The Breath Prayer

The Breath Prayer

Breath is life. Since the first human became animated by the breath of God, breathing is essential to being alive. When our breathing stops, our life ends. Our breathing thus is an intrinsic component of being alive. Jesus is God incarnate in a human body. Our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The physical bodies in which our soul and spirit embody are Christ’s body on earth. So our bodies are sacred. Our breaths are sacred too as it is a gift of God, a means of grace, and a means of life. We pray with our minds using language. We can also pray with our bodies. The breath prayer is one of the early forms of prayer, started once we draw our first breath as a newborn baby. However, the breath prayer that we are using nowadays was formulated by the Desert Fathers and Mothers in the second to third Century C.E. Desert Fathers and Mothers were people who left the cities to go into the wilderness of the deserts of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt to be close to God. They were often solitary and committed their lives to prayer. From them came this tradition of prayer by being aware of our breathing. By intentional breathing slowing and still ourselves, we seek the presence of God. This is a form of wordless prayer, a contemplative type of prayer.

Bede Griffiths on The Jesus Prayer

Fr Bede Griffiths on Jesus Prayer: “If anyone asks me how I pray, my simple answer is that I pray the Jesus prayer. Anyone familiar with the story of a Russian pilgrim will know what I mean. It consists simply in repeating the words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I have used this prayer now for over 40 years and it has become so familiar that it simply repeats itself. Whenever I am not otherwise occupied or thinking of something else, the prayer goes quietly on. Sometimes it is almost mechanical, just quietly repeating itself, and other times it gathers strength and can become extremely powerful.

I give it my own interpretation. When I say, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”, I think of Jesus as the Word of God, embracing heaven and earth and revealing himself in different ways and under different names and forms to all humanity. I consider that this Word “enlightens everyone coming into the world”, and though they may not recognise it, it is present to every human being in the depths of their soul. Beyond word and thought, beyond all signs and symbols, this Word is being secretly spoken in every heart in every place and at every time. People may be utterly ignorant of it or may choose to ignore it, but whenever or wherever anyone responds to truth or love or kindness, to the demand for justice, concern for others, care of those in need, they are responding to the voice of the Word. So also when anyone seeks truth or beauty in science, philosophy, poetry or art, they are responding to the inspiration of the Word.

I believe that that Word took flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and in him we can find a personal form of the Word to whom we can pray and to whom we can relate in terms of love and intimacy, but I think that he makes himself known to others under different names and forms. What counts is not so much the name and the form as the response in the heart to the hidden mystery, which is present to each one of us in one way or another and awaits our response in faith and hope and love.

When I say, “have mercy on me, a sinner”, I unite myself with all human beings from the beginning of the world, who have experienced separation from God, or from the eternal truth. I realise that, as human beings, we are all separated from God, from the source of our being. We are wandering in a world of shadows, mistaking the outward appearance of people and things for reality. But at all times something is pressing us to reach out beyond the shadows, to face the reality, the truth, the inner meaning of our lives, and so to find God, or whatever name we give to the mystery which enfolds us.

So I say the Jesus prayer, asking to be set free from the illusions of this world, from the innumerable vanities and deceits with which I am surrounded. And I find in the name of Jesus the name which opens my heart and mind to reality. I believe that each one of us has an inner light, an inner guide, which will lead us, through the shadows and illusions by which we are surrounded, and open our minds to the truth. It may come through poetry or art, or philosophy or science, or more commonly through the encounter with people and events, day by day. Personally I find that meditation, morning and evening, every day, is the best and most direct method of getting in touch with reality. In meditation I try to let go of everything of the outer world of the senses, of the inner world of thoughts, and listen to the inner voice, the voice of the Word, which comes in the silence, in the stillness when all activity of mind and body ceases. Then in the silence I become aware of the presence of God, and I try to keep that awareness during the day. In bus or train or travelling by air, in work or study or talking and relating to others, I try to be aware of this presence in everyone and in everything. And the Jesus prayer is what keeps me aware of the presence.

So prayer for me is the practice of the presence of God in all situations, in the midst of noise and distractions of all sorts, of pain and suffering and death, as in times of peace and quiet, of joy and friendship, of prayer and silence, the presence is always there. For me the Jesus prayer is just a way of keeping in the presence of God.”

