The Jesus Prayer

12 Mar 2019

#JesusPrayer, #prayer

What is “The Jesus Prayer”?
It is a Christian prayer that has very ancient origins. The first reliable sources date back to the Desert
Fathers of the 3rd-4th century AD and it consists in the continuous repetition of a short prayer with the
name of Jesus, that is inserted into the rhythm of one’s breath.
I heard the call to this prayer a few years ago, learning the technique and starting to experiment with the
“Ricostruttori nella preghiera” (eng. Reconstructors in prayer), a Catholic movement that deals with it’s
spreading.

In what way can this prayer help and give benefits in concrete life?
The meeting with the Jesus Prayer changed my life. Through it the Lord gave me a transformation starting
from the approach to the little things.
Washing the dishes, working in the garden or washing the stairs might seem boring, but accompanied by
recitation of the name of Jesus, they can acquire a different taste.
In fact, the prayer of the heart helps us to fully experience all the activities we do, even the most ordinary
ones. It invites us to rediscover the beauty of small and simple things, like the nature around us. Through
this fullness and wonder we are helped by the High to live the present with greater presence and
involvement. It is therefore easier to carry out an action with real joy and gratitude and not with the
anxiety of having to finish it.

Before embarking on the path of the experience of the Jesus Prayer, I remember that my mind was
restless when I had half an hour left in my daily schedule or I had to wait for a bus’s coincidence. Now
things have changed, my attitude has changed as well: I entrust myself, I abandon myself trustfuly to God,
reminding me, thanks to this prayer, that everything depends on Him.
Even in the life of the novitiate there are innumerable occasions in which i can experience this: going to
the apostolate, working, laying out, walking, etc.
The prayer of the name of Jesus helps to live things in depth by praying in the heart. There are numerous
biblical verses that refer to this perpetual prayer, such as “praying incessantly” (1Thes 5, 17), “give thanks
in all things” (1Ts 5, 18), “knock and it will be opened to you” (Lk 11, 10), “I will take away from their
chest the heart of stone and I will give them a heart of flesh” (Ez 11, 19) and many others.
A further benefit that the recitation of the brief invocation gives us is to pay attention to something that
we often overlook, that is the breath. Learning this prayer allows us to re-explore the use of breath and
thus to rediscover a deep and diaphragmatic breathing, the natural one. Instead, we breathe in a breathless
way and this hinders us from preparing ourselves to be calm. For these reasons and for those that are more
strictly spiritual, the initiation into this type of prayer by an expert guide is in fact recommended.
It is curious to note how this practice seems to respond optimally to the needs of the modern world today.
I think it’s a wonderful medium, useful to counter the rhythms of an anxious and frenetic society. In the
last few decades we are witnessing a spread of this prayer in the West, even in the lay world. I have met
several people who testify how this practice transformed their lives, bringing them closer to the faith,
converting them to Christ and making them fall in love with the prayer. Spiritual thirst, present in people
in a more or less conscious way, could be satisfied in this way.
We must consider that, as St. Ignatius tells us, not every means of prayer is for everyone. But I wish to all
the people, who are unconsciously trying to find it, to encounter it and fall in love with it!

Marco Garbari, novice of the first year

Sullo stesso argomento

God saw it was very good

by Gianluca Severin

Among the experiences that characterize life in the novitiate are the outings that we experience together every week, walking in the nature surrounding the city.

When we arrive at the summit, under the deepest sky, on suspended peaks, surrounded by the mountains and the sea, our wonder blossoms into praise. The Lord passed through these woods, thoughtfully spreading a thousand graces, and gazing at them along the way, with his face alone, left them covered in beauty. Creatures are a footprint of God’s footsteps, thanks to which we perceive his greatness, power and wisdom. (Saint John of the Cross)

The heart unites us with every creature singing the joy of its existence, that proclaims His infinite creativity, His supreme wisdom, His eternal tenderness. An immense space opens up before us in which everything takes on the measure of infinite, and within us expands so much the desire for heights, for splendor, for freedom.

And here, without having asked, without having deserved, I am here too.

O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches [Psalm 104:24]

While the ear immerses itself in the silence, and notices the distant roar of a waterfall, the rustling of branches, the screech of a hawk, the sense of the sacred arises in us.

I respect very deeply and, at the same time, I retain the utmost intimacy in which He welcomes me; I am pervaded by an abysmal unworthiness and, at the same time, by the sweetest boldness when He approaches: “Don’t be afraid. It’s me”. Faced with the sublime, I am not afraid but attracted, in love; faced with the unknown I don’t fall silent but I dialogue about the deepest and most sincere things in life; faced with the infinite, I don’t run away but I entrust myself, I let be embraced; faced with mystery, I do not retreat but I open myself to friendship, to communion. And I perceive everything as work of God, myself as work of God, and God at work in life.

The Spirit of the Lord fills the universe, and embracing everything, knows every voice [Wis 1,7]

While we rest together among rocks that reach out to the sky, shaped and enlivened by the shining light, by the blowing wind, by the flowing water, we live not as servants, not as masters but as friends.

We share the journey, punctuated by the slow and persevering climb, and the pauses, the tiredness and the daring, the fatigue and the wonder. We share bread and water, a daily gesture, but which, after a common effort, is more frank and serene, it has a flavor of greater intimacy. We share the stories that everyone has to tell, the past that brought us here, the future that we glimpse on the horizon, the fears and passions, the laughter and the sadness, the doubts and enthusiasms. We share each other’s silent company. And I feel like I’m among brothers.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them [Mt 18:20]

By living these we save ourselves: in the praise, in the sacred, in the friendship of God, our salvation, the fullness of life, is already achieved.

God created human beings to praise, reverence, and serve God, and by doing this, to save their souls. God created all other things on the face of the earth to help fulfill this purpose [Principle and foundation of the Spiritual Exercise]