Led by Donna Bilek
$10 per session
2024 Upcoming Dates:
Wednesdays 7 PM – 8 PM: January 17, January 31, February 21, March 6
To reserve a seat, or if you have any questions about Centering Prayer, please text Donna at 410.236.7112
“While doing centering prayer, the practice is to let go of any thought or perception. The priority is to be as silent as possible and when that is not possible to let the noise of the thoughts be the sacred symbol for a while, without analyzing them.”
Contemplative prayer is a way of being with “the one we call god” more intimately and seeking union with this love energy. Centering Prayer, in particular, is an aid in cultivating the interior temperament essential for such a relationship. In Centering Prayer, we make space for the one we call god and then invite Love into that space. Since interior silence is not common in our age, it will take time and patience to be comfortable with the stillness.
“Centering Prayer is an opening, a response, a putting aside of all the debris that stands in the way of our being totally present to God, so that God can be present to us.”
Basil Pennington
If you desire more opportunities simply to be with the energy of Love or to focus your attention on the one we call god, then centering prayer will likely be worth the effort because it is known to gift us with grace. Some of the graces you may experience through centering prayer are: intimacy with God, a deepening of your relationship with God, experiencing grace and peace, finding our true selves, and transformation of our suffering. Through this journey to our center, we may hear the gentle call and be better prepared to manifest God.
“Centering prayer cultivates a disposition of interior silence intended to make room for God. It is a way of disposing ourselves to receive the gift of contemplation, an encounter with God’s presence,”
“You can only find your true self in a place beyond the mind.”
“Centering prayer is all about the configuration of your attention.”
“What you pay attention to, you energize.”
Cynthia Bourgeault
Donna has a Master’s Degree in Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary and University. She is a former religious studies teacher and campus minister for Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Maryland, and instructor of religious studies at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore.
Donna has 50 years of experience in retreat work, leading others in prayer, and teaching ways to pray. She has worked with persons from various religious backgrounds: Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist and Hindu. She has led prayer for groups of all sizes; small gatherings as well as large congregations.
Donna is an Associate of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) and a member of the Ongoing Personal Development in Community for the SSNDs presenting reflections and prayer experiences on various topics of prayer and grief. Donna is a Spiritual Director having completed the requirements through the Bon Secours Spiritual Direction Institute and is currently on the faculty of the same.
