10/26/2026
Thomas Keating (Mar 7, 1923 - Oct 25, 2018)
“St. John of the Cross wrote, ‘The Father spoke one word from all eternity and he spoke it in silence, and it is in silence that we hear it.’ This suggests that silence is God’s first language and that all other languages are poor translations.”
~ Thomas Keating
“When we talk about Centering Prayer, we are talking…about love. This... distinguishes Centering Prayer from Eastern methods [meditation]. Eastern methods are primarily concerned with awareness. Centering Prayer is concerned with divine love.... The Eastern traditions put greater emphasis on what the self can do and hence contain the innate hazard of identifying the true self with God. The Christian tradition, on the other hand, recognizes God present but distinct from the true self. In other words, our uniqueness remains and becomes the vehicle for the divine expression, which was why we were created: to share by grace in the oneness of the Father and the Son.”
Cistercian monk and mystic Thomas Keating, along with Basil Pennington and William Meninger, co-founded the Contemplative Outreach—“a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel. The common desire for Divine transformation, primarily expressed through a commitment to a daily Centering Prayer practice…” He focused on the peace acquired through inner transformation, silence, and divine love rather than active social or political activism. In his later years, he spoke against the global significance of arms-making, viewing weapons and militarism as hindrances to human progress, trust, and compassion.
Keating is the latest addition in my Paper Cranes: Icons of Peace series. I was finishing this piece with the understanding that I would post it on Sadako Sasaki’s death date, Oct 25th. When I searched for Keating’s birth and death dates, he died, interestingly enough, on October 25th. Synchronicity!
