Introducing Ourselves – The Regina Centering Prayer Team

We (Judy Corkery, Connie and Stephen Wernikowski) are the current Regina Centering Prayer Team. We have been certified by and are part of the Saskatchewan Chapter of Contemplative Outreach. We are closely associated with the Saskatoon centering prayer group lead by Father Kevin McGee. Centering Prayer in Regina was originally founded and facilitated by Sister Claire Himbeault, RMDM. Sister Claire began this ministry in 2010.

We are committed to the renewal of the contemplative dimension of the Gospel through the teaching and practice of Centering Prayer as taught by the late Father Thomas Keating, OCSO (1923 – 2018), and the worldwide organization Contemplative Outreach.

What is Centering Prayer?

Centering Prayer may be described as a Christ-centred practice of meditation. Centering Prayer is a receptive method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, in which we experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.

Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active kinds of prayer into a receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Christ.

Centering Prayer Regina Team- Our Current Offerings

  • Centering Prayer Introductory Workshops: Centering prayer is a simple meditative practice that we teach through an introductory workshop. We generally offer this workshop each fall on a Saturday.
  • Weekly Group Gatherings: We facilitate a weekly group gathering Mondays from 2 to 3 pm, September to June. These gatherings alternate between in-person meetings and Zoom meetings. In this hour- long gathering we sit together in silent meditative prayer for 20 minutes and then dive deeply into God’s word through a group Lectio Divina Practice, reading the gospel passage for the following Sunday.
  • Presentations to interested groups: We are available to offer presentations about Centering Prayer to interested groups upon request

Contact us:

Stephen Wernikowski – 306-525-5575

Judy Corkery – [email protected], 306-543-2914

Connie Wernikowski – [email protected], 306-551-6933

Links for further information:

Contemplative Outreach Website:

https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/

YouTube Video about Contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer:

The Roots/History of Centering Prayer

The method of Centering Prayer is drawn from the ancient practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the traditional monastic practice of Lectio Divina, the practices described in the anonymous fourteenth century classic The Cloud of Unknowing and in the writings of Christian mystics such as John Cassian, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, and Thomas Merton. Importantly, Centering Prayer is based on the wisdom saying of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

“…when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.”

Matthew 6.6 (New American Bible)

In the 1970s, answering the call of Vatican II, three Trappist monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, Fathers William Meninger, Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating, looked to these ancient sources to develop a simple method of silent prayer for contemporary people. The prayer came to be known as Centering Prayer in reference to Thomas Merton’s description of contemplative prayer as prayer that is “centered entirely on the presence of God.”