BLESSED SACRAMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH
Waiting
THE CENTERING PRAYER C
atholic speaker Mark Hart once said that “prayer doesn’t ‘help’ our relationship with God — prayer is our relationship with God.” After all, it’s difficult to have a relationship without communication. We all have our favorite ways to pray — for instance, it may be the Rosary, or Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Perhaps you like to pray in the car, or out on a walk. However, for many of us, even if we take the time to pray, we find that we are the ones doing most of the talking. It can be hard to hear the still, small voice of God in the noise of our everyday lives. However, there is a group of parishioners who faithfully pray at home — and together, when circumstances permit — with the intention of quieting their hearts and minds, to listen for God’s voice. “I was praying one morning and I realized my
prayer seemed to be about me and my family,” says Les Lucht. “I had known a little bit about Centering Prayer and I thought, ‘That’s about the most pure prayer you can say.’ You sit for 20 minutes and you listen with your heart; it’s not about this or that or wanting my prayers answered. It’s just a pure prayer. You go, you ask for nothing, you turn your life over to God and let Him do the work.” Centering Prayer is a practice that requires sitting quietly and seeking to focus on being open to whatever God wants to speak to you, as an individual, for 20-30 minutes. “Centering prayer is about clearing your mind and allowing God speak to your heart,” says Les, who started the group a number of years ago after attending a retreat.
Parishioners Les and Diane Lucht practice Centering Prayer in their home.
