“Centering Prayer is a receptive method of silent 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."

- William P. Brown, Deep Calls to Deep

Throughout the past weeks, my Centering Prayer Group has been praying Lectio, using the weekly Gospels of late Summer. Much of the parables of Jesus centered on the process of gardening.  The process reminded me, as a retired professional nurse, how care was designed by following a similar process; the Five Steps of the Nursing Process.  Very similar to gardening, we find these steps yield fruitful  outcomes. These thoughts resonated greatly with me.  Upon sharing this with our COP Service Team, our team designed an afternoon of enrichment  for our Pittsburgh Chapter on the afternoon of November 4th.  We will look at our Pittsburgh Chapter with a focus on processes like gardening and nursing. This involves interactive time sharing  what works and what does not work, and what we may implement going forward.  The final step must always involve evaluation or taking stock.  Highlighting our time together will be joy and gratitude for the awesome amount of Servant Leaders who remain committed to Centering Prayer and our Chapter.

To become practitioners of Centering Prayer, we followed a process to nurture our relationship with God.   This, you may agree, has opened us up to the gift of contemplation. Through our commitment to a daily practice of centering prayer we find that the activities of daily life are prompted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  This is the fruit of a contemplative attitude. This attitude recognizes that the word of God and Source of all creation sustains everything, in a personal way.

Our Pittsburgh Chapter has many resources, primarily our members.  Let us gather in joyful gratitude for our past year, and with anticipation of Christmas, the Season of Light, the New Year and our celebrating the upcoming 40th Anniversary of Contemplative Outreach in 2024.  The  Harvest Enrichment on November 4th,  will bring us together, for Centering Prayer, interactive reflection, and time to share a simple meal together. There will be an optional Introduction to Centering Prayer Workshop in the morning.  The Harvest Reflection will occur from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  You are welcome to attend both morning and / or afternoon events. You may click on the separate agenda sheets by clicking here:  Intro  and or HARVEST ENRICHMENT
We are pleased to offer this event at a new location for our Chapter at Meenan Hall on the St. Mary’s of Divine Redeemer Parish Campus.