 

Quoted by Adam Bucko

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Aku Dan Lego

guest post by Arif Subagyo

 

Lego…….
Tidak berarti ketika hanya sepotong
Tidak bermakna ketika sendiri

Menjadi indah saat tersusun
Membangun bentuk bersama yang lain

Bukan hanya satu atau dua bentuk
Bahkan tak terbilang beragam

Hidupku…
Bak sebentuk lego
Tak berguna tanpa Sang Pembentuk

Hidupku…
Bak sewarna Lego
Tak seindah tanpa Sang Perancang

Hidupku…
Bak sepenggal Lego

Tak bisa dinikmati tanpa Sang Seniman

Hidupku…

Indah ditangan Tuhan Sang Khalik

Bandung, 26 Juni 2018

Educators Silent Retreat

Tags

discernment, retreat, spiritual direction, spiritual discipline, spiritual formation

It was my privilege to lead a group of teachers on a silent retreat at the Methodist House on Frasers Hill. It was an ideal location to hold a retreat. Teachers have a busy schedule and face a unique set of challenges.

Most of the participants find it helpful to have time to step aside and listen, rest and be refreshed. Some find it a challenge to be in a ‘silent’ retreat.

Prayer for my grandchildren

Tags

Children, Grandparents, Parenting

O Lord,
Thank you for the gift of these precious little children. Help me, O Lord, to be a loving grandfather to them, helping their parents to nurture and help them grow in ways that are honoring You. Help us together to walk in Your Grace and develop faith in Your Love.

Lord, teach me both what to give and what to withhold; not to overindulge but not excessive in severity; firm but gentle, and be considerate with understanding. Give me wisdom to know when to reprove and when to affirm, so that by my deed and example, they will grow into a life filled with joy, faithfulness and wisdom.

Father, I commit these wonderful children and their parents into Your Hands. Be their God and Master so that whatever is lacking in me through frailty or negligence, You will supply all their needs. Keep them in good health and let them grow into their true potential. Strengthen them against the corruption that is found in the world and within themselves. Give them wisdom to avoid the snares of the enemy. May they live peaceful and abundant lives. Fill them with your Holy Spirit that they may be empowered to serve You through their spiritual gifts and natural talents You have given them. Let them continue to serve You when I have passed beyond and is nothing but a memory. May they grow daily in the knowledge and love of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Praying the Jesus Way (Matthew 6:5-8)

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The Jesus Prayer

cover of Mathewes-Green, Frederica. The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer That Tunes the Heart to God. Brewster, MA: Parachetes Press, 2009.

One of the prayers which I find most helpful in helping me to pray unceasingly is the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer was developed by the desert fathers and mothers in the deserts of Egypt and Palestine during the early years of Christianity (3^rd Century AD) more than 1,500 years ago. The name Jesus Prayer was first mentioned by St. John Climacus (525-606 AD), abbot of the monastery at Mt. Sinai in The Ladder of Divine Ascent^[1]. In the 18^th century it was collected into a book by two Russian monks. This book is the Philokalia^[2]. Another book from Russia that mentioned the Jesus Prayer was The Way of the Pilgrim which was also published in the 19^th century. This prayer is still a favorite prayer of the Orthodox Catholic Church or commonly known as the Eastern Orthodox Church^[3]. The apostolic church was a single church until 1024 when it was split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Catholic Church by an event appropriately named the East-West Schism. The Protestant movement, of which the Presbyterians are one of the inheritors, came out of the Roman Catholic Church. In many ways, the practices of the Orthodox Catholic Church reflect the practices of the early church.

The Jesus Prayer in its commonest form is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This prayer has two essential components. The first is the acknowledgement of the supremacy of Jesus Christ as described in the great Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11. The second component is the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: “Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican”, whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:10-14). The Jesus Prayer is a prayer addressed to God asking for mercy.

The Jesus Prayer is also known as the prayer of the heart. The Song of Solomon’s passage from the Old Testament “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (Song of Solomon 5:2) declares that for persons in love, their beloved is never far from their hearts. The analogy being that as a lover is always conscious to his or her beloved, people can also achieve a state of “constant prayer” where they are always conscious of God’s presence in their lives.

The prayer is repeated slowly and prayerfully. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Repeatedly proclaiming the divinity of Christ and asking for mercy is not vain repetition. It is different from chanting a mantra or a self help technique. It is “continuous” worship in invoking the name of Christ and acknowledging our dependence upon Him. Mercy here is not just for salvation only but also for our spiritual well being. Unlike mantras, the Jesus Prayer may be translated into any language.

