This daybook for the millennium gathers 365 thoughts, stories and reflections from the Christophers, to help everyone bring about positive changes in their lives and the lives of those around them. Each day comes with a moving story, followed by a passage from the Bible and an affirmation.
Keating entered the Cistercian Order in Valley Falls, Rhode Island in January, 1944. He was appointed Superior of St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado in 1958, and was elected abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts in 1961. He returned to Snowmass after retiring as abbot of Spencer in 1981, where he established a program of ten-day intensive retreats in the practice of Centering Prayer, a contemporary form of the Christian contemplative tradition.
He is one of three architects of Centering Prayer, a contemporary method of contemplative prayer, that emerged from St. Joseph's Abbey in 1975. Frs. William Menninger and Basil Pennington, also Cistercian monks, were the other architects. n 1984, Fr. Thomas Keating along with Gustave Reininger and Edward Bednar, co-founded Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., an international, ecumenical spiritual network that teaches the practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, a method of prayer drawn from the Christian contemplative tradition. Contemplative Outreach provides a support system for those on the contemplative path through a wide variety of resources, workshops, and retreats. Fr. Keating currently lives at St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado.
Keating opens the liturgy and the scripture in a way of prayerfulness that illumines the readers experience. Written as if we were strolling in down a tree lined path behind the monastery. The stories are genuine and authentic to Keating while relevant to the reader.
This is a book that you can read and re-read every year. It takes you through the entire liturgical year and its associated festivals and looks very deeply at the spiritual meaning behind each. It truly is a book to be enjoyed and treasured.
A fantastic book on contemplative Christianity that helps people expand their perspective on the psychological aspect of the wisdom tradition and just how important it is to reorient the way we need to look at the Gospel message.
This book resonated deeply with me. Keating articulates much of what I have long understood on some level, that the liturgy provides a useful tool for entering contemplation and transcendence.
My Centering Prayer group used this as a book for discussion. We took our time, reading only one section each week. Fr. Keating has so much wisdom to share and it sparked wonderful discussion and insights among the group.