Any Catholics say the Jesus Prayer?

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SianTeresa

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In Orthodox spirituality, many people who seek to pray ceaselessly use the Jesus Prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”, and some add, “a sinner”.

I wondered if any Catholics use this prayer? People who have said it continuously say that it accompanies them everywhere and follows their heartbeats. It seems a wonderful thing to me, to continuously call on Jesus, and to ask for mercy.
 
A hundred times a day I say “Jesus, I love you.” But now I think I will add your Jesus prayer.

:harp:
 
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” It’s a beautiful prayer that reflects on our sinfulness and the truth that we need our Lord for our salvation. A very short version of it is, of course, simply saying, “Lord have mercy”.
 
Dear SianTeresa,

I also have a devotion to the Jesus Prayer. I try to pray it when I remember, and used to pray it a lot more.

There are some Catholics who think it is problematic, but really it’s important to remember there are 3 levels to the devotions to the Jesus Prayer:
  1. The words themselves, which are a variation of the publican’s prayer ‘Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!’ which our Lord tells us is a prayer acceptable to God. The words themselves are a great prayer of faith and humility.
  2. The practice of associating the prayer with breathing and heartbeat, as practiced by some Eastern Christian mystics, and as explained in ‘The Way of a Pilgrim’. In this practice, the disciple prays ‘O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God’ on the in-breath, and ‘have mercy on me, a sinner.’ on the out breath, while focussing on the heartbeat so that each beat prays ‘Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, God, mercy, on-me, a-sinner’. This practice has never been common in the West, but is practiced by both Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The Church has never suppressed this practice to the best of my knowledge, though whether there is any advantage to it is another matter.
  3. The claim, made by a tiny faction of Orthodox practitioners of this breath/heartbeat method (hesychasts), and defended by Gregory Palamas (St Palamas in the Orthodox Church, but considered a heretic by Rome) that through the practice of the Jesus Prayer the disciple can attain the Beatific Vision while still in the body. This is another occasion of Messalian/Palagian heresy, saying that we can attain the gift of God’s loving presence by our works and our prayers. We can never attain the Beatific Vision by anything that we do, but only by God’s mercy. This error also opens hesychasm to a psychologistic error - by controlling heart-rate and breathing the hesychast acheives a bodily ecstacy, similar to that attained through the use of yogic exercise or the use of psychotropic drugs, and mistakes that neurological reaction for the experience of union with God. Ultimately, as Catholics, we do not pray in order to attain ecstatic experience, we pray because we wish to live lives pleasing to God.
1 and 2 are Catholic, 3 is heretical. As long as we understand that we are not praying the Jesus Prayer to ‘get’ anything from God, but only to put ourselves in a position where He can continue His sanctifying work in and through us, no problem. St John of the Cross is a great writer on the subject of mystical experience and how the Christian should not strive for visions and ecstatic experiences, but for the silent union of the soul with God in the darkness that lies beyond our sensory experience.

God bless.
 
It seems like the only time I say it is when I am in Adoration. But, I do say it weekly.
 
Anyone can say the prayer. I say it verbally as a(n) announcement.

. . .
 
Yes, I do sometime and some time I say:
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
have mercy on me…
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
heal me…
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
give me peace…etc…etc depends on what I want to pray…

Or Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on me
Immaculate heart of Mary, pray for me…back to Sacred heart…and immaculate heart…over and over again…
 
p.s. Father Corapi, in more than one talk I think, has encouraged us to say this prayer.
 
SianTeresa said:
In Orthodox spirituality, many people who seek to pray ceaselessly use the Jesus Prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”, and some add, “a sinner”.
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Yes, many do.

Understand that which is often labeled “Orthodox” is more accurately part of the “Byzantine” tradition, which is present in the Catholic Church.

Folks who pray this prayer - right out of the Bible - include many, many people from Latins to Greek Catholics to Orthodox of the Eastern and Oriental variety… It is not wholly “owned” by the non-Catholic Eastern Churches, it is part of our Catholic patrimony as well.
 
This very topic is frequently discussed in the Eastern Churches’ forum.
 
I’ve found this to be a perfect prayer at times when I’m anxious. I can say it while sitting in the dentist’s chair or standing in a long line. It gets my mind off the temporary problem and focused on something infinitely better.
 
I know that this is geared towards Catholics but as a non-catholic I think that this is a wonderful prayer. I can definitely see myself using this one. 😃
 
Singinbeauty said:
I know that this is geared towards Catholics but as a non-catholic I think that this is a wonderful prayer. I can definitely see myself using this one. 😃
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It is one of the prayers recognized as efficacious in Scripture. 🙂 Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
 
SianTeresa said:
In Orthodox spirituality, many people who seek to pray ceaselessly use the Jesus Prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”, and some add, “a sinner”.

I wondered if any Catholics use this prayer? People who have said it continuously say that it accompanies them everywhere and follows their heartbeats. It seems a wonderful thing to me, to continuously call on Jesus, and to ask for mercy.
Click to expand...
I am a Catholic, and I say it all the time. I learned it from a young priest who would often pray that prayer before celebrating daily mass.

Paul
 
Grace and Peace,

It was the Jesus Prayer and the depth of Orthodox Spirituality that led me to Holy Orthodoxy.

Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!
 
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, by the Love of the Holy Spirit…have mercy on us…sinners!
 
It has been a while since the Jesus Prayer was a regular part of my devotions. I learned of its use as a meditative aid from Abbot Gerard from Pecos at the Retreat Center where I first discovered the Charismatic Renewal. I owned a set of Jesus Beads.
 
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