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NCR Podcasts

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 1 of 4

Oct 13, 2009

Episode 1: Rediscovering the tradition (17 min.)
"Centering prayer is not something new," Keating tells interviewer Tom Fox. "It is simply an effort to update the apophatic contemplative tradition coming down from Gregory of Nyssa and The Cloud [of Unknowing] and the Carmelites, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila." Keating set about rediscovering this tradition for what he calls "the grass-roots part of the church, the parishes and the schools."

This is an encore presentation. This podcast was first aired in December 2007.

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 2 of 4

by NCR Podcasts

Oct 13, 2009

Episode 2: Consenting to the invitation to transformation (16 min.)
Centering prayer is a gift of grace, Keating says. "But to sit there waiting for it to drop from heaven is not the right approach to awaken something that is already an innate power of grace." Thus the need for practice and discipline. Read Matthew 6:6. Keating also talks about conversations he has had with philosopher Ken Wilbur.

This is an encore presentation. This podcast was first aired in December 2007.

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 3 of 4

by NCR Podcasts

Oct 13, 2009

Episode 3: Encountering silence (19 min.)
Silence is so much an aspect of the spirituality of the old and New Testament. Everything comes out of silence and returns to it. So it should be a part of education," Fr. Keating said. "It is through the practice of silence that we begin to become vulnerable to the true self and the supernatural organism we receive with grace and baptism. … We think that even preschoolers should be introduced to silence," Fr. Keating tells Tom Fox. He also discusses original sin.

This is an encore presentation. This podcast was first aired in December 2007.

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 4 of 4

by NCR Podcasts

Oct 12, 2009

Episode 4: The need for renewal (19 min.)
Forty years of studying contemplation has led Fr. Keating to this conclusion: "All of Christianity and especially the institutional aspects and structures of it need to be regularly renewed to ensure they are transparent of the original intention of the Gospel," which he says is "the way of transformed life. He talks about recovering a contemplative dimension for our society that will give us the courage to face pressing social needs as well as the ordinary human problems of our private lives. Fr. Keating also describes a "contemplative Mass."

This is an encore presentation. This podcast was first aired in December 2007.

Feature Series ›

NCR Podcasts

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 1 of 4

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 2 of 4

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 3 of 4

The gift of contemplative prayer -- 4 of 4

Our hunger for wisdom Part -- 1

Our hunger for wisdom Part -- 2

Science, fear, God and the mystical -- 1 of 3

Science, fear, God and the mystical -- 2 of 3

Science, fear, God and the mystical -- 3 of 3