The Rev. Thomas Keating was born Joseph Parker Kirlin Keating in Manhattan, New York on March 7, 1923. At the age of 5, he had a serious illness and made a bargain with God, that if he lived to be 21, then he would become a priest. He graduated from Fordham University in 1943. He expected to be drafted in World War II but received a deferment to enter the seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1949.
He was the founder of the Snowmass Interreligious Conference and a member of the peace council. He was a pioneer in the worldwide Christian contemplative prayer movement and popularized centering prayer, a method of silent prayer that allows one to rest in the presence of God. He wrote more than 30 books and created various multimedia projects including Awakenings, Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer, and Centering Prayer: A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God. He died on October 25, 2018 at the age of 95.
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