Prayer as a true science
12.19.2009 | All Blog Posts, The Prayer of the Heart
The Jesus Prayer is an utterly simple method of prayer that unites you from the inside out with God. The older saints and mystics called it “scientific,” and I suppose it is, so long as you think of science in its truest sense—a line of inquiry that examines an object according to its own nature.
The Jesus Prayer, then, is scientific, for it provides not only the research method, but also the data. No more talk about God from a distance—in prayer, you are dealing with the Holy. No more chatter about prayer—you are entering the interior realm, facing your shadows, seeking the light, following the path of God’s mercy, and training yourself to climb, with grace, the ladder of prayer (Genesis 28.12).
And the goal?
- Unending communion with God even in the midst of the busiest life
through
- Unceasing prayer even while engaged in your daily work
12.20.2009
Chris,
I didn’t see the prayer on your site, and some readers may not know exactly what it is. So, I thought this quote from Wikipedia would help:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
The Jesus Prayer is for the Eastern Orthodox one of the most profound and mystical prayers and it is often repeated continually as a part of personal ascetic practice. Its practice is an integral part of the eremitic tradition of prayer known as Hesychasm (Greek: ἡσυχάζω, hesychazo, “to keep stillness”), the subject of the Philokalia (Greek: φιλοκαλείν, “love of beauty”), a collection of fourth to fifteenth century texts on prayer, compiled in the late eighteenth century by St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite and St. Makarios of Corinth. The monastic state of Mount Athos is a centre of the practice of the Jesus Prayer
This prayer can be used by anyone. To read a inspiring story “The Way of the Pilgrim” is a classic in which the prayer is the focal point of the story about a man devoted to the prayer, and the miracles the followed in his life.
12.21.2009
Thank you Bill. This is very helpful. There are a number of posts on my site that get at this including references to texts like the Way of the Pilgrim. And I’m moving toward what you’ve said here. Thanks for helpfully anticipating that direction. You’re right on.
12.21.2009
I do need to figure out how to better link internally between these posts:)
12.21.2009
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