The Center Of Attention

Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God. Unfortunately, for some members of the Vatican II sect, prayer is going deep within yourself! Many parishes, schools, and retreats of the sect push what is known as "centering prayer," which is defined as a technique that concentrates on emptying the mind of thought through the repetition of a single word, known as a mantra. If this sounds pagan to you, that's because it is based on Eastern pagan religions, and is being taught to the unsuspecting as a form of "Christian contemplation." The truth and dangers regarding centering prayer will be explored in this post.

Apostate Priest of Eastern Mysticism

 The leading proponent of centering prayer is one Fr. Thomas Keating. Born in 1923, Keating entered an austere Trappist monastery in 1944, and was ordained to the holy priesthood in June of 1949. He was the abbot of St. Joseph's Monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts from 1961 until his retirement in 1981. According to Fr. Keating's own website:

During Fr. Keating's term as abbot at St. Joseph's and in response to the reforms of Vatican II, he invited teachers from the East to the monastery. As a result of this exposure to Eastern spiritual traditions, Fr. Keating and several of the monks at St. Joseph's were led to develop the modern form of Christian contemplative prayer called Centering Prayer. Fr. Keating was a central figure in the initiation of the Centering Prayer movement. He offered Centering Prayer workshops and retreats to clergy and laypeople and authored articles and books on the method and fruits of Centering Prayer. In 1983, he presented a two-week intensive Centering Prayer retreat at the Lama Foundation in San Cristabol, New Mexico, which proved to be a watershed event. Many of the people prominent in the Centering Prayer movement today attended this retreat. Contemplative Outreach was created in 1984 to support the growing spiritual network of Centering Prayer practitioners. Fr. Keating became the community's president in 1985, a position he held until 1999.

Fr. Keating is an internationally renowned theologian and an accomplished author. He has traveled the world to speak with laypeople and communities about contemplative Christian practices and the psychology of the spiritual journey, which is the subject of his Spiritual Journey video and DVD series. Since the reforms of Vatican II, Fr. Keating has been a core participant in and supporter of interreligious dialogue. He helped found the Snowmass Interreligious Conference, which had its first meeting in the fall of 1983 and continues to meet each spring. Fr. Keating also is a past president of the Temple of Understanding and of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

Perhaps the biggest testament to Fr. Keating's dedication to reviving Christian contemplative practices is his choice to live a busy, public life instead of the quiet, monastic life for which he entered the monastery. Fr. Keating's life is lived in the service of sharing the gifts God gave him with others.

The site also states, In the 1970s, answering the call of Vatican II, three Trappist monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, Fathers William Meninger, Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating, looked to these ancient sources to develop a simple method of silent prayer for contemporary people.

(See http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org; Emphasis mine).

Centering prayer, therefore, has its roots in pagan religion and Vatican II; most notably that robber council's damnable declaration Nostra Aetate ("The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions"). In paragraph #2 it states:

Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing "ways," comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself. (Emphasis mine).

 This is another example of the heretical ecclesiology of Vatican II. All religions contain some "ray of Truth" (often referred to as "elements of truth") and are to be "respected." The Church of Christ ( heretically considered distinct from the Catholic Church) is present "partially" in every religion according to how many "elements" it has, but is present "in its fullness" in the Catholic religion which has all the "elements." To have all the truth/elements is best, but to have some truth/elements is also good and can lead to salvation. By this insanity, you could "respect" Satanism because it teaches "some element of truth" such as the existence of fallen angels. Vatican II then pays lip service to Christ as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" after having effectively denied His One True Church and its absolute necessity for salvation.

Fr. Keating and Vatican II stand condemned by Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos (1928), para. # 2:
For which reason conventions, meetings and addresses are frequently arranged by these persons, at which a large number of listeners are present, and at which all without distinction are invited to join in the discussion, both infidels of every kind, and Christians, even those who have unhappily fallen away from Christ or who with obstinacy and pertinacity deny His divine nature and mission. Certainly such attempts can nowise be approved by Catholics, founded as they are on that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule. Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it, and little by little. turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it is called; from which it clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion. (Emphasis mine).

