"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."I've heard of church fathers who "mastered" this prayer or have become ones who ceaselessly pray, but I want to know how you can "master" this prayer, or really, how you go about saying it with effect and without just losing it after six or seven recitations. When I start praying this, I find my mind wandering and I have to just call it back to the prayer and concentrate on the words. "What am I saying? What do these words mean in reality? What is the physical manifestation of this prayer?" I know that when we are praying, our minds will wander, and we must constantly be calling them back. Monks I have read about have gone so far as to wear giant iron rings on their necks so as to keep them from looking out the window while the Gospel is being read during services, although I certainly don't feel as convicted as that, nor do I necessarily agree with such practices that punish one for not being perfect (penitent self-flogging, starvation, etc.), that one will read about occassionally.
But as to the prayer - What is the end we are seeking? Is it merely to have our minds focused on words that eventually, after constant recitation and concentration and deliberation, bring us closer to Christ? I say merely, when in fact that is one of the goals of our entire lives is it not? To become, not only closer to, but to become like Christ? Is there something else we should be thinking about, pondering, to some other end when we are saying this prayer?
You may wonder how I came upon these thoughts, but they basically just dawned on me today at the bus stop while I waited in the cold for my bus to take me to the job for which I was already 30 minutes late. I started praying, and after a few, I had to call my mind back, and I thought, is there something I'm supposed to be concentrating on? Do I think of an icon of Christ? Do I ponder heaven and my earthly purpose? What!?
I also thought, once the bus dropped me off and I started walking, that I want to learn some prayers. I really want to learn to pray with earnest and sincerity, and I would like to learn some prayers. Hey, J, maybe I'll buy a Philokalia now, yeah? I'm glad that I'm finally pondering prayer more and actually wanting to pray, but now I'm getting into it. Maybe life would just be easier without prayer... hehe... Not a chance.
1 comment:
I'd say, yes, the point of the prayer is bring you into the presence of Christ - it is to help you keep God ever before you. Once you find yourself there then don't keep repeating empty words. I once knew a guy that would focus on saying the Jesus Prayer and at one point said, "I'm up to about 700 times a day now." I asked, "So, what happens when it brings you into a place of quiet contemplation?" His response, "I keep praying it." WHAT?!? STOP!!! YOU'RE THERE! I was baffled by his stamina and yet lack of understanding.
I've always understood that once the words help you see and hear and enter into the presence of God then the silence is enough. I think too much emphasis has been put on repeating the words themselves, as if they are the goal. I think you're already on the right path since you're asking the question "What is the end we are seeking?" Already you know that there is a goal in ceaseless prayer other than ceaseless speech and thoughts.
As for what to focus on... IMO, just look around you. If the prayer is having it's desired effect then you will notice that things around you look differently. When you can see Christ in every wino and bum you pass and God in every gutter and on every street corner, then the prayer is beginning to grow in you. I think that only by drawing closer to others and seeing the Divine in them can we ultimately draw closer to God.
My SF once told me, when I asked him a very similar question as yours here, that if I wanted to focus my mind and keep it off of fleshly thoughts and stop it from wandering during prayer to do this - switch the wrist that my watch was on for one month, and then every time I looked for the time and inevitably had to look at the opposite wrist, immediately say silently, "Come Holy Spirit." That's it. No embellishment, just those three words. I think my response was, "Umm...ok?" I thought, "Yeah..so that's gonna help how?" At the end of the month I was ASTOUNDED at the difference the exercise had made. Just being forced to break routine and say those simple three words, "Come Holy Spirit" and invite Him into my mind, heart, anxiety, stress, wandering thoughts, etc. It changed my life and my prayers.
My point - in my experience it's the simplest things that make the most difference. Just you beginning to pray intentionally will shift things. And probably, the best thing to remember; praying earnestly or with sincerity will happen most often when you don't "think" you're praying. ;-)
Good post and thoughts Leb. Thanks for the reminder and sorry for the length of my comment. Miss ya!
Oh, and here's Lewis's way of saying it, much better than I ever could. Cheers!
“What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God’s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.” ~C.S. Lewis
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