Center for Contemplative Living

Spiritual Journey Series

“A total surrender of ourselves to the spiritual journey is required…When we begin the spiritual journey in earnest with a program of Centering Prayer as a path to contemplation, we are initiating a dynamic that involves our personal responses to Christ and affects our whole lives. These practices, along with our prayer, are a holistic response to Christ’s invitation,

‘Come follow me.’”
From Invitation to Love, by Fr. Thomas Keating

Based on Thomas Keating’s Spiritual Journey video series, this program guides participants to the transformative awakening and healing to be found along the contemplative path of consent to God’s presence and action within each of us. It incorporates psychological, as well as spiritual, aspects of dysfunction and healing as a means to make the mystical more accessible to 21st century pilgrims. “The language of psychology --- is better understood than the traditional language of spiritual theology.”

”This Spiritual Journey series consists of an Introductory Workshop followed by eight courses based on the videotape series by Fr. Thomas Keating, designed to support the daily practice of Centering Prayer. These courses are “an attempt to provide a road map, as it were, to the journey that begins when Centering Prayer is seriously undertaken.” “It seeks to point to the recognizable landmarks on the journey, as well as to its ultimate destination.

The richness of the material presented by Fr. Thomas does not age or lose its impact. Those of you who have had a Centering Prayer practice for several years will be enriched as you hear Fr. Thomas from a new place in your heart. A bonus for students repeating any class is a significant reduction in the price of the class. Your cost is half-price. Come renew your commitment and your practice!

Class Format:

The Spiritual Journey Series is foundational for our program at Contemplative Outreach of Colorado. The classes are facilitated by trained facilitators, each of whom has completed a three-year menteeship. Our goal is for facilitators to integrate the teachings and practices of Father Thomas into their lives and relationships before they begin the facilitating role.

The first five courses all follow a similar format. The following are the requirements for these courses:

Participants will take the Introductory Workshop before they begin the series. We do make some exceptions for this.
The classes should be taken in order, beginning with Course 1 - Basic Centering Prayer
Each course uses a specific book that needs to be purchased prior to class. The book is listed on the course registration page and the cost of the book is not included in the course price.
For questions regarding the classes, please contact us at (303) 698-7729 or Staff@centeringprayer.net

The Spiritual Journey Series courses involve Weekly Self Study and a Zoom discussion session. A class website is created for each class which contains the content (reference documents, videos, Zoom information, etc) for the class.

For each weekly class, you will receive assignments and information to complete before attending the weekly class Zoom session, including:

Two 30-minute videos of Father Keating teaching about specific topics. The information in the videos is important for our class discussion. Take notes of your learning, reflections and questions.
A Facilitator’s Introduction and handouts.
Integral reading assignments which will expand your understanding and deepen your spiritual growth.
Some weeks there may be optional videos and readings which will build on the teachings of Father Keating.

The format for the weekly 1.5 hour Zoom session is:

We begin on time with 20 minutes of Centering Prayer.
Facilitators introduce and reflect upon the topic(s) for the week’s class. Generally 10 to 20 minutes.
Class discussion. This is the most meaningful part of the class, and we hope you will come with your own questions, reflections and experiences.

Note: Each class is offered twice each session; one class is on Tuesday Evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 PM Mountain Time and another class is Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:30 PM Mountain Time. If you cannot come to your weekly class, you can attend the other offering that week.

Introduction to Centering Prayer Workshop