Centering Prayer, a St. Matthew's prayer circle, organizes monthly Labyrinth walks, which are open to the public. Our portable eleven-circuit canvas labyrinth is a replica of the Chartres labyrinth. It is an ecumenical tool, having been used at Camp Start, as well as conferences for educators, health care workers and senior citizen groups. 

We plan to build an outdoor labyrinth in a Meditation Garden, which we will share ecumenically. The design for this garden was laid out by the Landscape Architecture Department at Oklahoma State University.

The Labyrinth is an archetype, a divine imprint, found in all religious traditions in various forms around the world. By walking this replica of the Chartres Labyrinth, laid in the floor of Chartres Cathedral around 1220, we are rediscovering a long-forgotten mystical tradition that is insisting to be reborn.

A Labyrinth has only one path so there are no tricks to it and no dead ends. The path winds throughout and becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives; it touches our sorrows and releases our joys. So walk it with an open mind and an open heart.

Purgation - a releasing, a letting go of the details of your life. This is an act of shedding thoughts and emotions. It quiets and empties the mind.

Illumination - is when you reach the center. Stay there as long as you like. It is a place of meditation and prayer. Receive what is there for you to receive.

Union - which is joining God, your Higher Power or the healing forces at work in the world. Each time you walk the labyrinth you become more empowered to find and do the work you feel your soul reaching for.

Guidelines for the walk: Clear your mind and become aware of your breath. Allow yourself to find the pace your body wants to go. You may “pass” people or let others step around you whichever is easiest at the turns. The path is two ways. Those going in will meet those coming out. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to walk, so do what feels natural.