One of the things I would like to do in this blog is to share some of the spiritual books that I have found life-giving. This week my online students in my course on Monks, Mystics, and Mendicants are reading The Cloud of Unknowing. My copy cost $2.75 when new so you can imagine what it now looks like after more than thirty years with many markings to highlight favorite passages. It is a spiritual classic and the foundation of much that has been written on contemplative prayer including Centering Prayer.

Cynthia Bourgeautlt’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening with a Forward by Father Thomas Keating (Cowley, 2004) is an excellent book and a “must read” for anyone interested in Centering Prayer. Keating calls it a “Monumental contribution to the better understanding of the Centering Prayer practice.