The art of listening to God

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006 | 8:43 a.m.

Friday, Jan. 27, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., St. Viator's Catholic Community, 2461 E. Flamingo Road. Call 456-3114 for more information.

Saturday, Feb. 4, 9 a.m. to 1 pm., Stillpoint Center for Spiritual Development, 8072 W. Sahara Ave., Suites E and F. Call 243-4040 for more information.

Centering prayer groups meet Mondays from 8 a.m to 9 a.m. at Grace Community Church in Boulder City, 1150 Wyoming Ave.; Tuesdays at noon at the Stillpoint Center; and Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Christ the King Catholic Community, 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive. Call 271-3409 for more information.

Most people talk at God when they pray.

The Rev. Thomas Keating has spent the last three decades of his life trying to teach people how to be quiet long enough for God to talk to them.

The Trappist monk, whom one local Protestant pastor described as the Dalai Lama of Christian spirituality, spent Saturday teaching contemplative prayer to 275 people at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas center just off the Strip.

Keating is famous in both Catholic and Protestant circles for having revived the ancient prayer practice.

Christianity's version of Eastern meditation, contemplative or centering prayer helps individuals connect with God in a deep, personal way, Keating said. When practiced regularly, individuals grow in their relationship with God and are transformed into better people by the encounter.

Practitioners are then encouraged to "manifest the presence of God" to better their communities, Keating said.

"Paradise on Earth can only be reached by a transformation of consciousness that starts with the individual," said the 83-year-old Keating, speaking with the same wise humor and crackling, peaceful voice as Yoda in "Star Wars" but without the strange grammar. "We have to give ourselves to God."

Local centering prayer advocates hope Keating's appearance will spur a revival of the prayer method that will transform the Las Vegas Valley's Christian community.

"I think there is a hunger and a need in people's lives to nurture that contemplative life," said Sister Patricia McGinley, the director of faith and ministry formation for the Catholic diocese.

Keating's appearance was the first of many upcoming contemplative prayer workshops hosted by Contemplative Outreach of Southern Nevada, the local branch of Keating's worldwide prayer ministry, said the group's director, the Rev. Gard Jameson. Jameson and other contemplative leaders want to expand the number of prayer groups in the city and encourage churches of all denominations to teach the practice.

"This transcends ideology," said Joanne Halt, who leads a prayer group at Christ the King Catholic Church. "What we are after is the direct experience of God."

People often have to hit "rock bottom" before they figure out they need God in their lives, Keating said. That's why step one in most addiction groups is to have the addicts acknowledge that their problem is bigger than they can solve and that they need the help of a higher power.

"The problem with respectable people is that they may never realize how unmanageable their life is," Keating said.

By embodying Psalm 46, "Be still and know that I am God," practitioners of contemplative prayer often find in it a kind of "divine therapy," Keating and Jameson said. By acknowledging the presence of God within them, practitioners are able to let go of their emotional baggage and find healing.

Practitioners sit comfortably and quietly, usually for 20 minutes at a time, as a way of acknowledging God's presence and intentionally inviting God to work in their lives, Keating said. When thoughts enter the mind, practitioners repeat a sacred word to clear their heads.

The word itself can be anything, as it is merely a way of saying "Please excuse the interruption" to God to resume the conversation, Keating said.

Both Christian contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation are similar, and Keating believes they move their practitioners "in the same direction" toward a higher power.

But in Christianity, the higher power is a personal God. In Eastern religions, the higher power is more of an impersonal force, an energy field of an "undifferentiated absolute," said Jameson, who teaches Eastern philosophy as an adjunct professor at UNLV.

"It's difficult to feel warm and cozy with an undifferentiated absolute," Jameson said.

Conference attendees said contemplative prayer helped them combine divergent religious beliefs and that it fulfilled their need for something deeper than just going through the motions at church.

Sosoo Lee, a member of Christ the King Catholic Community, said she attended the seminar Saturday because there was something "missing" in her faith. A devout Catholic for 16 years who is heavily involved in the church, Lee said she still missed the spirituality of Buddhism.

"That thirst is fulfilled," Lee said after having been led through two 20-minute contemplative prayer sessions with Keating.

"My whole life I have been questioning, I want to know why I believe and I want an answer for everything," she said. "I focused too much on thinking and knowledge instead of feeling. This is a miracle."

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@lasvegassun.com.