Likewise, Pope Leo XII in Ubi Primum (1824), para. # 14:
It is impossible for the most true God, who is Truth Itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal rewards on their members. For we have a surer word of the prophet, and in writing to you We speak wisdom among the perfect; not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery. By it we are taught, and by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and that no other name under heaven is given to men except the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in which we must be saved. This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church. (Emphasis mine).

Turning to the (False) God Within

 According to Fr. Keating's website: Centering Prayer is a receptive method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. Here we see the Eastern gobbledygook at work. What, exactly, does it mean to be "closer than consciousness itself"? 

 Centering prayer actually isn't prayer at all. Prayer is meant to lift us up in thought to God, Who is totally distinct from us so we can be in a loving relationship with Him. Centering prayer has the person repeat a monosyllabic word ("mantra") to express his "intentionality" of being "one with God." He is to return to this word to prevent any distracting thought (holy or otherwise). The idea is to suspend thinking as much as possible.  Why would you want to do that? The intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own person or being. There he will allegedly experience the presence of the "God who indwells him." You look for God, as if He were a part of you, because in these pagan Eastern ideologies, God and the universe are one. This takes the form of pantheism or panentheism. 

These positions are similar, and in stark opposition of Church teaching that God and the universe are entirely distinct. According to one source that gave what I believe to be an accurate and concise definition:

Pantheism is the belief God and the universe can be equated; that God is the universe. This is different from panentheism (also called monistic monotheism), where all is in God; it says the divine interpenetrates all aspects of the universe and transcends it. So in panentheism the divine is separate, whereas in pantheism the universe itself could be defined as the divine. (See https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-are-pantheism-and-panentheism).

The First Vatican Council infallibly defined:

 1. If anyone shall deny One true God, Creator and Lord of things visible and invisible; let him be anathema. 

2. If anyone shall not be ashamed to affirm that, except matter, nothing exists; let him be anathema. 

3. If anyone shall say that the substance and essence of God and of all things is one and the same; let him be anathema. 

4. If anyone shall say that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least spiritual, have emanated from the Divine substance; or that the Divine essence, by the manifestation and evolution of itself, becomes all things; or, lastly, that God is a universal or indefinite being, which by determining itself constitutes the universality of things, distinct according to genera, species and individuals; let him be anathema. 

5. If anyone does not confess that the world, and all things that are contained in it, both spiritual and material, have been, in their whole substance, produced by God out of nothing; or shall say that God created, not by His will, free from all necessity, but by a necessity equal to the necessity whereby He loves Himself; or shall deny that the world was made for the glory of God; let him be anathema. 

The Evil of Centering Prayer 

•  If centering prayer is to lead us to contemplation, and if contemplation is the experience of the loving presence of God, how can this happen if we reject His grace through loving thoughts of Him by banishing the active thought process? It is more of a hypnotic state than anything contemplative, and cannot be truly thought of as prayer in any Catholic sense of the word.

• It actually goes against the teaching of St. Teresa who warns against suspending intellectual operations on our own (unless/until God gives the grace of infused contemplation): Unless His Majesty has begun to suspend our faculties, I cannot understand how we are to stop thinking, without doing ourselves more harm than good...(See The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chapter 3). 