Initially you may need to find a quiet place to pray the Jesus Prayer. To pray the Jesus prayer is to repeat “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner” as many times as your time period allows. Gradually, as you become more used to it, you find you will be able to pray it while you are doing other things. The Jesus Prayer may be prayed anywhere. There are no special postures associated with it.

Practicum

1.      Find a quiet place and time to pray

2.      Be comfortable but not too comfortable

3.      Close your eyes and still your mind

4.      Be aware of your breathing. Consciously slow down your breathing; take a deep breath and breathe out slowly counting silently up to five. Repeat unless you are relaxed and calm.

5.      Slowly match your breathing to the Jesus Prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ” (receive-breathe in), “Son of the Living God” (proclaim- breathe out), “have mercy on me” (receive-breathe in), “a sinner” (proclaim- breathe out). St. John Climatus writes, “Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with your every breath.”^[4]

6.      Keep repeating  these words of the Jesus prayer.

7.      If your mind starts wandering, use the words of the Jesus Prayer to refocus.

8.      Start with a ten minute prayer session twice a day.

9.      Slowly extend the duration of your prayer sessions

10.   Extend your prayer outside these prayer sessions into the other times of your life – while waiting in a queue, waiting for the traffic light to change, brushing your teeth, etc.

Pray unceasingly, urges St Paul to the Romans (Rom.12:12), the Ephesians (Eph. 6:18), the Colossians (Col. 4:2) and the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:16-18). In this multi-tasking form, you can pray unceasingly while you do other things. People who have been praying the Jesus Prayer for many years will tell you that they are able to work, play, love, and rest while part of their minds are praying the Jesus Prayer. There is also a story told that when a certain devout Orthodox Church lady was coming out of anesthesia after an operation, the surgical nurses heard her praying the Jesus Prayer before she herself became fully conscious!

The spiritual teachers of the Orthodox Church claim that initially you pray the Jesus Prayer but soon the Jesus Prayer prays you. The continuous invoking the Name of God and petitioning for mercy has a power effect on our spiritual formation. It makes us sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and empowers the “renovation of our hearts.” This is the beauty of the Jesus prayer. It is not the endless repetition of the words. It is in the endless repetition that we find ourselves ‘sensitized’ to the presence of God. When we continually receive and proclaim we find our minds and souls becoming more receptive to God who is always with us but unfortunately we are not always aware of Him. The Jesus Prayer is one prayer I pray constantly and I sincerely invite you to pray it too.

Further Reading

Writing from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart. Translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1951.

The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues on His Way. Translated by R. M. French. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1965.

Chumley, Norris J. The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2011.

Church, A Monk of the Eastern. The Jesus Prayer. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimit’s Seminary Press, 1987.

Climacus, John. John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell The Classics of Western Spirituality, Edited by Richard J. Payne. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1982.

Mathewes-Green, Frederica. The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer That Tunes the Heart to God. Brewster, MA: Parachetes Press, 2009.

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[1] John Climacus, John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent, ed. Richard J. Payne, trans., Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell, The Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1982)., 45-54, 153n.

[2] Writing from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, trans., E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1951). Other good books on the Jesus Prayer includes A Monk of the Eastern Church, The Jesus Prayer (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimit’s Seminary Press, 1987).; The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues on His Way, trans., R. M. French (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1965).,Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer That Tunes the Heart to God (Brewster, MA: Parachetes Press, 2009).,Norris J. Chumley, The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2011).

[3] Mathewes-Green.

[4] Climacus., 270.

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Walking the Labyrinth with the Psalms

labyrinth at Lifesprings Canossian Spirituality Centre, Singapore

“O God, you will show me the path of life and fill me with joy in your presence.”
                                                                                                                                Psalm 16:11

A labyrinth is a pattern on the ground in which there is a long pathway that leads to the centre. Once reaching the centre, you may follow path back to the entrance which is also the exit. Generally, there are three stages to the walk: releasing on the way in, receiving in the center and returning when you follow the path back out of the center of the labyrinth. Symbolically, and sometimes actually, you are taking back out into the world that which you have received.

The first documented example of a labyrinth we have is from 324 A.D. when Christians placed a labyrinth on the floor of their church in Algiers, North Africa. Many of the early church fathers including Ambrose, Gregory of Nyssa, and Jerome wrote about labyrinths as a metaphor to illustrate important Christian beliefs. 

