AUBURN — An introductory workshop on Centering Prayer with the Rev. D. Joseph Manship will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at St. Philip’s Church, 2365 Turner Road.

Manship, a priest of the Diocese of Portland, said Centering Prayer is a simple method of Christ-centered silent prayer, a renewal of an ancient Christian contemplative practice. 

“It’s not an effort to try to empty your mind,” he said. “It is to focus on the presence of God.”

Centering Prayer was developed in the 1970s by three Trappist monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. Manship met one of the monks,  Thomas Keating, years ago and was reintroduced to Centering Prayer by a parishioner in 1990. He began practicing it while serving as chaplain at St. Mary’s  Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

The concept of Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer but, instead, it is intended to add depth of meaning to all forms of prayer.

“This is not an emptying of the mind; it is a relationship,” Manship said. “That is the core difference between Christian meditation and other kinds of mindfulness practices.

The workshop features four parts: Prayer as a Relationship, The Method of Centering Prayer, Thoughts in Centering Prayer and The Fruits of Centering Prayer.

All are welcome to attend. The cost is $25 in advance and $30 at the door and includes lunch. FMI or to register, contact Ruth Oakley at 207-210-1089 or [email protected].