Official Website of the Centering Prayer Network Australia

Our Vision:

 

The mission of the Centering Prayer Network Australia is to foster the process of transformation in Christ and in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength, and with all your mind;
and your neighbor as yourself.
Luke 10:27

 

Centering Prayer Network Australia is an evolving ecumenical community with an expanding vision and deepening practice, serving the changing needs of Christian contemplatives. We fulfill our Vision through attraction to the Centering Prayer practice not by proselytizing. The gift of contemplative practice enables us to bring an attitude of humility, listening and service to our daily activities.

 

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,

who is above all, through all, and in all.

Ephesians 4: 5-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Centering Prayer Logo is taken from the monogram of Job’s Redeemer

which is the symbol of patient waiting.  It depicts:
Alpha and Omega – Symbol of God – the beginning and the end.
Flowers – Symbol of the abundance of Life – the Resurrection.
Cross – Symbol of Salvation.
Circle – Sign of the on-going process.

The symbol has been seen in several different locations:
 

• On a church in the ancient land of Uz referenced in the Bible as the place where Job lived. Scripture references to Uz are found in Job 1:1, Jeremiah 25:20 and Lamentations 4:21.

• Etched on a Byzantine stone uncovered in an excavation in Jerusalem at the southern wall of the Old City near the Huldah Gates by the original stairs to the temple.

• On the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves in the Galilee area. The symbol is seen above the main entrance of the church.

______________________________________________________________________

The above Monogram/Logo of Job’s Redeemer 
is the official Symbol of Contemplative Outreach Ltd, 
and is used internationally world wide, as the Symbol for 
Centering Prayer.

Centering Prayer Network Australia (also known as Contemplative Outreach Australia)
is also identified by this Symbol, there should be no other Symbol to represent us.

______________________________________________________________________

 

The heart and soul of Centering Prayer is consenting to God’s presence and action in our lives. The Alpha and Omega acknowledges that our God is at the center of our consent and being. The Cross is a symbol of our dying to our thoughts and commentaries. In the letting go our false self gives way to the flowering of the new self. This is an ongoing process bringing us deeper into Divine Intimacy.  Like Job, our patient waiting and consenting will be our gift of gratitude.

 

“Job blessed the name of God in his utter desolation.

Instead of looking upon his condition as ruin, he called it the name of God

and by blessing it he protested that the divine will under whatever name or form it might appear,

even though expressed by the most terrible catastrophes, was holy.” 
― Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence

______________________________________________________________________

 

Our Theological Principles:

 

Fill me with joy by having the same attitude, sharing the same love,

being united in spirit, and keeping one purpose in mind.

Phillipians 2:2

 

• Centering Prayer Network Australia is an ecumenical community of individuals and Centering Prayer groups committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life.

 

• A commitment to the daily practice of Centering Prayer is the primary expression of belonging.

 

• Listening to the word of God in scripture through the practice of Lectio Divina is encouraged, particularly its movement into contemplative prayer, which a daily practice of Centering Prayer facilitates.

 

• The source of Centering Prayer is the Indwelling Trinity. Its practice consists of responding to the call of the Holy Spirit to consent to the Divine presence and action within.

 

• The Divine presence affirms our basic core of goodness made in the image of God.

 

• The Divine action is the process of transformation in Christ which inspires and deepens our consent.

 

• The contemplative dimension of the Gospel manifests as an ever-deepening union with Christ and the practical caring for others that flows from this relationship. It reveals the deeper meaning of Christ's life and teaching.

 

• Our relationship with the living Christ is the bond uniting us together in mutual love.

 

• While formed by our respective denominations, we are united in our common search for God and our experience of Christ through Centering Prayer.

 

• We identify with the Christian contemplative heritage in which Centering Prayer is rooted. We recognize this heritage as the common ground for Christian unity.

 

• We affirm our solidarity with the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred traditions.

 

• Through the continuing practice of Centering Prayer, we experience a deepening commitment to the needs and rights of each member of the human family and an increasing respect for the interdependence of all creation.

 

• We foster a spirit of unity, generosity and utmost charity in all our relationships.

 

• Following the teachings of Jesus, we exercise leadership through an attitude of humility, listening and service.

 

• We recognize and maintain a spiritual relationship with Saint Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado.

 

• We acknowledge that any good accomplished by (the) Contemplative Outreach (Network around the world) is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Our Administrative Principles

 

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;

there are different forms of service but the same Lord; 
there are different workings but the same God 
who produces all of them in everyone.

I Corinthians 12:4-7

 

• As part of Contemplative Outreach International, the Centering Prayer Network Australia is an evolving community with an expanding vision and deepening practice, serving the changing needs of Christian contemplatives.

 

• As members of this evolving community we are responsible to foster and transmit the Vision of Contemplative Outreach International.

 

• We fulfill our Vision through attraction to the Centering Prayer practice not by proselytizing.

 

• The gift of contemplative practice enables us to bring an attitude of humility, listening and service to our daily activities.

 

• We reach decisions through discernment and consensus.

 

• We serve in leadership, ordinarily in a voluntary capacity.

 

• All who provide services do so in consideration of, and in balance with their personal, family, and professional responsibilities.

 

• We avoid indebtedness and owning real estate in order to remain free to devote our resources to sharing the gift of Centering Prayer.

 

• We employ staff and contractors as our growth may require.

 

• We cooperate with church authorities in the areas where we work, but do not seek to become a religious or lay institute.

 

• We wish to remain accessible to every one. For this reason, we do not endorse particular causes or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social. As private individuals, we act according to our conscience.