Fr Thomas Keating RIP

The recent death of Fr Thomas Keating, known for developing the practice of Centering Prayer and for bringing "an accessible form and broader awareness to the Christian contemplative tradition, a path that is not only for monks and theologians but ordinary people", is worth remarking, and his life worth celebrating.

Fr Richard Rohr writes:

One of my beloved teachers, Father Thomas Keating, passed away on Thursday, October 25, at his home monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. Fr. Keating helped me and many others trust God’s loving presence and experience its healing power through silence. He taught that God is infinitely and always present; the spiritual journey, Keating said, “is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent.” In prayer there’s no need for judgment or shame when our thoughts predictably start wandering down their usual rabbit holes. What matters is our desire—and even that is a gift of grace—to return to Presence again and again and again.

Fr. Keating had a long lifetime (95 years!) to practice being present to Presence. Now I trust that he will simply continue experiencing the mystery of union with God, which is not unknowable but infinitely knowable.

Along with fellow Trappists William Meninger and Basil Pennington, Keating is known for developing the practice of Centering Prayer. He brought an accessible form and broader awareness to the Christian contemplative tradition, a path that is not only for monks and theologians but ordinary people.

Fr. Keating was a founding member and spiritual guide of the international organization Contemplative Outreach. He spent much of his monastic life at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts—where he served as abbot for twenty years and lived out his last months—and St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado—the abbey he founded and to which he retired in 1981. In lieu of flowers or cards, St. Benedict’s and Contemplative Outreach of Colorado invite donations to support their work.*

The Center for Action and Contemplation is honored to support St. Benedict’s and Contemplative Outreach Colorado by streaming and recording Fr. Keating’s memorial service. We invite you to join us online!

Friday, November 16, 2018

11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. U.S. Mountain Time

Livestreamed from Spirit of Christ Catholic Community in Arvada, Colorado

View the webcast at cac.org/father-thomas-keating-memorial-service/

No registration is needed. Save this email or bookmark the link above to find the webcast on November 16.

There are limited seats available at the church in Arvada. If you would like to join in person, click here to RSVP. Please note that space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Earlier this year in the Daily Meditations, I shared these words from Keating’s book God Is Love:

"There seems to be an intent or a plan in creation to bring into manifestations revelations of the Unknowable One that awaken in us the greater and greater capacity to love. . . . God is more and more trying to move the human race to the next stage of consciousness . . . recognizing the truth that there is only one self ultimately and this is God manifesting in us."

As a true wisdom teacher, Keating helped many of us move to deeper, more loving consciousness.

I hope you can join us in remembering and celebrating Fr. Keating’s life. May we carry forward his legacy by opening our hearts to God’s presence within ourselves and each other.

Peace and Every Good,

Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.