I don’t know about you, but I frequently struggle to make space in my head in silent prayer. If you too struggle with this, firstly, you are not alone, and there is no such thing as failure in prayer! But secondly, the Jesus Prayer is here to help you. This is a particular gift of our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and is thought to have been developed by the Desert Fathers as early as the fourth century, and has the virtue of being easy: it consists of the simple repetition of “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
Like all mantras, as used in other faiths too, the Jesus Prayer intends for us both to focus on the meaning of the phrase, but also to lose ourselves in the repetition. It also works with other short phrases—try any favorite. I frequently use “Into your hands O Lord I commend my spirit,” or “Not my will but yours be done.” It will be good to share our experiences of the Jesus Prayer as the month progresses.
