Welcoming Prayer
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 our Higher Power through
consenting in the ordinary activities
of our day— “consent-on-the-go.
The Welcoming Prayer helps to dismantle acquired emotional programs and to heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored — in the body. It contributes to the process of transformation initiated in Centering Prayer.
The Method
1-
Feel and sink into what you are experiencing this moment in your body.
2-
“Welcome” what you are experiencing this moment in your body as an opportunity to consent to the Divine Indwelling.
3-
Let go by saying “I let go of my desire for security, affection, control and embrace this moment as it is.”
From Bill Wilson's letter entitled, "The Next Frontier, Emotional Sobriety"
Bill Wilson realized that it was his dependencies upon people, AA, or any set of circumstances that kept him stuck in depression and from developing real maturity and balance.
He saw that unhealthy dependency meant demand – for the possession and control of people and the conditions around him.
It is in letting go of these paralyzing dependencies at depth that we are able to Twelfth Step ourselves and others into emotional sobriety.
"This level of healing cannot be attained until our paralyzing dependencies are broken and broken in depth."
OUR PREDICAMENT
“… these instincts, so necessary for our existence, often far exceed their proper function. Powerfully, blindly, many times subtly, they drive us, dominate us, and insist upon ruling our lives. Our desires for sex, for material and emotional security, and for an important place in society often tyrannize us. No human being, however good, is exempt from the troubles. Nearly every serious and emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct.”
Bill Wilson Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA
Helpful Resources
Welcoming Prayer Practice Group
12 Step Welcoming Prayer Practice Group meets every Thursday from 7PM -8PM Central Time. All are welcome. The group is a place to learn and talk about the Welcoming Prayer Practice. Zoom WPP Group
The Welcoming Prayer
Provides a brief description of the Welcoming Prayer practice and its background.
Download the-
BROCHURE
Download digital brochure-
Digital download
Welcoming Prayer 40 Day Praxis Booklet
The Welcoming Prayer: Consent on the Go, a 40-day Praxis
This praxis booklet helps you learn and establish a Welcoming Prayer practice – consent on the go – as well as understand the contextual background for its transformative process. Structured in a 40-day format, the praxis booklet includes teachings on the human condition, nuances of the prayer practice, as well as reflections from practitioners, Scripture, and related wisdom. To support learning and practicing the prayer, each day includes a beautiful image, brief reading, Scripture, and mini-practice for the day.
Download digital Praxis below-
Digital Praxis
The Human Condition, by Thomas Keating
According to Thomas Keating, “The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story.
It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound.
Embracing Living: The Welcoming Prayer
By Contemplative Outreach, Mary Dwyer, Therese Saulnier, Cherry Haisten, Jim McElroy
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. If Centering Prayer (or another daily prayer) is practiced for one hour of the day, the Welcoming Prayer is for the other 23 hours. It is a "letting go" in the present moment, in the midst of the activity of ordinary life. It 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.
Jim M and The Welcoming Prayer Practice
Jim M from St. Louis, MO talks about the Welcoming Prayer Practice
and how it can become a valuable tool in your recovery.