Living the Jesus Prayer

Living the Jesus Prayer-

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is very near." Mark 1:15).

Our Daily Life of Soul Healing- The "Good News" is that the Kingdom of God, union with Jesus, is accessible for everyone. We become accessible to this union by repentance, that is, changing the direction we seek for happiness by finding in the Heart of Christ our only fulfillment in life. Hence our ceaseless abiding in his love in the middle of life is the essence of this conversion. To surrender our soul to his love rather than to all the false idols and illusions we create is the life of ongoing conversion.

The Life of Ongoing Conversion- (Adaptation of 12 Steps of Recovery)
The 12 Step Recovery Movement has been described as God's gift to the 20th and now 21st century. It is a way for all people, churched and unchurched to live a spiritual life of surrender to the Higher Power we call God, and that Christians know as Person in Jesus the Christ. The 12 Steps are a map to transformational living. "I have come to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10) In the Jesus Prayer we receive the gift of conversion that is offered to us each moment of life.

Spiritual Life- All Life becomes Prayer-
The people in the 12 step Recovery Movement are right. We all need Higher Power to find freedom and healing in our soul. Having a spiritual life is simple but not easy. We need only begin by invoking the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Again and again, throughout each day, throughout your life, with each breath. And we will begin to realize that every kind thought, deed, or action, every desire to extend love and healing into the world, every goodness that is within our heart, is Him, is this Stream of Mercy emanating from the Father into humankind. And we can unite our soul utterly with Yeshua and realize we are Home at last! He is our Higher Power. We can begin with this very breath.
I have adapted the 12 Steps here so they can be understood and lived by one who is on the path of Mercy in the Jesus Prayer.

12 Steps of conversion and soul healing in the Heart of Christ-
1. Admit we are powerless to heal our souls of our own effort alone.
2. Trust that relational union with Christ can spiritually redeem and transform us.
3. Surrender our life in loving trust to the care of the Redeemer Christ.
4. Commit ourselves to ongoing contrition and conversion away from harmful thoughts and actions towards loving and healing ways.
5. Accept responsibility before Jesus and those we have wronged for those injuries we have committed in life.
6. Open our souls, mind, and emotions, and all injuries of life, to the healing touch of Jesus.
7. Humbly ask him for the grace of conversion and transformation of our wrongful and hurtful ways.
8. Ongoing review our life and those occasions when we have caused or received harm from others, and to receive and bestow Yeshua's gift of mutual forgiveness.
9. Make amends for any harm we have caused whenever possible.
10. Daily to renew our souls healing in Yeshua's love and abiding presence, and to renew our commitment and conversion to abide only in the heart of Christ and find no other refuge.
11. Commit to ceaseless return to the name of Jesus in interior silent prayer and in daily life. We practice this as our inner consecration to abiding conscious union with him.
12. Having found spiritual healing and peace as a result of these steps, we share with others this Way of ceaseless abiding in Christ that is life-giving.

The Actualization of the Mercy of Christ- the Great Commandment
"Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 29-31)

In the version of this quote in the Gospel of Mathew Jesus says, "In this is the whole law and the prophets." In other words everything we need to know about the essence of the spiritual and moral life is here in these words. Yet so often we make of religion something complicated. We make our life complicated. Human life is never easy, but at its essence it is simple. And we are inclined as humans to focus on what we can't do, not what we can do. And what we can do, every moment of life, is to give our best effort as an offering of love to our God and our neighbor, and as a follower of Jesus, we make this offering in Christ. In him we love and serve as best we can. Because our best effort, our love offering is Christ in us, loving and serving God and all beings. In the Jesus prayer we are brought back to uniting our life of love and service to His Life in us.

Our Daily Life of Love-Offering

"So if I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." (John 13:14)

In this passage in the Gospel story, Jesus is showing us in himself who God is. God is Love who continually offers and gives of God's Own Self. In the washing of the feet of his disciples, who he names his friends, Jesus shows us the utter humility and simplicity of God's Love pouring out into the world. In this act Jesus shows us also, that his live and presence in us is the source of our dignity and worth. In the Jesus Prayer we are brought home, again and again to this dignity he bestows on us, and that we honor in our service to each other. As a father trying to love and care for my dying son, I learned I could not control the outcome of his disease, but I could walk with him and comfort him, my wife, daughter, and myself through the agony of his passing. As a counselor I learned I could not control or take away the suffering in the lives of my clients. I could make of my professional service to them, my companioning them through difficult times, a love offering of compassion. This we can all do. This is how we enter in our service of incarnationally and symbolically washing one another's feet in the journey of life.

"Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."(Matt. 25:40)

My father came from a difficult family background. At the time of his entering adult life he was in the most violent combat of World War Two. As his life unfolded he suffered from the ravages of alcohol and post-traumatic stress disorder. As he grew in faith and communion with Christ the healing touch of Yeshua entered these wounds of his soul and he became through those very same wounds, a healer to others. He understood that every alcoholic who came to him was Christ, and his call was to make of his own service and ministry a love offering to this brother or sister bearing the face of Christ in a broken humanity. In the final months and weeks before his death he waged a public battle with local government authorities who were threatening to close down a detoxification unit and treatment program for adult alcoholics from the street. His testimony of faith was cited in an interview that appeared on the front page of the local newspaper. Chiding the local authorities he said,"Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me." And he knew those words to be true from a lifetime of experience of "washing the feet" of his alcoholic brothers and sisters in Christ. In his death his own story of witness helped that funding to be restored and the alcohol detoxification and treatment center was saved. As we enter the stream of mercy in the Jesus prayer we are brought home again and again to the simple truth, that we are all "the least of these," and we are all the body of Christ on this earth, wounded and broken. And in this state we care for the wounds of Christ in each other.


The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy-
I grew up in the pre-Vatican II era of the Roman Catholic Church. My religious education included the teaching of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They are one descriptive map to living the life of the Mercy that is Christ. We live the life of washing the feet of the Lord of Mercy in the body and in the spirit.

Spiritual works of Mercy
1. Admonish the sinner- Indeed it is loving mercy to hold up a mirror and, whether as individuals, groups, or in institutional forms, show a brother or sister that their acts or attitudes bring unneeded suffering to themselves and others into the world.
2. Instruct the ignorant- Bringing the light of education to those who lack, is an act of love that lasts a lifetime.
3. Counsel the doubtful- Being present in faith is a gift of comfort and healing to the person suffering in doubt.
4. Comfort the sorrowful- The ministry of loving presence is beyond measure, and we all can do it.
5. Bear wrongs patiently- To not retaliate when wronged, not denying the wrong but giving witness to both the injustice and the healing that is needed is a gift of mercy.
6. Forgive all injuries- In our world forgiveness is life-long growth. We do it, not as an ideal to be lived up to, but as a practice of trust in the Source of Forgiveness, Jesus, the Lord of Mercy.
7. Pray for the living and the dead- As stated in a previous chapter, the Jesus prayer is a prayer of intercession. As we realize our connection to all beings in the Body of Christ, the response of prayer is natural and full.

Corporal Works of Mercy
1. Feed the hungry- What is it to know hunger? To feel the vulnerability, the humiliation and despair of not being able to feed your children, and the fatigue from lack of food- may we recognize and respond to others need.
2. Give drink to the thirsty- Water is the essence of biological life. So many in the world today die, are sickened, and lack this essential. The water of human kindness is too often lacking.
3. Clothe the naked- to be without adequate or appropriate dress is a great humiliation in our world and may be the difference between being employed and accepted. More so, to be cold in the winter is a great suffering indeed.
4. Shelter the homeless- Even in an affluent world, women and children are sleeping in cars and tents, without safety or security. The wandering, the refugee, those without the refuge of home and family- they are Christ calling to us for shelter.
5. Visit the imprisoned- Those in prison possess both shame and opportunity. The crisis of being in jail may often be the time of reflection and limits that make conversion of life possible. An affirmation of dignity and hope in the middle of that crisis may prepare the opening for the grace of contrition, conversion, and new life to happen.
6. Visit the sick- We must all know we are not abandoned when we are most weakened and alone.
7. Bury the dead- The last duty of mercy of a caring community, to acknowledge that one of our own has gone to their death, and not unmourned.


Our Daily Life of Living the Blessing of Jesus in us-Living the Beatitudes:
The path of surrender to the Mercy of Christ leads to true happiness. Our guide and daily reflection on this path was given to us by Jesus when he spoke about living the blessedness of mercy in daily life

Nightly Reflection on the Beatitudes- Yeshua's Guide to Self-Offering Love

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is enough that I am loved into being. I need not justify, deserve, or aggrandize my existence. "In this nakedness of spirit the soul finds its rest." (John of the Cross- Prologue- Ascent of Mt. Carmel) Help me to seek my home and refuge in You alone.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Help me to let go always into You. Help me to grieve into healing and peace.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt. 11:28) Help me to find my true security in your gentle Heart.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, they shall have their fill.
Help me to seek your justice in all things. " “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24)

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Let me join my soul to your healing Stream of Mercy in all things.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Heal my soul of all division. Let my avoidance and my fear be opened to your touch, seen by your gaze, and receive the light and Fire of your given Life. Let my discipline be aflame with love alone, and not shaken. Let me not offer my soul to shallow substitutes. You are my home and sole refuge. Help me to know my lapses and find my way Home in You.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
Your Shalom is the well of health. Help me invite your healing to those wounds of conflict this day I have inflicted or received and find Peace.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Help me to accept and live the truth of your freedom, and to be the witness of your merciful justice in the world. Yeshua, the Christ, my love, my encircler, each day, each night, each light, each dark. Be near me, uphold me, my treasure, my Truth."



Our Daily Life of Devotion Love-
Just as in daily life we show our loved ones we love them in the way we wash their feet, how we serve their needs, so also we tell them we love them, and embrace them in loving expressions and daily rituals of devotion. So it is also in our daily walk with Jesus. We express our love for him in our service to him in others. We also speak, sing, and pray our love to him in the act of daily devotional prayer. This feeds our soul and fires our love throughout the day. In this way we come home to his ever present companioning of us, our refuge in his embrace, and our receptive response to his invitation- "abide in my love."

St. Patrick's Prayer
Christ as a light, illumine and guide me
Christ as a shield overshadow me
Christ under me
Christ over me
Christ beside me
On my left and my right
This day be within and without me
Lowly and meek, yet all powerful
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak
And the mouth of each who speaks unto me
This day be within and without me
Lowly and meek, yet all powerful
Christ as a light
Christ as a shield
Christ beside me
On my left and on my right.