This form of meditation, Centering Prayer, is a way to be quiet and invite God into your heart.

It centers our attention on God by using a word or phrase (mantra) such as either of these:

• Jesus I trust You
• Come Holy Spirit

The Benedictine priest John Main recommended Maranatha.

In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, it means Come Lord Jesus. This ancient mantra was used by the first Christian monks, the Desert Fathers. Saint Paul ends his first letter to the church of Corinth with this word.

Sit comfortably in a straight chair, preferably with arms. Remember that God is near and that He wants you to come into His presence.

Relax, close your eyes and empty your mind of all distractions. Breathe deeply in and exhale slowly out.

Select a word or phrase and slowly repeat it to yourself. After a few minutes, stop thinking about the meaning and allow the mantra to lead you to an awareness of the Spirit that Jesus has sent into your heart.

Repeat the mantra every time your mind starts to wander. Start with 3 minutes and build up to about 20 minutes.

Now we begin to experience the presence of the Lord. For Father Main, prayer was not talking or thinking about God, but being with God.

In Prayer of the Heart, don’t have any demands or expectations and don’t try to evaluate your meditation. Just be still and learn to wait on the Lord.

Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage. It was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970s by three Trappist monks.

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