Some fruits of the Jesus Prayer
The prayer, faithfully repeated with the proper intention, will result in a positive transformation of life. The same might be said of any well-founded spiritual regimen, provided, as always one remains faithful to it, engages in it with the proper intention, and is willing to be open to God’s will in her regard. Nevertheless, the Jesus Prayer may bring special fruits.
First, the prayer places us in a humble position with regard to God. Through the prayer we recognize that we are sinners and wholly dependent on the mercy of God to come to God. Of ourselves, we can do nothing to bring about our theosis, but, with God, all things are possible. God will have mercy on those who plead for it. This prayer stands in stark contrast with spiritual practices that purport to enable the pray-er to grow into the life of God through her own efforts.
The Jesus Prayer also reminds us that we are talking to a person, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. We are not dealing with an abstract God or a mysterious notion such as “enlightenment,” or a somewhat vague concept such as the “center of our being.” We are calling out to a specific individual, a human being like ourselves, but who is also God, the Way by whom we can come to union with God. Through this appeal to a real and present Jesus we are asking for help in our incorporation into the divine life.
The Jesus Prayer is also an aid in humility. Humility is not unduly putting ourselves down, nor is it belittling the real talents we have or our dignity in the sight of God. Humility is honesty. If we have talents, we are to use them in the service and love of God and other humans. If God has loved us, we are to return love for love, even though we may recognize that we do not deserve whatever favors God has granted us.
But, in honesty, we must admit that we are all sinners. If we generalize sin to mean any obstacle that stands between us and union with God, we recognize that there remain many aspects of our being that do not yet belong to God. Of our own efforts, we cannot come to union with God, so our limited humanity is itself such an obstacle that can only be surmounted by the power of God himself. The Jesus Prayer reminds us that we are sinners and are totally dependent on the mercy of God to achieve union with God. This prayer is a humble expression of our human condition and a plea to God to allow us to transcend our innate limits through God’s grace to enter into the life of God.
In our struggle to open ourselves to God, there is always the danger of deception, either self-deception because we want to control our spiritual progress rather than allowing God to do so, or deception from outside ourselves, be it from malign spirits or other humans who, even inadvertently, might lead us away from the path God would have us follow. It is a common human failing to choose means of prayer and ministries that are satisfying to the person, but that may not be what God would choose for the person. We set our course and ask God to bless us on our way instead of seeking the course that God wants for us.
Most of our self-deception or desire for control is not malicious. It often stems from a need to believe that we are pleasing God by what we do, which, in turn, stems from a genuine desire to know God, the God-instinct that is a part of every human being. Saying the Jesus Prayer with the right intention asks God to lead us as God wants to, not as we might choose for ourselves. We are asking Jesus for mercy, and, implicitly, to take control of our lives and do with us whatever is necessary to transform us into what God wants us to be. In invoking the Name of Jesus, we also protect ourselves from any evil spirits that might wish to distract us or lead us astray since no such spirit can withstand the One to whom all power in heaven and earth has been given and who definitively won victory over the powers of death on the Cross.
Note that in the Jesus Prayer we are not asking God for anything specific except mercy. In this sense the Jesus Prayer simply places us before God with an open mind and heart, asking God to do what God deems best for us according to his mercy.
We might stress once more that there is an essential difference in the attitudes and beliefs underlying the Jesus Prayer and prayer techniques that emphasize the role the pray-er in his or her own transformation. The Jesus Prayer requires an appropriate asceticism and openness on the part of the pray-er, but there is never any doubt that it is God who must effect the desired transformation. The Jesus Prayer places the pray-er as a humble supplicant before God, asking God to do what only God can do.
In some religions such as Buddhism and in New Age practices, actually a form of ancient Gnosticism, it is the pray-er who is the spiritual athlete, the one who by appropriate exercises can recognize that he or she is the Buddha or can fan into flames the divine spark that lies smoldering within every human being. There is little middle ground between “We can do it ourselves,” and “We are totally dependent on God.” One might say, “God helps those who help themselves,” but a basic premise of this book and of Christian spirituality is that God alone has the power to bring humans into the experience of God. Will God do this even for those who believe that they are coming to divinization by their own efforts? I cannot say. I can only say that those who take the view that they have within themselves all the power they need to realize their divinization are not in the Christian spiritual tradition.
We now turn to two other forms of active contemplation.
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