Our discovery of God is, in a way, God’s discovery of us....We only know Him in so far as we are known by Him, and our contemplation of Him is a participation in His contemplation of Himself.......We become contemplative when God discovers Himself in us. Thomas Merton
God is waiting to show mercy to you...blessed are all who hope in God...God will be gracious to you when your cry for help rings out.
Isaiah 30: 18
After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. Jn 20: 27
Jesus’ Baptism by John
Jesus demonstrated receptivity by being baptized by John; this receptive act inaugurated his life’s mission.
A Path of Opening & Receiving
We cannot pray or journey along the contemplative path by ourselves. We need God. The Christian contemplative tradition is all about opening to and receiving the abundance of God’s being, life and love.
Yet how do we receive God? Even though God’s giftedness is always available to us, we often feel cut off from it. Building upon Thomas Keating’s description of the presences of Christ in liturgical worship, this branch of the Path of Centering Prayer illuminates a deepening process in which you open to the divine mystery. Why not learn how to fully receive the tremendous spiritual gifts being showered upon you?
Beyond liturgy, God uses every available means to reach and transform those on the contemplative journey. Without a way to recognize God coming to us, it is easy to miss out on grace. In ignorance, we may even resist the very thing that can become a channel for us of God’s transforming love.
The Receptive Way builds on the liturgical teaching of the presences of Christ by pointing towards the many ways that grace is available to us. For example, the early Fathers of the Church said that Creation -- the natural world -- is a “book of revelation” not unlike scripture. Learning to receive God’s presence and action through Creation helps us respect and care for the delicate balance of life on earth. The Receptive Way opens to the divine source of all life so that our precious time on this earth can better express Christ’s revelation of unity.
Creation, community, culture, crises, and more can all be channels through which God is working, offering us assistance on our contemplative journey. The greatest help we can receive in prayer, and in life, is God’s presence and action.
This branch allows us to take in the immense treasures in the Christian contemplative tradition, enabling us to travel along the Path of Centering Prayer more easily and effectively.
Knowing how to open our hands to receive a gift, and knowing when God is offering us a different gift, keeps us on the path of transformation in God throughout the changes and challenges of the contemplative journey.
Grace is the presence and action of Christ at every moment of our lives.
Thomas Keating
Now when all the people had been baptized and while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily shape, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.
Luke 3: 21- 22
Are you feeling cut off from God’s presence, God’s giftedness, or God’s assistance on your spiritual journey? Have your old ways of receiving God’s grace changed or dried up?
The Sixth Branch:
