Planting seeds

My tongue grew thick, dry as I read this. My voice quivered, my face reddened. It probably seemed as if I were teetering on the precipice of weeping. I composed this devotional for my Christian classics class. Whether the hours I put into it were in vain, only time will tell. God's will be done, God's will be done. I am a sinner with a heavy heart.

Now I give the devotional to you. If anything, perhaps you, my brothers and sisters, will benefit from it. Please pray for those who heard this. My words are not profound. They are mumblings. But if anything comes of this, and if it at all penetrated one person's conscious, then that is worth rejoicing.

All I can do is plant seeds.
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In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Lord Jesus Christ Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” this is from the Gospel according to St. Mark

This crying out, this prayer, can be found throughout the Bible in one form or another. It is echoed, by the woman with the demon possessed daughter. It is echoed in the Psalms by St. David the King. We even hear it from the very lips of St. Peter the Apostle:

…But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying “Lord save me!”

These prayerful cries of the blind man, St. Peter and other figures throughout the Old and New Testament, do not go unanswered. This shows us that the Lord hears even the shortest and simplest of prayers. Have mercy on me. Lord, save me! It is a prayer that has been recited, over and over again, by pious men and women, monastics and laypeople alike, for centuries on end. The use of this prayer is repeated consistently in the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church. It is a prayer that the Holy Scriptures gives us, and one that the Orthodox Church has used since the time of the Apostles.

The prayer is known as the Jesus Prayer or The Prayer of the Heart. In Greece, Orthodox Christians hold it in such high esteem that they simply refer to it as 'The Prayer.'
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Is the Jesus prayer in its’ entirety. But there are also shorter versions:

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”
“Lord have mercy.” And finally, the briefest:
“Lord save me!” which Peter utters in desperation on the storm tossed seas.

Whether recited in its entirety or in its briefest form, the Jesus prayer is a powerful one. Why?

Christ tells us “if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” And St. Peter, the same man who momentarily lost his faith, sinking in the stormy waters, says , “…and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The Jesus prayer is powerful, because the very name of our Lord is precious, real and powerful!

To say that the Jesus Prayer is a spiritual treasure is almost an understatement. It is a weapon, and an answer to St. Paul’s admonition in First Thessalonians to “Pray without ceasing.” For God never gives us a task without instruction, He would not ask us to pray without ceasing, without teaching us how. The Jesus Prayer is one of the prayers that the Holy Scriptures and The Holy, Apostolic Church teaches. The Prayer is a simple, spiritual treasure which, when used with repetition, concentration and humility, brings men and women closer to God. Who does not desire to be closer to God?

One man writes of this treasure, the Jesus Prayer, in The Way of the Pilgrim. This man, an anonymous Russian peasant, takes up a life of wandering. He abandons a life of worldliness for a life of solitude, to attain Communion with God through ceaseless prayer. With a knapsack containing only the Bible and the Philokalia, he wanders from village to village. He holds in his hand a prayer rope, and with it he pursues a life of ceaseless prayer. With each knot on the prayer rope, he recites the prayer of the heart:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

The simple, pure, devoted pilgrim dedicates his life to God. His prayers are endless, and prove to bear much fruit. God, in His providence, brings into the wanderer’s path virtuous men and women who provide him with the food and shelter he needs. But just as the pilgrim encounters hospitality and generosity, he also encounters hardship, persecution, sufferings. However, the pilgrim’s praise and his prayer are unceasing. He thanks God equally for the good and the bad, praying the Jesus Prayer all the while.

St. John Chrysostem, in a sermon about sobriety and prayer, says the following:

“Brothers, be always occupied with the intellectual prayer and do not move far way from God until you receive God’s mercy and pity. Never ask for anything but for His infinite mercy and this is enough for your salvation. When asking for His mercy, cry aloud in entreaty with a humble and contrite heart from morning to night and, if possible, during the whole night, saying increasingly: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.”

In this prayer, we offer up our wills to God, just as we say “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s prayer. Have mercy on me, Lord, I am not in control. Thy will be done. If His will brings hardship, praise Him. If His will brings peace and joy, praise Him. For it is unto our salvation; our suffering does not go unnoticed. We ask for God’s mercy, not because he isn’t abundantly merciful already, but because as Christians must constantly remind ourselves that God is merciful, and His will is worth the sacrifice of our own. The Jesus prayer helps us lay aside the cares of life, and enter into a relationship with God more precious and more intimate than ever imagined.

Thank you for letting me share this devotional with you today.