A direct line of prayer to God

The meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew has created new interest among Catholics in the spiritual treasures of the Orthodox Church. Jesuit Father OSKAR WERMTER explains one such treasure: the Jesus-Prayer.

When Pope Francis met with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in Jerusalem last month, they expressed the deep desire for restoring unity between the Churches of the East (Orthodoxy) and the West (Rome).

The Eastern Church has great spiritual treasures to offer to the Church of Rome. One of these is the Jesus-Prayer, which I seek to explain here.

We are God’s creatures. We did not create ourselves. We were created—or, to be precise, we are being created all the time. “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 28).

To acknowledge this in thankfulness is the beginning of our relationship which never ends. Thus we live in utter wonder at God’s being and our partaking in it. This is our breathing space.

God calls us into being. Created for God, we need to respond. If we fail to do so there will be much emptiness, a vacuum which we may be too busy to notice, but once our preoccupation is over, it will re-emerge painfully.

We are meant to make an “exodus” from ourselves, to go out of ourselves, to leave ourselves behind and reach out to the source of all being.

We become ourselves by giving ourselves away. There is only one who is really worthy to receive us, that we allow ourselves to fall into his hands: the one Creator and Lord.

We do so in “adoration and service”, in prayer and in doing his will, in thanksgiving and in serving, ora et labora (pray and toil).

“Adoration is always an initiative of God”, Pope Francis said when he addressed women religious superiors in Rome recently. “It is Christ who has called you to follow him […] and this means to continually engage in an ‘exodus’ from yourselves to centre your existence on Christ and on his Gospel, on the will of God, divesting yourselves of your plans, to be able to say with St Paul: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20). This ‘exodus’ leads us to a path of adoration of the Lord and of service to him in our brothers and sisters.

Adoration is not just an activity, to be switched on and off. It becomes an attitude which is always there. Jesus spoke about our “need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Lk 18:1, see also 1Thess 5:17, Eph 6:18).

There is a long tradition in the Eastern Church, going back to the early monks in the desert, who prayed in the rhythm of their bodies, as regular as breathing. An anonymous Russian pilgrim of the 19th century made these monks’ way of “praying continuously” known even in the West through his autobiographical work The Way of a Pilgrim (Image Books, Doubleday, New York, 1978).

He describes how he learned and practised the “Jesus-Prayer” while walking the length and breadth of Russia as a lifelong pilgrim: “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (there are also shorter versions of this prayer; indeed some practitioners have been praying it by simply repeating continuously the name of Jesus).

Some people misunderstand this as a mere technique, like a mantra. That would be an outright self-manipulation. We are not interested in that. “There was no tone of magic […] they cried out his name as Lord. But they also realised…that they were in need of his healing mercy because of their own sinfulness” (Lk 18:38; Lk 18:13; cf Kyrie eleison of the liturgy).

One can concede that this form of prayer has its psychosomatic side to it. Praying by repeating continuously a verse of scripture, or a brief exclamation, is also known in the Western Church. The rosary is such a way of praying.

St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, advises us in his “Spiritual Exercises” that we should pray the Our Father and other common prayers of the Church by reciting them slowly and continuously, letting the words speak to us. One could add words from Scripture, saying them slowly over and over again, listening to them and “tasting” their sweetness.

Prayer forms like this help us overcome distractions and keep us focused on the Lord, while preventing us from slipping into a self-centred mode. Following the rhythm of our breathing may be helpful, but spiritual guides with long experience of this way of praying warn against being overly concerned with technique.

The Eastern Christians see no value in the “Jesus-Prayer” unless it is an expression of the Holy Spirit praying in us.

“We do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). It is the Spirit of Jesus that prays in us. We join Jesus in his praying to the Father. The Spirit is this relationship of infinite love between Son and Father. Prayer and adoration (but also in a different way service and work, humbly doing the will of God) is partaking in the life of the Triune God.

“God is Love”. This love is the Father giving himself to the Son and the Son to the Father. The Spirit is this self-giving love. Receiving the Holy Spirit means joining in this mutual self-giving. We are loved with the love the Father has for the Son, so we respond by joining the Son in giving himself to the Father. You cannot love God without “losing” yourself, and yet you gain all.

In reciting the “Jesus-Prayer” quietly in your heart, without actually pronouncing the words, you make this self-giving and “losing” yourself your permanent attitude, which in turn gets you ready to do the work of the Lord and his will in serving him and his people.

Adoration liberates you for service. “To the degree that we experience the tremendous love of God in Jesus Christ, we can let this love pour out to every man and woman, brother and sister”, wrote Fr George Malone SJ in his book Prayer of the Heart (Ave Maria Press, Indiana, 1981).

But, you may ask, in the meantime do I have to stop work, and preoccupation with service, so as to be able to say the “Jesus-Prayer”? Should I be Mary rather than Martha (Lk 10:38-42)?

Not at all. You are habitually reaching out to the Lord in your heart, even when you are busy like Martha. The words merely give expression to this, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.

There are in fact many empty moments in the course of your waking hours when you can call on Jesus with these words, for example when you wait for the bus, or drive, or walk, do routine work with your hands, cooking, sweeping the floor, resting or doing sports.

This prayer prays itself. The Russian Pilgrim calls it a “self-activating” prayer. Once you are in the habit you need not make a conscious effort. Your heart says the prayer when there is a chance.

“The prayer exists and acts on its own because the Spirit of God prays in him or her”, as Fr Malone put it.

We meet Jesus sacramentally in the Eucharist. The Jesus-Prayer enables us to walk in the presence of the Lord for the rest of the day.

This prayer must not be misunderstood as a way of taking possession of the Lord, of “having” him. Through this prayer we walk with the Lord as pilgrims who do not know where he will lead us.