The Jesus Prayer

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.  Luke 18: 13

                     "Mercy"             Jackson Jim-George

There is a prayer going around retreat and spirituality circles over the past decade or so. It’s called “The Jesus Prayer” and it goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” You may have used it on a retreat, or when trying your hand at the Anglican Rosary, or whenever you’ve needed a quick centering prayer, but the genesis of this prayer come from Luke’s Gospel. And in its original form, it did not address Jesus at all; it addressed Yahweh. It is the simple prayer of a Jewish tax collector who has become aware of how far he has strayed from his Creator. His prayer is simply this: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

It is in that closeness, when we sense the presence of the Divine, that we realize our own brokenness and our need for God’s mercy. It is in facing Love Itself that we realize how deeply our attachments to worldly things have confiscated our attention. The Celts call these encounters “thin spaces” where the veil between the heaven and earth is lifted, if even for a moment. And it is those times when we simply must face Love Itself and whisper, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Use it. Use it at the communion rail. Use it when you notice something beautiful or something disturbing or something that angers you. God longs for us to utter these words. Draw close.