The Jesus Prayer

Schedule of Services
Vespers: Saturday at 4:30pm 3rd Hour: Sunday at 9:15am Divine Liturgy: Sunday at 9:30am Holy Days: 7:00pm Please Call to Verify St. Luke Byzantine Catholic Church 11414 Chicago Ave. Sugar Creek, MO 64054 (816) 231-7100 http://www.byzantinekc.org

St. Luke the Evangelist Byzantine Catholic Church

Eparchy of Parma

Christ, our Lord and God, spoke repeatedly of the need we have for remaining in vital contact with God through prayer. His command was Pray always. The reason the Lord gave for this continuing prayer was that you may not lose heart and become discouraged. (Luke 18:1) We can always pray through the use of short prayers, which spiral to the very heart of God and bring down upon us flashes of light and bursts of strength. One of the very early Christian methods of prayer was the use of the Jesus Prayer. This is an adaptation of the prayer of the Publican by which God sanctified him and forgave all his sins. With humility and sincerity of heart the Publican cried out: O God, have mercy on me a sinner! (Luke 18:9-14) The first Christians added to this prayer the name of Jesus and made it a prayer of great majesty and power. It has been used throughout the centuries and is still used by all Eastern Christians.

The Jesus Prayer is: Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner. Seor Jess, ten piedad de m, pecador.
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Urunk, Jzus Krisztus, Isten Fia, knyrlj rajtam, bns. This prayer should be repeated throughout the day until it becomes an unbroken, perpetual calling upon the Divine Name of Jesus, with the lips, the minds, and the heart, while picturing His lasting presence in the imagination and imploring his grace wherever one is, and whatever one does. To help concentrate the mind on this prayer, the Fathers devised a kind of rosary made of one hundred beads or knots of wool in groups of twenty-five. Each group is separated from the next by a larger bead of knot on which some invocation is said, for instance to the Blessed Theotokos: O Most Holy Theotokos, intercede for us!