullseye] if you were an apprentice? Obviously, try again. … In other words, to allow the divine energy to work through us through the preparation that has been done through many, many failures.”

Thomas Keating
Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ

 

 

 

Q: I am 76 years old and belong to a recovery program. … I practice twice per day for 20 minutes and have done so for over two years. My problem is I don’t seem to be getting any deep “messages” from my subconscious. I’m sure I have a lot of garbage in my subconscious. I wonder if you can help me.

A: Read the full question and Mary’s response here.

 

You can read the complete bulletin here    https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-oct-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

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image courtesy of Ron Barnett

“If we refuse to think of anything except what we are doing or the person that we are with, we develop the habit of being present to the present moment. …

“Attention, then, is a way of doing what we are doing. It cracks the crust of the false self (our psychological awareness of daily life) in which we are the center of the universe while everything else is circling around our particular needs or desires. This is an illusion, but unfortunately it is the heritage we all bring with us from early life.”

Thomas Keating
The Thomas Keating Reader

 

Save the dates

  • Enrichment for Centering Prayer Group Facilitators – Saturday 12 October via Zoom. Please register here.
  • Welcoming Prayer online course, November 4 – 29, 2024, in partnership with Spirituality & Practice. Registration opens soon.
  • “Thomas Keating: The Making of a Modern Mystic — A Dialogue with Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette.” Tuesday December 10 at 1pm Eastern Time via Zoom. More details to come.
  • Date change: United in Prayer Day 2025 will be March 14-15, 2025 via Zoom.

You can read the complete E-bulletin at    https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-sept-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74

August e-bulletin

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Georgiana Houghton, The Risen Lord, 1864

God is more like a verb …. “is-ing” all the time and inviting us to “is,” too. What that involves may take us a lifetime to understand. It is an incomprehensively beautiful vision – only the Ultimate Goodness could have thought it up.

Thomas Keating
God is All in All: The Evolution of the Contemplative Christian Spiritual Journey

 

In honor of Fr. Carl J. Arico’s 90th birthday at the end of this month, please see the many free audio and video teachings he has given over the years — which you can find collected here on this page. Fr. Carl is a founding member of Contemplative Outreach, teacher and retreat leader, and long-time friend and companion with Fr. Keating.

Happy Birthday, Fr. Carl, servant of God!

 

You can read the full bulletin at          https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-august-e-bulletin?e=9aa0837e74