Aus Truth-Quark
Thomas Keating Consultants Father Thomas Keating is a Trappist monk as well as priest who is known as one of the architects of a contemporary method of prayer called Centered Prayer. Aside from that, he is also a teacher, writer, as well as the Integral Institute’s Spirituality branch’s founding member. He still continues to be popular voice in Christian Centering Prayer, which is a movement with the help of his established organization called Contemplative Outreach. This is a network across the globe, which is committed in renewing the contemplative dimension of the Gospel.
In the year of 1923, Keating was born in New York. In the year 1944, he entered Cistercian Order. This is based in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. In the year 1958, he was appointed as the Superior of St. Benedict’s Monastery of Snowmass in Colorado. After 3 years, Thomas Keating became the Abbot of the St. Joseph’s Abbey Spencer in Massachusetts. He did this after he retired in Snowmass, which is a small community in a particular mountain that has over a dozen of monks in the year 1981. Nowadays, Snowmass is still present.
Though the movement of Centering Prayer didn’t officially take offer until the late 70s, Fr. Thomas Keating became interested in the Christianity’s mystical roots since the year 1940s. When Thomas Keating was still studying in Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea, he had experienced sudden intuition of the significance of Scripture as a spiritual metaphor that points to the men and women’s possibility to experience a direct union in the Divine by spiritual practice.
There are tons of scriptures he’d discovered to help anyone to have more faith. These also lead to help those who want to boost their connection in spirituality. However, since not all know how to, Thomas Keating has published some books that can be the key for anyone to be more spiritual as well as religious. Open Mind, Open Heart is one of the books he published in 1986. This book was made for those who need assistance in their needs for transformational practice in the world of Christianity. These are some books that he published. Each of this book is made to meet the needs of those who want to know more about spirituality.
At present, Father Thomas Keating continues to spread the word about spirituality. Even though other people do not know about him, his legacy is important in today’s world and his existence has helped some people to gain more faith. www.youtu.be/W2MrMDpwchA/
Fr. Thomas Keating is a spiritual guide and one of the founders of Contemplative Outreach, LTD. It is also an international network that is committed to improving the contemplative facet of the gospel in people’s lives.
He is also considered as one of the greatest foremost teachers of a Contemplative Prayer within the Christian tradition. Keating is a prominent writer and a mentor. He also remains as a powerful voice within the Christian Centering Prayer group.
Know More About Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer is a silent prayer method that will prepare people to achieve the blessing of a contemplative prayer. It is a prayer in which people experience the presence of God within them. It is a prayer approach to establish a relationship with the Lord. Though this, you can also improve such relationship.
The use of Centering Prayer is valuable. However, you need to remember that it is not something that is supposed to replace those other prayer types. Rather, it is meant to add a deeper meaning to all the different kinds of prayers. This will bring assistance to all the members of the network. This can help them transform their active prayer into a more approachable type of prayer. This type of prayer also emphasizes prayer as something that is personal or creating a personal relationship with God. Its main purpose is also to deepen the relationship of people with God and the living Christ.
Its impacts are actually ecclesial as a prayer is meant to establish communities of love and faith, and will bind all members together in a mutual love and relationship. According to Thomas Keating, centering technique is a very easy way for an individual to be open to God and enable His presence to be inside him/her.
Most of the time, when people pray, they just talk and discuss what things they want to attain. They mostly fail to remember to listen to Him. Centering prayer is a type of prayer that is spoken in calmness and quietness. Through this, you can listen to the answers provided by God to your prayer. God has different ways of answering to your prayers. It sometimes depends on your condition, or how willing you are to listen or receive the answer.
There is one thing that Thomas Keating put emphasis on. According to him, the focal source of prayer is an internal silence. You may believe that prayer is something as feelings or thoughts that are expressed through your words, but this is only another way of expressing its because deep prayer lies within your thoughts and what is in your mind.