Centering prayer is a form of contemplative prayer. It is a wordless prayer in which a person simply experiences God's presence.
Centering prayer was developed in the 1970's by Trappist monks who wanted to revive the Christian contemplative tradition. Frs. William Meninger, Basil Pennington, and Thomas Keating were monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. Caught up in the spirit of Vatican II, they looked at ancient prayer traditions to find a method of silent prayer that would appeal to people today.
Fr. Keating calls centering prayer "a focused method to reduce obstacles to contemplation, which in our Christian tradition ash always been regarded as a pure gift of God." The name "centering prayer" was derived from another famous Trappist, Thomas Merton, who once noted that contemplative prayer is "centered entirely in the presence of God."
Every March since 1992, the worldwide contemplative movement celebrates United in Prayer Day, during which people gather together at various sites for a day of silent prayer and enrichment.
- Little Black Book, Diocese of Saginaw