The Jesus prayer, one of the more important meditative prayers of the Christian tradition, used especially by Eastern Christians, is at its heart, a simple prayer. While there are a few variations as to how the prayer can be said, the most common words used for it are: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.” The simplicity of the prayer helps us still our mind, and in doing so, helping us to attain some level of inner peace, a peace which then leaves us open to experience the presence of Jesus which can be found in the invocation of his name. We are humbling asking the one who is “the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation” (Col. 1:15b RSV) to come to us, to make his presence known, so that in and through it we can have his help, his mercy, in our lives. As we pray it, it is important that we do so in and through our heart, meaning, we do so, acting out of love for God, and not just out of some sense of ritual duty.
If we want mercy from Jesus, we must be merciful to others, and if we attain what we seek, we are meant to share the bounty of what Jesus gives us with others. We are not to confuse the prayer, or any prayer, as some sort of magical practice which forces Jesus to do our bidding, but rather, it should be seen as a way we clear our mind, put our focus on Jesus, emptying ourselves of everything which we otherwise put in the way between Jesus and us, so that we are then open and ready for Jesus when he comes to us in the invocation of his name. We should act towards him in our prayer the same way we would if he were physically in front of us. That is, we are to pray full of faith, hope, and love, similar to those who, upon meeting Jesus during his temporal ministry, asked for his help, as, for example, we see in the story concerning the blind man in Jericho (Bartimaeus):
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God (Lk. 18:35-43 RSV).
Thus, with the Jesus prayer, we beseech Jesus for mercy, having him become present to us, not physically, nor in the way he is present in the eucharist, but in a way similar to the way his presence can be found in icons. Indeed, we can and should recognize the relationship between words and images, and how we can and do form images through words, so that, even if the words themselves are conventions, they can be real conventions, where the presence of what is pointed to through them can be had. That is, words can be a vehicle for the reality which is meant by them, and this is exactly what we find with the Jesus prayer. We are to call upon Jesus, making room for him in our lives, so that we can receive all that he desires to offer us; saying “have mercy upon me a sinner” is one way to do this, though it is possible to say the Jesus prayer, to make him present, without those words, indeed, by saying no words but his name, because we can intend all is implied by the words while saying his name. What is important is the intention behind the words, that is, their spirit, and not the letter, for again, the prayer is not some sort of magical formula which requires us to say specific words, but rather, the prayer is meant to be the means to connect ourselves with Christ in and through the way he can be made present in the invocation of his name. We are not to listen to those who will tell us to be silent and offer no prayer to Jesus, that is, those telling us Jesus will have nothing to do with us; no, Jesus loves us, loves everyone, and will welcome everyone who comes to him in the proper spirit. We should not heed the voices in our head which tell us we are foolish to try to reach out to him, but rather, we should silence them by doing that which they tell us not to do, invoking the name of Jesus, focusing on the name and the presence of Jesus in that name, the name of the one “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14 RSV). We will find our minds truly can come to rest, and in that rest, Jesus can and will come to us, bringing us a sense of peace in the midst of his presence, the peace which we will hopefully remember and keep with us once we have ended our time in his presence, once we have ended our special time at prayer, revealing the fruit of that peace through our actions. In doing so, we find ourselves, our lives, slowly becoming one long prayer, one which goes beyond words, though which of course includes them, and that our whole existence becomes one long prayer, as we end up praying without ceasing.
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