rother Fire Contemplative Outreach is a network of centering prayer groups in the Adirondack region and an affiliate of Contemplative Outreach Ltd. For more on Centering Prayer visit the Contemplative Outreach webpage.

Centering Prayer Relates to Traditional Faith
                                                            by Fr. Joseph Byrne

raditional faith, simply stated, is the kind experienced by people who believe with a spontaneous childlike quality. In my life I've encountered these people almost every day. They have an inner capacity to believe. You tell them that God dwells in their innermost being and they simply believe it to be true.

lack of understanding of God's mystery does not impede the flow of His power and strength within them. And they appear to have a constant joy through their attentiveness to the action of the Holy Spirit in the depths of their being. As a result they look forward to periods of silence and to the pure simplicity of centering prayer.
Simple faith always conquers because the surrender leading to belief in God's loving presence, power and action leads back to the prayer of simple faith. Centering in God's  presence disposes us to the gift of contemplation and resting in His presence.

Somehow, because of their faith, they live in the reality of their baptism. You don't have to explain the trinity to them because their simple and pure faith brings them into the reality of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
These good people come from every condition of human life. Many are well educated and many have very little education. Some are poor and some are rich. Their natural gifts and talents are of varied abundance. Somehow, no doubt due to God's infinite mercy, all of them are blessed with pure and simple faith. As a result, they are ripe candidates for the practice of centering prayer. Instinctively they recognize God's presence in their lives. Their