• Fr. Keating attempts to defend the practice on his website as follows, Centering Prayer does not "empty the mind" or exclude other forms of prayer.  It is not a "technique" that automatically creates "mysticism" or a means "to reach an altered state of consciousness."It is important not to confuse Centering Prayer with certain Eastern techniques of meditation such as Transcendental Meditation. The use of the sacred word in Centering Prayer does not have the particular calming effect attributed to the TM mantra. Nor is the sacred word a vehicle leading to the spiritual level of one's being as it is in TM. There is no cause-and-effect relationship between using the sacred word and arriving at some altered state of consciousness. The sacred word is merely the symbol of the consent of one's will to God's presence and action within based on faith in the doctrine of the Divine Indwelling. "Sacred word"? "Divine Indwelling"? Not only is this Hinduism dressed up as "renewed Christian prayer," but Fr. Keating lies. His comrade, Fr. Basil Pennington (1931-2005), helped him spread centering prayer. Fr. Pennington approved a Catholic participating in TM, despite the fact that the introductory ceremony to TM, the Puja, involves worship of a dead Hindu guru and that the mantras given those being initiated are in fact the names of Hindu "gods." This is a direct mortal sin against the First Commandment. 

• Fr. Keating, despite his protestations to the contrary, admits that his centering prayer work is based on the false ecumenism of Vatican II. He states on his website, It’s a very dismal scene sociologically for a young person who’s open to spiritual growth.So what can the religions do about this?  I think they will have to give a strong witness of nonviolence, of understanding, acceptance, appreciation and friendship to other religions even though they have personal dislikes of some things they do. What is being understood, in other words, is that we believe now, following Vatican II, that the Spirit is working in them also.  That means that the Word of God is manifesting itself in them without the words that we’re familiar with and is perhaps guiding them and is the source of grace for them.The fact that the Incarnation took place means that Christ is in relationship to every human being.  Hence, everybody is religious just by becoming one and is in relationship – you don’t have to get it – you are in relationship to the Source or Creator.  (Emphasis mine). 

• The emptying of the mind by repeating a mantra is explained by proponents of centering prayer as a preparation for infused contemplation and likened to acquired contemplation. This simply is not Catholic teaching. According to the great theologian Garrigou-Lagrange, "If by acquired contemplation we mean a prayer distinct from simplified affective prayer, in which the intellect is totally absorbed by its object and in which we place ourselves by the suppression of all rational activity, we thereby not only create a degree of prayer unknown to St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross, but we likewise oppose their explicit teaching. In fact, St. Teresa repeatedly opposes the total suppression of discourse and the movement of thought as long as one has not received infused contemplation (Life, chapter 12; The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chapter 3; The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chapter 15). (See The Three Ages of the Interior Life, St. Louis, B. Herder Book Co. [1948], 2: 311; Emphasis mine). 

• Finally, there is a completely false notion of sin and human nature that comes with centering prayer. At the center of our being is NOT God; rather, we are born in Original Sin and devoid of God. We need the grace of baptism to have God dwell in us. If we are unfortunate to lose sanctifying grace, we must regain it through the Sacrament of Penance, or at least an Act of Perfect Contrition with the intention of confessing as soon as possible to regain the state of grace. Centering prayer claims you receive the experience of God regardless of your sins, by overcoming the "otherness" of God and finding Him "within"--an idea direct from pagan Hinduism. Again, as Fr. Keating states, "The fact that the Incarnation took place means that Christ is in relationship to every human being.  Hence, everybody is religious just by becoming one and is in relationship – you don’t have to get it – you are in relationship to the Source or Creator."

Conclusion

The apostate priest, Fr. Thomas Keating, has been busy spreading Eastern pagan ideology and pagan prayer under the guise of "silent prayer for contemporary people" in much the same way the Novus Bogus "mass" is an "updated version" of worship. Both are based on the heretical ecclesiology and ecumenism of Vatican II. Most frighteningly, people who practice centering prayer are so eager to "hear something supernatural within themselves," that in such an altered/hypnotic state precipitated by a pagan mantra, they open themselves up to suggestions of demons. It is a pagan practice, not some "updated form of monasticism"  for the laity. 

Centering prayer is aptly named if only for one reason: Like the Novus Bogus, it makes humans the center of its focus. People look for "god within" and to be told they are all good, all holy. Humans get the praise. There is no need for One True Religion, or to repent. It is then that those involved will find themselves in the center of the deception from which they may (God forbid) never escape.