A Mother’s Day reflection on carrying, fixing, and learning to be held.

“This is the freedom Centering Prayer is going to,” says Father Thomas Keating. Every return, every act of consent to the presence and action of the Divine, fosters detachment from stubbornly following our own path, our own will.

Precisely a week ago, four volunteers descended on an Airbnb in Graceville, Florida, making final preparations to spend the next day in prison. Sue, Linda, and William traveled over 300 miles to join Chandra, one of two volunteers who support a Centering Prayer group inside Graceville Correctional Facility (GCF), a medium security prison housing nearly 1900 men.