We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing—closer than consciousness itself. The ultimate Mystery is the ground in which our being is rooted, the source from whom our life emerges at every moment.

This statement, from Fr. Thomas Keating, Benedictine monk and foremost teacher and practitioner of the Christian form of contemplative prayer called centering prayer, distills the essence of what those of us who gather monthly for Awakening Heart are called to. Each of us, at some point on our spiritual path, felt the desire to engage in a wordless, listening form of prayer that would reveal to us the spark of the divine within ourselves. The very name of our group reflects the growing awareness of that spark that ensues from the continual practice of entering God’s presence in silence and stillness. The heart awakens to this presence in a way that both sensitizes and expands it. As member Tim Hinton puts it, “Contemplative prayer is a way of seeking Christ in the stillness of the heart. ‘For God alone our souls in silence wait.’ ”

Though the ongoing practice of contemplative prayer is essentially solitary, the discipline needed to cultivate silence, stillness, and continuity is reinforced by engaging in the practice with others on a regular basis. This truth is reflected in the existence of contemplative monastic communities since ancient times. Daryl Walker sees the group as “an opportunity to practice my meditation with others committed to a similar practice” and “a specific time to reinforce my intention to develop a practice.” This aspect of Awakening Heart is why we call it a support group. Problems and issues in individual practice are discussed, and support is offered through sharing of personal experience; knowledge of opportunities to strengthen the practice through retreats, books, etc.; and, perhaps most important, shared presence of those engaged in the same endeavor.

We go out into the world after our time together with the flame of the indwelling spirit burning brighter and more steadily. In the words of Katherine Johnson, deacon at St. Matthew’s in Hillsborough, “Sitting in silence with this group, sustained and inspired by the presence of God, I have found new resources for both my regular individual prayer and meditation and my growing awareness of God as my constant companion and guide.”

Awakening Heart, like the prayer practice it supports and encourages, has been sustained through time by commitment and fidelity to the call of God in this place. Tim West, co-founder and co-facilitator of the group, sums it up in this way:

“ There is something essential about regularity in the spiritual life. Awakening Heart has been providing it for me for many years now. Every second Saturday morning at 9:00, a candle is burning in the middle of the circle in the Campus Center. A small group is always gathered. A chime sounds, a prayer is said, and we are in silence before God together. It has become a regular discipline grafted into my life, nurtured there by my contemplative companions. And in some mysterious way or other it stays with me through the month as I meditate on my own, reminding me that, really, I am not on my own. Our hearts awaken gradually, and, in the process, as we journey toward God, I have found that I need regular, peaceful, silent time together with my Awakening Heart friends.”