Centered Living: The Way of Centering Prayer [Paperback]

M. Basil Pennington (Author), Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1999

In an easy-to-understand, non-technical language, internationally renowned author M. Basil Pennington combines testimonies of practitioners, updated guidelines, theological reflections, and helpful hints for teaching others in an exploration of all the essential information about centering prayer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

M. Basil Pennington, OCSO (1931-2005), the Trappist monk known worldwide for his efforts to help the Church re-find its contemplative dimension through the Centering Prayer movement, was admired as a speaker, teacher, and author. Pennington published more than sixty books and 1,000 articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Liguori/Triumph (August 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764804952
• ISBN-13: 978-0764804953
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,140,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Reappraisal, February 8, 2000

By 

C.G. (Southeast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Centered Living: The Way of Centering Prayer (Paperback)

After two decades of practicing Eastern meditation, I found what I felt was missing, thanks to Centering Prayer: the presence of the Personhood of God. (I'd grown tired of mind traps and fruitless stillness, and methods emphasing words, breath control, where meditation really degenerated into my clinging to basically repetitive superstitious gesture. Actually, I'm grateful for such experience because it helps me avoid such things in practicing Centering Prayer). The humble, insightful M. Basil Pennington and his colleagues offer a work that is conversational, not didactic. This book boldly asserts the reality of a loving God. All those years I'd focused on the Void, the Impersonal, an inner Something, Someone, kept prodding me, which I initially rejected as old Catholic-school training that was re-surfacing. Now, for me, the big Drawing Card is that the Divine Person glows as the crux, the heart, the very beauty, of this book. Also, Rabbi Kushner, in his foreword, speaks poignantly on becoming one with God as a "Heart Person" in life. So many insightful people, from many spiritual paths have generously contributed to this book. I'm grateful for it.

1 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not catholic teaching, October 1, 2009

By 

arturo escobedo (new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Centered Living: The Way of Centering Prayer (Paperback)

Father Pennington has wandered into Buddhism. Centering prayer is a form of Buddhist meditation. Read the documents from the Vatican entitled: Jesus Christ bearer of the water of life and Instruction on some aspects of Christian meditation issued by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.