The Spiritual Journey
Series
Formation in the Christian Contemplative Life
~ 50 weeks
~ 100 sessions via
e-mail (2 per week)
~ Monday 7:15 pm (ET)
Centering Prayer Group
(optional)
Our 2022-23 series ended recently. We anticipate re-running this series at some point in the future. Check this page for updates. (Or sign up below and we will contact you when the Series is due to re-start.)
To view the series on your own, click here and scroll down to The Program Map
Spiritual Journey Series
Next session dates: TBD
The Spiritual Journey Series was designed to support formation in contemplative living. The series is the foundation of the teaching legacy of Fr. Thomas Keating (1923-2018). This program is shared as a freewill offering to anyone who wishes to gain wisdom and understanding of the Christian contemplative path of transformation.
“The main reason we put together this whole course in Centering Prayer and its conceptual background was to help us realize that Centering Prayer is a life to be lived, not just a method” Thomas Keating
This particular iteration of the series was designed some years ago as an email course, consisting of 100 sessions, each with quotes, notes, suggestions, and resources for further study.
The instructional videos featuring Thomas Keating are at the heart of this offering. They are supplemented by Scripture, narrative commentaries, sometimes the wisdom of other contemplative voices, and suggested practices. Each narrative is meant to be read and experienced in silence and stillness and to be an occasion for reflection, study, engagement, and embodiment.
We are offer the 100-part series as originally designed, via email. If you wish, you could simply receive the weekly emails and follow along on your own. However, an added offering is the Monday evening group sessions, giving you an opportunity to connect with others traveling on the same journey. Monday evenings are completely optional - you are invited to join when you can.
Finally , the program is presented in 5 parts, which offers several logical points for "hopping on and off" over the 50-week span of the course. For details on that, see "A five-part program", below.
What to expect.....
You will receive two emails per week along with a Zoom invite to an optional weekly Monday evening Centering Prayer group that will focus on this series.
Each Week:
On FRIDAY mornings you will receive a teaching email. Often (but not always) there will be a short video embedded in that email.
On MONDAY* evenings (7:15pm-8:30pm Eastern) a 75-minute gathering time will be offered via Zoom, consisting of:
> 20-min Centering Prayer
> 40-min Review of Fri email content. If the Fri email included a video, watch the video.
> 15-min sharing time
*Monday evenings are OPTIONAL.
On WEDNESDAYS you will receive another email with additional supportive material (generally no video).
If you miss a Monday evening, you can watch the embedded videos on your own time, and just join us the following week.
Our hope is to repeat this series, perhaps annually. Your feedback will be welcome!
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REGISTER HERE
Register below to be contacted when the next series begins.
Once the series begins, you may unsubscribe at any time.
A five-part program
The program is offered in five parts. You are invited to take the full journey, or hop on/hop off as your schedule allows. (Simply register, to begin receiving the emails, -or- unsubscribe at any time.) Although you can join ANYTIME, here are some logical entry points:
1) Introduction to the Centering Prayer Method This section includes videos of Fr. Keating himself, and others, teaching the method of centering prayer. (Weeks 1-12)
2) Models of the Human Condition (Week 13-42)
3) Paradigms of the Spiritual Journey (Weeks 43-52)
4) Contemplation and The Divine Therapy (Weeks 53-78)
5) Divine Love: The Heart of the Christian Spiritual Journey (Weeks 79-100)
A bit more background...
This course builds upon the original Spiritual Journey video series (available, unedited, on YouTube).
It includes most of the videos in the original 5-part video series, shortened to include the most essential parts of those talks.
In addition, the course includes video excerpts from other series, including four that Fr. Thomas recorded in his latter years, which have not previously been released. He considered these four series to be, in effect, parts 6 through 9, a continuation of the original five-part series.