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Contemplative Prayer
L.M.: The present moment. Now is it important to have a teacher for learning contemplative prayer?
E.M.: It is a help to have a teacher.
L.M.: Here at the monastery the lay people learn this form of meditative prayer from you.
E.M.: I teach it all the time at the retreat house. I have all these married people for the most part learning contemplative prayer. I also give them a short reading list of Keating, Merton, and others. And then, they get right into doing the practice.
L.M.: Do they check in with you periodically about their practice?
E.M.: They come twice a year for retreats. People I counsel at the guest house also end up learning Centering Prayer. You often first have to address their life problems and help them out. But then inevitably, no matter what the problem or the need is, I end up introducing them to Centering Prayer.
L.M.: Do you think contemplative or Centering Prayer is being taught at other Trappist monasteries?
E.M.: I don't know specifically, but I'm sure a good deal of it is going on.
L.M.: How about the teaching of Centering Prayer in local parishes would that be a good idea?
E.M.: If I were a parish priest, I would reach the people from the pulpit, and also make available literature on Centering Prayer.
L.M.: There could be a place in the parish for Centering Prayer groups that meet on a regular basis.
E.M.: Yes, sure. One of the great fruits of the Second Vatican Council is the “universal call to holiness.” Everyone is called to holiness: married people, mothers and fathers, single people. People living in the secular world are called, not just monks.
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