“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. ”
The prayer of Jesus, also called the prayer of the heart, is a short invocation to Jesus very present in the Eastern Christian churches, especially among the Orthodox. Simple and repetitive prayer, it allows you to focus and avoid the dissipation of the mind. It could therefore be a way to enter into a form of meditation, from heart to heart with Jesus. Through its form and words, it calls for humility and surrender. The strength of its simplicity and its anchoring capacity make it a powerful prayer that has survived the years.
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A mystical prayer, the Prayer of Jesus is placed in the hesychastic tradition that seeks union and peace in God.
Inherited from the practice of the Desert Fathers, this prayer sounds like a response to the injunction of Saint Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “pray continually”. Indeed, the prayer tirelessly repeats a short sentence, which is wedged on the movements of the breath:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
It recognizes the importance and power of the invocation of the name of Jesus, and aims to bring the praying person to more surrender to Jesus, their savior.
This form of prayer brings many graces, as Origen, one of the fathers of the Church, points out in the 3rd century: “Even today, the name of Jesus soothes troubled souls, reduces demons, heals diseases; its use infuses a kind of wonderful sweetness; it ensures the purity of morals; it inspires humanity, generosity, and meekness.”
More broadly, the prayer of the heart, which consists of repeating a short formula, which may be that of the prayer of Jesus or another (Kyrie eleison, Abba, Father; My God and my everything; My Jesus...) becomes a way of listening, as can be Christian meditation.
The repetition is punctuated by the breath; the invocation must naturally be placed on the movement of the breath in our body. Prayer is then carried by our whole being, felt in the most intimate part of us.
Far from being used as a magic formula or a mantra, this repetitive form allows a refocusing on God (not on oneself), an opening of our heart to his grace and an abandonment to his will.
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With Hozana and its many prayer proposals, discover the spiritual treasures of Christian traditions to discover the presence of God in yourself.