Centering Prayer & Prayer Requests

The Centering Prayer Group Meets Virtually
every Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m.

Centering Prayer is a simple and powerful way to access a deeper relationship with God and expand your receptivity to the presence and activity of God in your life.

Please contact the office for details. Newcomers are welcome!

Individual Prayer Requests

The prayer of others is powerful! Each week, our group prays for all of the people in our parish, as well as individual intentions. You can share your specific prayer requests by emailing them to St. Anthony’s prayer line. We will share your request with our group and we will pray for your intention at our weekly gathering.

Scroll down for reflections by participants

“Our world is in great turmoil now. It captures our attention and our nervous systems, shaping how we think. Being reactive narrows our perception of the problem and decreases our creativity for envisioning the future. What we really need now is to evolve to a coherence between the brain and the heart / soul. Contemplative practice is the path where I have found that. Kenotic self-emptying, or letting go every day to again elevate my awareness enables me to release the capture of reactivity.

Personally, I really resonate with Howard Thurman’s metaphor for contemplative practice. He tells us there is a vast sea within each of us, and within that sea there is an island with an altar on it. Our mission is to travel that sea to the island and find the altar that makes us alive.

His metaphor contains a grasp of both the spiritually uplifting alignment of grace that is necessary for times like these and a sense of its value in living this earthbound life.

Being able to travel to your inner altar and come alive means you can recognize your current state and make a conscious choice to shift your state to higher ground where your greatest insights and talents await you. Only then can you be responsible for where you are coming from to make the contribution to others you are here to give.”

— Charlotte Tomaino

“I am 88 and recently widowed. My wonderful husband of 62 years died of Alzheimer’s. The love and support of my family and the Centering Prayer community has personally been so powerful in my healing throughout this difficult journey.

Centering Prayer, sitting quietly for 20 minutes every day and feeling God’s love presence, is what brings me inner joy and carries me through each day. The practice has taught me to see and appreciate God in every living thing and in every person.

Filling my heart up with God’s love so that I can mentally pass it on from my heart to another’s throughout the day is my goal. This has impacted my life is such remarkable ways because I’ve discovered that sending out love has a boomerang effect! It comes right back at you! Breathe in God’s Love and exhale it to the world!”

— Mary Jane Valus

…. continued below

I have been a member of St. Anthony’s Centering Prayer group for six years. Our Centering Prayer Community has been a blessing and an amazing gift to me. My Spiritual Companions are loving, caring and compassionate. We pray together, pray for others, have silent prayer and then reflect and share on a spiritual reading. Centering Prayer has enabled me to develop a deeper relationship with God and with self.

If you are searching for a deeper meaning for life in these challenging times—join us! Come experience “God’s Love In Action.” ALL ARE WELCOME!

— Carol Jakab

Centering Prayer is my lifeline. Learning to be still, listen to my inner self and find God in all things has brought me to a spiritual place once unknown to me. The practice became a part of my life about five years ago. I have been touched in many, many ways since joining the St. Anthony’s Centering Prayer group. I live in North Carolina, and since the group has switched to virtual meetings I have really been able to come to know the beautiful women in this spiritual community. I have always felt welcomed.

My faith has deepened tremendously, and the trust that has developed is as critical to me as breathing. I always considered myself “religious,” but with the profound writings of theologians and spiritual thinkers I’ve encountered through the group, I have come to know myself on a deeper level. Together we explore and share our own personal thoughts and life experiences to make these writings more tangible. Through all of our heartfelt sharings I have explored subjects once foreign to me, thus helping me to grow into a more sensitive, balanced, and reflective person.

— Chris Zubrick