The Jesus Prayer

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

I first learned about the Jesus Prayer only a couple of years ago.  It’s a very ancient form of prayer, commonly practiced today by the Eastern and Orthodox Christians.  The idea is that you repeat a simple, powerful phrase over and over again, until it becomes a part of you.  It can be as simple as repeating the name of Jesus, or it can be a line of scripture that speaks to you -- say, St. Thomas' "My Lord and my God." The Jesus Prayer as printed above is mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so I've stuck with it. 

We don’t think about our breathing, or our heartbeat – they’re just a part of what keeps us going.  In the same way, if a prayer is repeated often enough, at several times a day, it too can become a part of what keeps us going.

Some people like to use knotted prayer ropes called chotkis when praying the Jesus Prayer.  It helps them to keep track of how many times they’re repeating the prayer.  Sound familiar?  Yes, the more Western-style Rosary is a takeoff on this older idea.  Although the Rosary is a beautiful prayer, I have to admit that I sometimes lose track of where I am in it.  I lose focus because I’m busy counting my Hail Marys, or I suddenly blank on which mystery I’m supposed to be meditating on.  It's irrational, but I can't shake the grade-school feeling that if I only say 9 Hail Marys, then I've totally messed up, and my Rosary doesn't 'count.' 

The remarkable simplicity of the Jesus Prayer is very appealing to me because I can lose myself in it.  There’s not a lot to memorize, and keeping track of the numbers is unimportant.   Take your time with it at first, and focus on the meaning of each word.  I’ve heard that there’s even a proper way to “breathe” the prayer:  inhale on ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,’ and exhale on ‘have mercy on me, a sinner.’   Find your own rhythm.  Regardless of  whether you sync up your prayer to the beat of your feet on your morning run, the machinery at your job, or the hum of the dishwasher, it’s possible to bring prayer into every quiet moment of your day.             

You’ve heard that we are to “pray without ceasing.”  You may also have heard the terms “interior prayer” or “breath prayer.”  This is how you do that.