The Welcoming Prayer by Father Thomas Keating
The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life.
The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen our relationship with God through consenting in the ordinary activities of our day.
The Welcoming Prayer helps to dismantle the emotional programs of the false-self system and to heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored — in the body.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I welcome everything that comes to me today
because I know it’s for my healing.
I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons,
situations, and conditions.
I let go of my desire for power and control.
I let go of my desire for affection, esteem,
approval and pleasure.
I let go of my desire for survival and security.
I let go of my desire to change any situation,
condition, person or myself.
I open to the love and presence of God and
God’s action within. Amen
The Method
The history of the Welcoming Prayer is a little surprising. It’s not an ancient practice, though it’s an ancient idea. Mary Mrozowski of Brooklyn, New York — one of the first leaders of centering prayer — developed the method.
She was inspired by Abandonment to Divine Providence, an early 18th century spiritual work by Jesuit priest and spiritual director, Father Jean Pierre de Caussade.
Father Thomas Keating and others saw the value of her little method and over the years it has been supported, fine-tuned and expanded within the community of people who practice centering prayer and beyond.
If you are struggling with a bad feeling, this method offers a structured way to embrace and accept it, so you can release it and move on.
There are three phases to the Welcoming Prayer. You might go directly from one to the next in a single, relatively formulaic prayer sequence. Or you might find yourself staying in one phase as it does its interior work. Using Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault’s labels, the three parts are:
Focus and sink in.
Welcome.
Let go.
Focus and sink in. This is not about indulging bad feelings. It’s not about amplifying them or justifying them. It’s about feeling the feeling. Allow yourself to become immersed in it. Let it wash over you. Don’t run away from it or fight it. Just feel what it’s like to be experiencing it.
The word “feel” can mean either to have a physical experience of touching, or to have a mental experience of encountering an emotion. Connect those two. Feel the emotion physically. Notice your body, how you are tense or anxious or hot or fidgety or lethargic. As with meditation, you are just observing the feeling, not trying to alter it.
Welcome. As I’ve said many times, you can only start from where you are, and you can only move forward if you accept where you are. So, now, affirm the rightness of where you are by welcoming the bad feeling or emotion, and acknowledging God’s presence in the moment. You do this by literally saying, “Welcome, [bad feeling].” If you are frozen in fear, say, “Welcome, fear.” Hot with rage: say, “Welcome, rage.”
Note: we’re talking here about feelings and emotions, not problems and physical hardships. We are not welcoming illness or injustice. If you are looking for relief from the struggle with a problem or illness through the welcoming prayer, think about what negative emotion or feeling is being kicked up. (It will likely be a variety of fear or anger.) You might be angry about unfairness, or afraid of the future. Remember, the welcoming prayer is for feelings and emotions, not what triggered them.
Many resist the idea of accepting where they are at, when where they are at is not good. But there’s nothing passive about acceptance. Acceptance merely establishes you in reality, so that you can respond to a situation effectively. If you are terrified about a health issue, that fear may be immobilizing you; accepting and then releasing the fear may free you to be able to deal with the issue.
Let go. There are at least four ways to let go in the welcoming prayer. Mary Mrozowski’s original version uses a fixed statement. You say these lines no matter what the specific issue:
“I let go of my desire for security and survival.
I let go of my desire for esteem and affection.
I let go of my desire for power and control.
I let go of my desire to change the situation.”
Another version takes just that last line and ties it to the current situation.
“I let go of the desire to change this feeling.”
A third alternative is even briefer, and names the feeling:
“I let go of my [fear/anger/etc.].”
And finally, my favorite, for its added depth with the same economy of words:
“God, I give you my [fear/anger/etc.].”
Thank you for teaching me the Welcoming Prayer.
The Welcoming Prayer is coming at a time when it’s impact is freeing me from the fears and negativity that is slowly eroding my positivity. I experienced when I saw the words at a Church service my body symptomizing physical than when it was over I resumed my normalcy!!
Thanx for the power of this prayer!!!
Simple words, yet such a powerful message. So grateful I came across this prayer.
Thank you for these beautiful reminders of a practice worth incorporating in order to move forward in life’s journey. We never know what will come other than we will judge them. But let it be a judgement similar to our Lord’s of kindness and mercy. This will help. This is the anniversary of Mary Mrozowski’s death. And there is a new book out about her life that I just ordered. The Audacity to be Divine.
Thank you for this very nice summary of the welcoming prayer method.
Unfortunately, there are not many resources about it in German. Would you mind if I posted a German translation of this article on my own blog (wider-deeper.blog)? Of course, I’d properly refer to your blog and give you credit.
God has given me this blessing today, an answer to prayer and transformative practice. Thank you!
Pauline
This was the perfect practice to bring in 2021
The world taught many lessons to our bodies in 2020 and now we can release and live into the light..
This is difficult and scary stuff!
Thank you Lord for embracing me as I am.