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- January 30, 2012 - No Comments
Pray Without Ceasing
With the approach of Lent and the spiritual opportunities this season offers all of us, we’d like to dedicate this month’s newsletter to the subject of prayer — specifically, interior prayer. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with the references to the Holy Name’s power to heal, to exorcise, and to transform human nature. The tradition of the Jesus Prayer — the constant invocation of Christ through the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” — dates back to the earliest days of the Church, in the deserts of Egypt and Palestine. And this tradition continues to transform the lives of Christian monastics and laity to this day.
The Way of a Pilgrim
The most well-known and beloved introduction to the Jesus Prayer is the autobiographical account of a Russian peasant in The Way of a Pilgrim. The pilgrim’s manuscript came into the hands of a monk on Mount Athos in the nineteenth century and was first published in 1884. The chronicle follows the author as he travels across Russian and Siberia in the mid nineteenth century, visiting monasteries and shrines in quest of the means to “pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17) His journey leads him to a Russian monk who teaches him the spiritual discipline of the Jesus Prayer.
And then the story really begins. For before our eyes we see how by making the Prayer his constant companion and dearest friend the pilgrim’s life is transformed and he lives in heaven on earth, truly finding “the kingdom of God within.”
Saints of today
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow” (Heb. 13:8).
The sanctifying power of the Holy Name and interior prayer is not just “for the saints” or an artifact of times past. Chronicled in the wonderful new DVD, The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer, Professor Morris Chumley’s pilgrimage to monasteries and convents in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Russia brought him into contact with holy monastics who have made the Jesus Prayer the center of their lives and have found it to be a doorway to heaven.
You can get a glimpse into the extraordinary lives of such people at this video clip on youtube which features an interview with a forest dwelling monk living today in the mountains of Romania: Click here or on the image to watch the video.
In your own “back yard”
Amongst the body of writings about the Jesus Prayer available today, one of the best is The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God. 
What makes it so valuable is not just the breadth of helpful information on interior prayer it offers, but the source: not a monk, not a nun, nor a wandering pilgrim, but a mother and grandmother who is very active in her professional life as a prolific author, journalist, and lecturer on television and radio. Amidst all these activities Frederica Mathewes-Green has sustained a daily practice of the Jesus Prayer for decades.
“The prayer is not designed to generate fancy mystical experiences or soppy emotions,” she writes. “Yet it works away steadily inside, gradually building a sure connection with the Lord. Where the Lord enters, there is light; I can see many ways that He has changed me over the years, illuminating and dispelling reflexive lying thoughts and fears. My part was just to keep showing up, day after day, for these quiet sessions with him.”
This book is wonderful combination of common sense, practical advice on prayer, and a thorough knowledge of the Church fathers. The author is a living example of what we can all accomplish spiritually if we will just apply ourselves. What better time to start than this Lent?
Write to us today and
Three theological students were traveling on their way to study in Athens. A wicked innkeeper robbed and murdered them, hiding their remains in a large pickling tub. Saint Nicholas, traveling along the same route, stopped at this very inn. In the night he dreamed of the crime, got up, and summoned the innkeeper. As Saint Nicholas prayed earnestly to God the three boys were restored to life and wholeness.
