Centering Prayer is relationship and consent.

Silence & stillness

• 1 Kings 19:11–13God is not in the wind, earthquake, or fire — but in the still small voice.
• Psalm 4:4“Commune with your own heart on your bed, and be silent.”
• Psalm 37:7“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”
• Psalm 62:1, 5“For God alone my soul waits in silence.”
• Psalm 131:2“I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.”
• Lamentations 3:25–28“It is good that one should wait quietly… to sit alone in silence.”
• Habakkuk 2:20“The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
• Zechariah 2:13“Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord.”
• Zephaniah 1:7“Be silent before the Sovereign Lord.”
• Isaiah 30:15“In quietness and trust shall be your strength.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:7“A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”
• Ecclesiastes 5:2“God is in heaven, and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”
• Job 6:24“Teach me, and I will be silent.”
• Proverbs 17:27–28“Whoever restrains his words has knowledge… even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.”

The inner room

• Matthew 6:6“Go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
• Matthew 6:7–8“Do not heap up empty phrases… your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
• Luke 17:21“The kingdom of God is within you.”
• John 14:23“We will come to him and make our home with him.”
• Ephesians 3:16–17“Strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being… Christ may dwell in your hearts.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:16“Our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
• 1 Corinthians 3:16“You are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:19“Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.”

Abiding & resting in God

• John 15:4–7“Abide in me, and I in you.”
• John 15:9“Abide in my love.”
• Matthew 11:28–30“Come to me… and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me… you will find rest for your souls.”
• Hebrews 4:9–11“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God… let us strive to enter that rest.”
• Psalm 23:2“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
• Psalm 27:4“One thing I ask… to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in his temple.”
• Psalm 91:1“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
• Isaiah 26:3“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.”
• Isaiah 40:31“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Consent & surrender

• Luke 1:38“Let it be to me according to your word.” — Mary’s fiat, the pattern of consent.
• Luke 22:42“Not my will, but yours, be done.”
• Matthew 6:10“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
• Psalm 131:1–2“My heart is not lifted up… I have calmed and quieted my soul.”
• 1 Samuel 3:9–10“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
• Romans 12:1–2“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice… be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
• Galatians 2:20“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
• Philippians 2:5–7“Have this mind among yourselves… he emptied himself.” (the prayer of kenosis)
• James 4:7–8“Submit yourselves… Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
• 1 Peter 5:6–7“Humble yourselves… casting all your anxieties on him.”

Unceasing prayer

• 1 Thessalonians 5:17“Pray without ceasing.”
• Ephesians 6:18“Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
• Romans 12:12“Be constant in prayer.”
• Colossians 4:2“Continue steadfastly in prayer.”
• Luke 18:1“Always to pray and not lose heart.”
• Psalm 1:2“On his law he meditates day and night.”

The Spirit praying within

• Romans 8:26–27“The Spirit helps us in our weakness… the Spirit himself intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
• Galatians 4:6“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
• Romans 8:15–16“By whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit bears witness with our spirit.”
• 1 Corinthians 2:10–12“The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
• John 4:23–24“True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
• John 14:16–17“The Spirit of truth… dwells with you and will be in you.”

Meditation on God

• Joshua 1:8“You shall meditate on it day and night.”
• Psalm 1:2“On his law he meditates day and night.”
• Psalm 19:14“Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.”
• Psalm 63:6“I meditate on you in the watches of the night.”
• Psalm 77:12“I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds.”
• Psalm 119:15, 27, 48, 78, 97, 148A litany of meditation — on precepts, statutes, wonders, the law, the night watches.
• Psalm 143:5“I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.”
• Psalm 145:5“On the glorious splendor of your majesty… I will meditate.”
• Genesis 24:63“Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the time of evening.”
• Philippians 4:8“Whatever is true… think about these things.”

