Resting in God Through Silence and Stillness

How does stillness help us embody love? The practice of Centering Prayer invites us to receive and rest in the Divine presence. Colleen Thomas of Contemplative Outreach illustrates how contemplation enriches the spiritual lives of individuals and communities. She shares about her work with younger contemplatives and how Centering Prayer helps us “consent to the presence and action of God within.”
The form of Christian meditation known as Centering Prayer invites practitioners to consent to the presence of God. Sitting in silence for at least twenty minutes, ideally twice a day, the prayer enlists the help of a “sacred word” to serve as a placeholder for the consenting intention. Eventually, the practice of consenting to the Divine presence becomes a way of embodying the Divine presence of love in oneself. The co-architect of Centering Prayer and founder of Contemplative Outreach Thomas Keating wrote about “four consents,” the final of which is the “consent to be transformed” into our true selves: “The true self might be described as our participation in the divine life manifesting in our uniqueness.”¹ The Divine presence is, after all, not elsewhere; it’s both “over there” and “right here” within us!
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Colleen Thomas began working with Contemplative Outreach to serve younger contemplative communities by supporting their practice and discovery of Centering Prayer. She and fellow colleagues knew that younger people the world over shared a dedication to the practice of Centering Prayer, but they looked around at who showed up on their Zoom screens at Contemplative Outreach events and did not see younger people attending. Colleen and colleagues set out to change that.

“The true self might be described as our participation in the divine life manifesting in our uniqueness.” —Thomas Keating
Contemplative Outreach is a small nonprofit with global impact, thanks to the leadership of volunteers in local chapters of people all over the world dedicated to the practice of Centering Prayer. Working as the Diversity Outreach Coordinator for Contemplative Outreach, Colleen Thomas also focuses on creating community for BIPOC persons who practice Centering Prayer.
For Colleen, Centering Prayer is an embodied practice. She describes, “When I’m facilitating groups or practicing on my own, I always begin with an invitation to take a couple of deep, intentional breaths, to connect to our bodies, to bring our awareness to these bodies. I say that we are consenting to the presence and action of God within these bodies. In that way, Centering Prayer is embodying presence, because even in the language of the guidelines of centering prayer, we say we’re consenting to the presence and action of God within.”
Colleen points out that contemplation is different from contemplative practice. In contemplation, we are being, not thinking. Centering Prayer is a method that can lead us to the unitive reality of contemplation, but the method is not the end. “It’s one of many methods or tools to prepare me for the contemplative act of just resting in God, being in God, that can happen.” The embodied presence that contemplation inspires can happen anywhere, whether walking, driving, or doing the dishes.
“When I’m facilitating groups or practicing on my own …. I say that we are consenting to the presence and action of God within these bodies. In that way, Centering Prayer is embodying presence … we’re consenting to the presence and action of God within.”
—Colleen Thomas

Contemplative Outreach supports people embodying the presence of love through teaching Centering Prayer. In particular, Colleen points to Centering Prayer intensive retreats as an opportunity where the experience of Divine presence is heightened. She explains that such intensive retreats consist of roughly four hours of seated meditation each day for eight to ten days. Colleen has gone on silent retreats before but praised the unique intensity of her first Centering Prayer intensive. “I really experienced embodied presence in that retreat,” she said.
She also highlights the opportunity of facilitating the first ever BIPOC Centering Prayer retreat as one through which she experienced a communally embodied Divine presence. She says, “When you’re practicing Centering Prayer in a room with other people and sharing the silence that’s never completely silent, because there’s a cough, a shuffle, a shift in a chair, in a Centering Prayer circle with other human bodies, my awareness of that presence is so much more intense. It’s like we’re all held in almost a tangible way in that silence.”

“In contemplation, we are being, not thinking. Centering Prayer is a method that can lead us to the unitive reality of contemplation, but the method is not the end.”
Ahead of his time, the Trappist monk and founder of Contemplative Outreach, Thomas Keating, communicated his teachings in the 1980s by recording videos about Centering Prayer and sharing them with the world. Keating envisioned small gatherings of like-spirited people in an embodied community of practice as a powerful way to deepen one’s spiritual path. He convened the “Snowmass Conferences,” gatherings on spiritual practice that included widely diverse conversation partners, from Native American to Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish contemplative practitioners. Given Keatings’s gift for bringing people together, it seems fitting that Colleen is traversing a video series known as the “Spiritual Journey Program” alongside fellow younger contemplatives. Each week, she meets with others, watches a video on Centering Prayer and human transformation, and discusses the journey of faith in small breakout groups. She said, “It’s going to probably take us about three years, but we’re on a journey, and anyone can come and drop by and experience that.”
Reflect with Us
Have you experienced a time when contemplation has transformed your sense of self or connection to God? What practices have been helpful for you to “Yes” to Divine presence? Share your reflection with us.
We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.
Reference:
[1] Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation (Element, Inc, 1992), 48.