The Jesus Prayer: Spiritual practice spotlight.
To the churches in Thessalonica, St Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Often, we think of this instruction as a figure of speech, if we think of it at all. Yet while a distinct form of Christian spirituality was developing in the West, Christians in the East were cultivating a practice designed to make this ceaseless prayer a lived reality for the most ordinary people. This practice is commonly called the Jesus Prayer.
What is the Jesus Prayer?
The Jesus Prayer is a very simple form of centering prayer with a remarkably deep and robust theological tradition around it. Centering prayers typically use just a word or phrase or an image to help center our attention and offer a focal point for our posture of prayer. In the case of the Jesus Prayer, the traditional phrase is actually quite bit a longer than usual and some variation of, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (from Luke 18:38 + 18:13). Yet there’s a reason for its length.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
The Jesus Prayer isn’t merely a matter of recitation; it’s very specifically attached to the rhythm of breathing. In practicing the Jesus Prayer, the first half (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”) is attached to the inhale, and the second half (“have mercy on me, a sinner”) is attached to the exhale. As we inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale, the prayer becomes more integrated into our breathing until the words themselves fall away and our breath becomes the prayer.
For this reason, it’s also known as the Prayer of the Heart or, simply, the Prayer. In a word, it is to “pray without ceasing.”
How to practice the Jesus Prayer.
The Jesus Prayer can be practiced anywhere at any time. There’s no need to prepare beforehand. As you begin, however, you may want to choose a relatively quiet setting like a designated time of prayer or a leisurely walk. Eventually, the Jesus Prayer will be precisely for the busyness and distracted moments of life—but early on in our practice, it helps to be able to maintain focus easily.
1. Pray.
Recall the phrase of the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Begin with a deep, slow inhale from your diaphragm (not your lungs), and as you do, focus intently on the words, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” even mouthing them if it helps. What do these words mean to you? What images or senses or feelings do you notice with them?
Now exhale, slowly and deliberately, with the words “have mercy on me, a sinner.” What does mercy mean to you? In what ways might you identify with the blind man or the publican of Luke 18? What would you wish to follow your breath out of you as you pray this plea and this confession?
Repeat this inhale prayer and this exhale prayer a few more times, in equal breaths, without slackening your awareness. After establishing a rhythm, allow some of the words to fall away so that it becomes, “Lord Jesus Christ . . . have mercy on me.” Notice how the meaning, what you experience in the prayer, merely condenses into the remaining words without losing anything. Notice how the feeling and the sound of your breath begins to take up some of what those words were pointing to. Next allow it to become, “Jesus Christ . . . have mercy”—then, eventually, “Jesus . . . mercy.” Continue inhaling and exhaling as you hold those remaining words more and more loosely with your breath.
2. Breathe.
Soon, the remaining words will fall away as well so that your inhale and exhale, like a language of their own, come to bear the whole of the prayer to God. In this place and in this posture, simply continue to breathe with as much awareness (not to say concentration) as before. Don’t merely happen to be breathing, as the body does on its own, but rather inhale, and only once you’re at the top of your inhale, then begin to exhale. All the while, continue to hold mindfully what these mean in the language of your breathing, in the heart of your prayer. In this way, each breath is initiated by you praying rather than by your biology; your breathing becomes an act of prayer.
Maintaining this level of awareness for any length of time isn’t necessarily easy, so you may find you need to bring back some of the words that help us to focus the intention of our prayer. “Jesus” and “mercy” may be enough, or you may reintroduce the full phrase of the prayer without worry about spoiling any progress in it. These are some of the ebbs and flows of this practice. And when you find yourself ready, return to praying simply through your breath again—without words, even without images.
3. Be.
In one sense, the initial goal of the Jesus Prayer is to deeply integrate the verbal prayer into our breathing—at first, so that we can consciously pray it with our breath and, eventually, that we might find ourselves praying it just by virtue of our breathing. In truth, during seasons when I practiced the Jesus Prayer with great regularity, I’d be out walking and, in the rhythm of my long breaths and deliberate gait, realize what I’d already been praying, as I’d hear the words gently emerge from the background of my mind:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
This is in the direction of the ultimate goal of the Jesus Prayer—that as it descends from our minds to our lungs, it continues to descend to our hearts and, eventually, to the center of our very being—that where our lungs take over for our lips, the center of ourself would take up the prayer—that the whole operation of our body and our life would become this one prayer.
Some Eastern Orthodox monks have told me it’s believed that breathing, a calm heartbeat, a body wholly tuned in to the ebbing and flowing rhythm of the Jesus Prayer, all resound with the entire ordered cosmos, creation calling out to its Creator, everything brought into harmony under Christ’s rule and rein.
Try it out.
The Jesus Prayer is deeply traditioned, but there are variations, and you can make it your own. If the full phrase feels too long for you, or if some of the language is tripping you up (like you can’t say “have mercy on me, a sinner” without feeling waves of shame and images of a condemning God), try playing with it (maybe, “show compassion on my brokenness” instead).
Until you’ve built up a practice, this isn’t a prayer to be said just a few times. To try it out, really give it a go. Try setting aside a full two minutes where this is all you do. Then, you might try slipping it into a down minute in your day—say, standing in line at the store or instead of checking your phone in the stall. The more it becomes a habit in the small moments of your day, the more it can become worked into the very breath and heart of your life, and the closer you might come to prayer without ceasing.