There is no right way or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. Use the labyrinth in any way that meets your needs while being respectful of others who may be walking on the path. You may stop anywhere along the path to mediate, pray or be in silence. You will often meet others walking the path in the opposite direction. Simply step around them. Walk at your own pace; you may even pass others who may be in front of you. Take your time. Walk slowly. Do what feels natural to you — some walk steadily, some cover their faces with scarves, some dance, some twirl and dance, some stop often. At the center you may sit, kneel, stand, change positions or directions, pray, meditate, or do silent reading or writing.

                                    “Be still and know that I am God.”
                                                                                        Psalm 46:10

To prepare for walking, you may want to sit quietly to reflect before stepping onto the labyrinth. Some people come with questions, others just to slow down and take time out from a busy life. Some come to find strength to take the next step. Many come during times of grief and loss.

In walking the labyrinth with the psalms, we are to read a psalm while walking the labyrinth. Select a psalm from the list below or choose one of your own.

Psalms 1; 8; 23; 27; 42; 46; 48; 63; 84; 108; 111; 139; 143; 147

The idea is to stick to meditating/praying one particular psalm for the whole duration of this walk, using it to pray, meditate and contemplate. Read the psalm slowly. Meditate and listen to each word, sentence and paragraph. Restart at the beginning of the psalm when you have reached the end.

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Return to our senses- a book review

Christine Sine, executive director, liturgist and chief gardener of Mustard Seeds Associates and her blog Godspace  is a one of the innovators of the contemporary Christian contemplative tradition. In this delightful book which is aptly named Return to our senses: Re-imagining how we pray, Christine challenges our perception of how and why we pray. Christine argues that though there is great value in verbal prayers, there is more to praying than using our cognitive “senses.” To her, our sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste are also means to praying. Christine is not advocating a New Age (or Old Age) spirituality but a return to appreciate the works of our Creator God by using all our senses which he has created to connect with him. To do that, Christine introduces us to some ancient Christian prayer practices that use one or more of our senses as means to prayers. Christine notes that

This is the question that I think is at the heart of the gospels and that is the premise for this book. Prayer is not about trying to get God to listen to us. Nor is it about trying to make God spend more time with us. Prayer is about sharpening our awareness of the God who is already in us and around us, present in every moment and every activity of the day. Waking up to, living in to and sharing the love of God is the heart of prayer (4).

In other words, prayers is relating to God in our mundane everyday life. It involves us being aware of our breathing (or the way we breathe), having sacred spaces, listening, seeing with “new” eyes and walking with our legs and our fingers! This book is a potpourri of Christian prayer practices, quotations and poetry from various sources, and also a collection of her own poems and prayers which are inspiring and edifying.  Christine repeatedly emphasized that prayer is meeting God in the ordinary. I like the illustration she shared about making Chinese tea (not Japanese) using Chinese teapot and tea leaves,

Like teapots, we’re each unique, fragile vessels created to contain one essence, that of our Creator. Over time the flavor of God intensifies in our lives as the Spirit seeps into our pores and transforms our nature, making us more like the Creator in whose image we are formed. Like the tea leaves, we are also unique, each variety requiring a different processing and brewing technique that results in the perfect cup of tea.

When we first encounter the Risen Christ, a cleansing is in order. Like leaves rolled tightly into little balls and dried by the edge of the road, we’ve collected dust, dirt, and contaminants that alter our flavor… As Jesus’ life is poured out on the cross, his life, love, and sacrifice infuse our lives, cleansing us of the filth that clings so closely in every wrinkle and crevice of our withered lives. Like the tightly rolled leaves, we expand, allowing God’s Spirit to reach more and more of our being. Rinsed in Christ, we are now ready to be used by God… When another type of tea is used in the pot, the flavor is corrupted. So it is with our lives, when we permit the flavor of God to mix with greed, nationalism, lust, and a whole host of other gods. When this happens the tea poured out tastes “off”. Something is wrong (71).

This book is a rich resource for various Christian practices in praying with our senses and it is wonderful and surprising to discover the varieties of forms and practices of praying that other Christians use. Not all the practices mentioned are ancient. Christine also includes Facebook, blogging and ‘praying on the go’ to use in our modern busy connected lifestyles. Prayer is not just building an exclusive relationship between God and us but should translate into action and love for others. The last four chapters of this book move into advocacy of some sort of creation care.

This is a good book for an overview of contemplative prayers in the post modern or post-postmodern culture. It also has suggestions as how to practice these prayers and I recommend it for reading and practice during this Advent season.

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Prayer for Serenity

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