‘Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find salvation.’ Words of Saint Seraphim who lived in Russia between 1754 and 1833
Here he is show a precious possession of mine, his silver plated icon. Seraphim had a peaceful contentment about him which spread to all who visited him. The Russian Orthodox Saint wrote this about his way of praying, the so-called Jesus Prayer:
‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner": let all your attention and training be in this prayer. Walking, sitting, doing, and standing in church before the divine service, coming in and going out, keep this unceasingly on your lips and in your heart. In calling in this manner on the name of God you will find peace’
The Jesus Prayer is based on the tax collector’s prayer in Luke 18 ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner’. Though always used in the Orthodox Church, it has more recently come into use in private prayer among Christians worldwide. In 2014 I was commissioned by the Bible Reading Fellowship to write a book on it, show ‘Using the Jesus Prayer’.
The popularity of the Jesus Prayer is partly linked to people wanting to slow their pace of life.
Because its short and easy to memorise, it can help us wherever we are to put trust in God and receive his consolation.
Like a mindfulness exercise the Jesus Prayer helps us look above and beyond ourselves. Repeating the prayer as a ‘mantra’ or holy sentence can help us rise above useless thinking and anxiety. Quietly repeating the Jesus Prayer can bring peace of mind and heart and help make us more thoughtful to others.
When we use the Jesus Prayer we repeat to ourselves ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’ pausing briefly between each prayer. Saying we are sinners recognises all of us do wrong things sometimes especially when we get too proud of ourselves. Though the Jesus Prayer is said in the singular it is said on behalf of the world we are part of associating with all in trouble, need or sorrow.
You can pray the Jesus Prayer in time with your breath, breathing in or out for the first or second phrase.
Guides recommend the prayer be neither gabbled nor offered too intensely.
To help focus the body’s engagement in the exercise some use woollen prayer ropes. show.
When I awake in the night I take a few deep breaths and slowly repeat the Jesus Prayer to send me back to sleep.
Other times I feel the thoughts in my mind are like monkeys jumping from branch to branch in a tree. It’s then that I centre myself saying: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’. The Jesus Prayer is a godsend to quieten a busy mind.
The Bible says we should pray at all times but its not until I discovered the Jesus Prayer that I found this possible - better many a time to fill my mind and heart with a simple bible based prayer than to allow useless or negative thinking.
I put the power of this prayer down to the unique power of the name of Jesus to scatter negative thoughts.
In a moment we’ll have an opportunity to try out saying the Jesus Prayer ourselves. There are two sorts of use, formal and free. You can sit down and use it for 2 minutes as we shall do shortly, which is the formal use. Or you can use it while walking or running or swimming or whatever which is the free use.
The beauty of the prayer is its simplicity and conciseness - by the end of this talk you will have memorised it.
St Seraphim show was once asked why it is that some people have more of the Holy Spirit than others. He gave a two word answer: ‘just determination’.
The Jesus Prayer is a work of grace but it is also an action of determined devotion. It is a constant refrain of eastern orthodoxy that the mental discipline of purposeful repetition is a powerful aid against the distraction of energy away from the love of God:
Repeating the Jesus Prayer can help you come closer to God if that is what you want. It’s a biblical prayer used down the Christian centuries, key item in the church’s tool kit for prayer. I am glad to commend it.
So - we have an icon of Christ to help us show.
Let’s do a sort of mindfulness preparation exercise before we go for 2 min prayer.
Settle yourself down in your seat.
Go down your body in your mind’s eye, your head, your chest, your thighs, your legs, your feet.
Relax your neck muscles by turning slowly to the left - and to the right, to the left and to the right.
Focus your attention on your breathing, and as you breathe in say the words, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God’ and as you breathe out, ‘have mercy on me, a sinner’.
Do this gently and you will find that your breathing will slow.
Think of Christ’s goodness flowing into you and the weary, unhelpful things flowing out of you
Either close your eyes and think of God’s presence within you or look at the Icon of Christ I will hold as a reminder of God’s presence before you.
I am going to say the Jesus Prayer three times. Afterwards I invite you to say it to yourself and to God who is present with us at the same pace for the next two minutes after which I will give the closing blessing.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
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