The Jesus Prayer or The Prayer of the Heart

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thess 5:16-18

What does it mean to pray without ceasing?  Well, obviously, it means praying all of the time,

• Not just at church
• Not just after we wake up or before we go to bed
• Not just before a meal
• Not just when we need help
• Not just when something terrible happens

It means, praying when you are playing, when you are eating, studying, laughing, crying, talking, reading, writing, bathing, sleeping,  How can we pray all the time?

The Jesus Prayer, also called the Arrow Prayer or the Prayer of the Heart, is an answer to this question.

Let's look at some sample prayers in the Holy Bible

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 8:10-14

The tax collector prayed in humility with a spirit of repentance, the Pharisee, who had the outward appearance of a man of prayer, prayed out of pride, but not from his heart.

Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. 36 And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Luke 18:35-43 (and Mark 10:46-5)

What a powerful prayer!  This humble prayer stopped Jesus in his tracks and his prayer was answered.
From these two, we have the Jesus Prayer in its most common form:

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

A shorter form is one we hear throughout the Divine Liturgy, especially when we are called to pray . .  . . . 

Lord Have Mercy (Kýrie, eléison,)

How does the Jesus Prayer help us to pray without ceasing? Are you familiar with The Tetris Effect?  Tetris is a very addictive game in which you repeatedly focus on aligning shapes that are falling with matching forms.  After playing for a long time, you begin to see Tetris everywhere.  I've had a similar experience when playing chess over and over again for an extended period of time to the extent that, when placing my coffee cup on a table, I placed it just so in order to arrive at checkmate!  Through repetition, the Jesus Prayer will enter your heart and you will begin to see the Lord everywhere.

There are three stages of repetition:

1. Prayer of the Lips (body) - say the words
2. Focused Prayer (mind) - the meaning
3. Prayer of the Heart  - not something we do, but something we are

Repeating the prayer brings us closer to God and to repentance and to shift away from sin. When it rests in our heart, we even pray while we are sleeping . . .

I sleep, but my heart is awake;

Song of Solomon 5:2

Try it, repeat the Jesus Prayer over and over and over again, following the rhythm of another activity that we do without ceasing:

(breathe in) Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, 
(breathe out) have mercy on me, a sinner.

Just try it, and see if it doesn't make a difference in your life!

An Insight on Nationalism in the Church

As an American/Egyptian convert to the Coptic Orthodox Church, I am constantly seeking insight into the balance between living as a Christian in balance with national identity. This is a balance, that I find in my personal experience, is often a challenge in Orthodox Christian communities. In attending St. Barbara's Church in Chester, I was encouraged by the insights from Saint Paul found in the below sermon on the Epistle Reading (Romans 10:1-10) for the day, in which Saint Paul balances his love for his own Jewish heritage with his love for the Roman gentiles in the context of the Gospel.

Sermon on the Epistle Reading
From today's apostolic reading we learn, on the one hand, about St. Paul's love for his own Jewish people and followers of the old Law; and on the other, we hear explicitly that our salvation comes not through the Law but from Christ, whose followers we are in our capacity as Christians. There are two sets of distinct moral teachings resulting from today's first reading:

1. As Christians and therefore as followers of Christ, we need to respect and love the nation through which we came into the world with a true and healthy sense of patriotism which must never degenerate into a nationalistic approach. St. Paul himself loved his own people and sho should we, each one of us, in our double capacity as children of the Church and also as children of our own nation. But as Christians we are obliged at the same time to love all people, because all people, irrespective of skin colour or language are our brothers and sisters in Christ, being made in the same image of God as we are ourselves. This is why St. Paul, while praying for his own Jewish people, nevertheless calls 'brothers' all Christian gentiles of Rome whom he wants to bring into the light and truth of God. The Apostle's example is therefore vividly clear: on the one hand love for his own people while on the other brotherhood to all peoples.



2. Today's reading reminds us all that we all have, at our own disposal the means for personal salvation as well as for moral Christian conduct: the Church with its hierarchy, whereby we receive the necessary Divine and uncreated Grace of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Tradition of the Church containing its own living memory of all that the Lord has done and said for our salvation, and the teachings of our Arch-Pastors who teach us the word of the Truth, i.e., Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead, Who lives and remains with us in the Holy Spirit to the end of the ages. Amen.

27 June 2010, Bulletin of Spiritual Edification
Ecumenical Patriarchate Archdiocese of Thyatereira & Great Britain
Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr
Chester, UK