The solitary place

• Mark 1:35“Very early in the morning… Jesus went to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
• Luke 5:16“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
• Luke 6:12“He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer.”
• Matthew 14:23“He went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”
• Mark 6:31“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
• Matthew 4:1–11Jesus in the wilderness — the pattern of contemplative withdrawal.
• 1 Kings 19:4–12Elijah in the cave at Horeb — silence as encounter.
• Exodus 33:11“The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

Divine indwelling & union

• John 17:20–23“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you… that they may be one even as we are one.”
• John 14:20“I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
• Galatians 2:20“Christ who lives in me.”
• Colossians 1:27“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
• Colossians 3:3“Your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
• 2 Peter 1:4“That through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.”
• 1 John 4:13, 16“By this we know that we abide in him… God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God.”
• Acts 17:28“In him we live and move and have our being.”
• Ephesians 4:6“One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Listening & attention

• Deuteronomy 6:4–5“Hear, O Israel… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
• 1 Samuel 3:9–10“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
• Job 37:14“Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.”
• Psalm 46:10“Be still, and know.”
• Isaiah 50:4“Morning by morning he wakens — wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”
• Luke 10:38–42Mary at the feet of Jesus — “one thing is necessary.”
• John 10:27“My sheep hear my voice.”
• Revelation 3:20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”

The heart of flesh

• Ezekiel 36:26“A new heart I will give you… I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
• Jeremiah 31:33“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”
• Psalm 51:10“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
• Matthew 5:8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
• Proverbs 4:23“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Desire & seeking

• Psalm 42:1–2“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”
• Psalm 63:1“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you.”
• Psalm 84:2“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.”
• Jeremiah 29:13“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
• Matthew 7:7–8“Ask… seek… knock.”
• Matthew 6:33“Seek first the kingdom of God.”
• Song of Solomon 3:1–4“I sought him whom my soul loves.” — the mystical longing.

The unknowing

• Exodus 20:21“Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
• 1 Kings 8:12“The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.”
• Psalm 18:11“He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him.”
• Isaiah 45:15“Truly, you are a God who hides himself.”
• Isaiah 55:8–9“My thoughts are not your thoughts… as the heavens are higher than the earth.”
• 1 Corinthians 13:12“For now we see in a mirror dimly… now I know in part.”
• 1 Timothy 6:16“Who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen.”

The 14th-century classic The Cloud of Unknowing draws from these passages.

The sacred word & the Name

• Exodus 3:14“I AM WHO I AM.” — the holy Name.
• Psalm 8:1“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
• Psalm 113:1–3“Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”
• Joel 2:32“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
• Acts 4:12“There is no other name under heaven… by which we must be saved.”
• Philippians 2:9–11“The name that is above every name… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.”
• Luke 18:13“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” — the seed of the Jesus Prayer.
• Mark 10:47“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” — the cry of Bartimaeus.
• 1 Corinthians 12:3“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”
• Maranatha1 Corinthians 16:22 & Revelation 22:20 — “Come, Lord.” The earliest Christian prayer word, used by John Main’s tradition.

Simplicity of prayer

• Matthew 6:7–8“Do not heap up empty phrases… your Father knows what you need.”
• Matthew 6:9–13The Lord’s Prayer — the model of pure, simple prayer.
• Matthew 18:3“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
• Mark 10:15“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
• Luke 11:1“Lord, teach us to pray.”
• Romans 8:26“We do not know what to pray for as we ought.”

Transformation & renewal

• Romans 12:1–2“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:18“Beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
• Ephesians 4:22–24“Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self.”
• Philippians 2:5“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”
• Philippians 4:6–7“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.”
• Galatians 5:22–23The fruit of the Spirit — the natural ripening of the contemplative life.
• 1 John 3:2“We shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

Letting go & poverty of spirit

• Matthew 5:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
• Matthew 16:24–25“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself… whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
• John 12:24“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.”
• Philippians 3:7–8“I count everything as loss… that I may gain Christ.”
• Hebrews 12:1–2“Let us lay aside every weight… looking to Jesus.”

Peace beyond understanding

• John 14:27“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives.”
• John 16:33“In me you may have peace.”
• Philippians 4:6–7“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.”
• Colossians 3:15“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”
• Isaiah 26:3“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.”
• Numbers 6:24–26“The Lord bless you and keep you… and give you peace.”

The Word that draws us in

• Hebrews 4:12“The word of God is living and active… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
• Isaiah 55:10–11“My word… shall not return to me empty.”
• Psalm 119:105“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
• Luke 2:19, 51“Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” — the seed of lectio divina.
• James 1:21“Receive with meekness the implanted word.”