Thomas Keating: A Journey of Contemplation and Meditation

Abstract

This paper explores the life, teachings, and contemplative practices of Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, spiritual teacher, and pioneer of Christian meditation. It examines his understanding of contemplative prayer, the development of the Centering Prayer method, and his concept of “the divine therapy”—a transformative process through which spiritual growth and inner healing emerge. Keating’s work has helped renew the ancient contemplative tradition within Christianity, making it accessible to modern spiritual seekers.

1. Introduction

Father Thomas Keating (1923–2018) was a towering figure in the revival of Christian contemplation in the modern era. As a Trappist monk, author, and co-founder of the Centering Prayer movement, he helped reintroduce the practice of silent prayer as a central element of Christian spiritual life.

Born on March 7, 1923, in New York City, Keating was raised in a privileged, intellectually curious environment. From an early age, he was drawn to both Catholic spirituality and the mystical tradition of prayer. His life’s work would come to embody a synthesis of ancient Christian wisdom and contemporary psychological insight, helping modern Christians encounter the living presence of God in silence and stillness.¹

2. Biographical Overview

Keating attended Yale University and later transferred to Fordham University, where he became increasingly interested in the contemplative dimension of Christian life. In 1944, he entered the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.²

He was elected abbot of the monastery in 1961, a position he held for two decades. During this time, the reforms of Vatican II encouraged a return to the sources of monastic spirituality, including the Desert Fathers, Lectio Divina, and the inner life of prayer. It was within this context that Keating, together with William Meninger and Basil Pennington, developed and began teaching Centering Prayer, an updated form of Christian contemplative practice rooted in ancient tradition.³

After stepping down as abbot in 1981, Keating devoted himself to teaching Centering Prayer full time. He founded Contemplative Outreach, an international spiritual network dedicated to spreading the practice, which now includes thousands of groups worldwide.⁴

3. Contemplation and Meditation Training

Keating defined contemplative prayer as the “way of pure faith”—a path not of emotional highs or mental stimulation, but of radical openness to the presence of God.⁵ Contemplation, in his view, was not something attained but received. It is God’s gift, unfolding in silence and stillness, beyond thoughts, words, or images.

“Contemplative prayer,” he wrote, “is the opening of mind and heart—our whole being—to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words, and emotions.”⁶ He emphasized that this kind of prayer is not the absence of thoughts but the freedom from attachment to them. The goal is not to “empty the mind” but to gently rest in God’s indwelling presence.⁷

Keating taught that we do not need to “go anywhere” to find God. Instead, we consent to God’s presence and action already occurring within us. This inner shift—moving from seeking to surrender—makes contemplative prayer not just a spiritual discipline, but a transformative relationship.⁸

4. Centering Prayer

A. Origins and Method

The practice of Centering Prayer was born in the early 1970s when Keating and his fellow monks sought a method of prayer that could respond to the growing interest in Eastern meditation while remaining authentically Christian.⁹

Centering Prayer is a method of consent. It involves choosing a sacred word—such as “Jesus,” “peace,” or “Abba”—as a symbol of your intention to open to God. Sitting in silence, the practitioner gently returns to this word whenever they notice they have become engaged with thoughts.¹⁰

The four basic guidelines of the practice are:
1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your consent.
2. Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
3. Silently introduce the sacred word.
4. When engaged with thoughts, return gently to the sacred word.¹¹

Keating summarized the process with what he called the “4 R’s”:
• Resist no thought
• Retain no thought
• React to no thought
• Return ever-so-gently to the sacred word¹²

This gentle rhythm of release and return helps the practitioner cultivate interior silence, allowing the unconscious mind to open to divine healing.

B. The Divine Therapy

Keating’s most unique and far-reaching contribution may be his concept of “the divine therapy.” He taught that Centering Prayer initiates a process in which the unconscious mind—with all its emotional wounds, psychological attachments, and hidden programs for happiness—is gradually healed by God’s love.¹³

This divine therapy does not always feel peaceful. Sometimes, old emotions and patterns rise to the surface. But for Keating, this is not a failure of prayer—it is part of the healing process. “Silence is God’s first language,” he often said. And in that silence, God’s light reveals and transforms what needs to be purified.¹⁴

Through regular practice, the practitioner may begin to experience greater interior freedom, emotional balance, and deep spiritual intimacy. The result is not just personal peace, but the capacity for radical compassion and presence to others.

5. Conclusion

The life and teaching of Father Thomas Keating have profoundly reshaped the spiritual landscape of the modern Christian world. Through his leadership in Centering Prayer, his deep commitment to inner transformation, and his framing of contemplation as a kind of grace-filled therapy, Keating reintroduced the ancient path of mystical union to a new generation of seekers.

He taught that the heart of prayer is consent to God’s presence, and that every soul, regardless of background, has access to that presence through silence, surrender, and simplicity.

Today, Keating’s legacy lives on through the thousands of Contemplative Outreach groups, through his many books and recorded teachings, and in the lives of those who, like him, have heard the call to go deeper into the stillness where God dwells.

Footnotes
1. Carl McColman, Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints and Sages (Hampton Roads Publishing, 2016), 173–175.
2. Gerald Twomey, Thomas Keating: From Yale to the Monastery (Lantern Books, 2010), 28–35.
3. Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel (Continuum, 2006), xiv–xv.
4. Contemplative Outreach, “About Us,” contemplativeoutreach.org.
5. Thomas Keating, Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer (Bloomsbury, 1997), 3.
6. Ibid., 6.
7. Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation (Bloomsbury, 1994), 8.
8. Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart, 17.
9. Keating, Pennington, and Meninger, Finding Grace at the Center: The Beginning of Centering Prayer (St. Bede’s, 1978).
10. Thomas Keating, The Heart of the World: An Introduction to Contemplative Christianity (Crossroad, 2008), 25–26.
11. Contemplative Outreach, “Centering Prayer Method,” contemplativeoutreach.org.
12. Ibid.
13. Keating, Invitation to Love, 75–78.
14. Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer (Shambhala, 2016), 94.

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Discernment for the Contemplative

Purification for the Contemplative

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