The Hebrew word, Yadah means, to throw, or
shoot, and also to praise. The root of the
word, yad, means hand. Yadah means to stretch forth the hand in praise.
Praying the Jesus Prayer
Behind
the practice of repeating the Jesus Prayer is the conviction “The Living God is
accessible to personal experience, because He shared His own life with
humanity.”[i] You, as an individual, can know God, and you
personally are known by Him. It is the
ministry of the Holy Spirit that carries us into the presence of God. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechetical
Lectures, teaches that,
All your life
long will your guardian the Comforter abide with you; He will care for you, as
for his own soldier; for your goings out, and your comings in, and your
plotting foes. And He will give you gifts of grace of every kind, if you grieve
Him not by sin; for it is written, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by
Whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. What then, beloved, is it to
preserve grace? Be ready to receive grace, and when you have received it, cast
it not away.[ii]
2. In
the Incarnation, the Living God comes to us in human form. Without the willingness of the maiden Mary
there would have been no Incarnation. Of
the Incarnation Charles Williams says,
At the beginning
of life in the natural order is an act of substitution and co-inherence. A man can have no child unless his seed is
received and carried by a woman; a woman can have no child unless she receive
and carries the seed of a man – literally bearing the burden. It is not only a mutual act; it is a mutual
act of substitution. The child itself
for nine months co-inheres in its mother; there is no human creature that has
not sprung from such a period of an interior growth.[iii]
One of the
implications of the Incarnation is that God chooses to work hand in hand with
humankind, not instead of humankind. We
have a share in the grace of God by our active participation. Like Mary we have the responsibility of
saying “yes” to God, and also the responsibility of presenting ourselves,
spirit, soul and body to Him in active participation with His work in our
lives. St. Paul says,
Therefore, my
beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will
and to work for his good pleasure.[iv]
The tradition of
praying the Jesus Prayer reemphasizes the essential unity between spirit and body by the use of the prayer rope as a
means of helping us focus on the Divine Presence in our prayers.
3. “The
Jesus Prayer also took the form of constant mental repetition of a brief
sentence such as, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”[v] It is not that the simple discipline of the
repeated Jesus Prayer earns the presence of God. The personal experience of God is a
gift. It is God who is reaching out to
us. In the light of that we remember the
words of St. Paul, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it
is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
One ancient method was
to use a prayer rope, repeating the prayer once for each knot, and focusing
your attention on the presence of God as you pray. The prayer, addressed to Jesus Christ, is a
prayer of humility, and an acknowledgement of our own frailty. Further it helps to understand that mercy
extends well beyond simple forgiveness.
One of the two major Old Testament words for mercy actually means womb, and the other is more often
translated steadfast love. So you might say, “Hold me secure in your steadfast
love even though I am a sinner. The
prayer leads us personally to Jesus and to the experience of His steadfast
love.
4. The Yadah Prayer Cycle: There is a practical difficulty in the use of
a prayer rope in our society. It is most
often too obtrusive to use in public settings other than worship. Some people use a Rosary or Anglican Prayer
Beads, but that presents the same problem.
Let me suggest to you an alternative method that is based on the same
principle as the prayer rope.
Ø Start
with the closed hand or fist as though you had a grip on God. With the closed hand start your prayer cycle
with a declaration of the awareness of God who is always present with his
people, such as, “Lord, I thank you that you are always with me and I praise you
for your love.”
Ø The
next three short prayers are an acknowledgment of the Holy Trinity. With a
prayer to God the Father stretch forth the thumb; with a prayer to God the Son
stretch forth your index finger; and with an invocation to the Holy Spirit extend
your second finger. You might pray: “I
thank you Father that you love and accept me.
I thank you Jesus that you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I humbly ask you Holy Spirit to help me to
focus in my prayers.”
Ø Then
close the hand again. With the closed
hand gripping God, bring before God the intercession that is closest to your
heart and pray a brief informal prayer.
Ø Stretch
forth the thumb and pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a
sinner.” Maintaining your focus on the
Presence of God, stretch forth the index finger and repeat the Jesus Prayer,
then do the same with the remaining fingers of the hand until the hand is fully
extended. Note that the hand is now open as a symbol of your willingness to
receive from God.
Ø Close
the hand and get a grip on the Presence of God, and make your next
intercession. Keep your prayer both
informal and brief. If you allow
yourself to ramble you will lose focus.
Ø Begin
the next cycle extending the thumb, then each of the fingers in turn, and
repeating the Jesus Prayer each time. At
the end, return again to the closed hand.
Ø I
find that doing five cycles of the Yadah Prayer is enough; more than that and
one tends to lose focus.
Ø At
the end of fifth cycle, close the hand and briefly give God thanks that He is
always willing to hear your prayers.
Ø Then
extend the thumb, and give thanks to the Holy Spirit for his help. Next extend the forefinger and say a short
prayer thanking Jesus for the power of His death and resurrection. Finally,
extend the next finger and express your love and gratitude to God the Father
who is always ready to hear you prayers.
Ø Close
the hand again with a grip on the Divine Presence. You may conclude your Yadah Prayer cycle or
begin again.
5. The
threefold benefit of this method is that you can pray this way any time and any
place without being obtrusive. Second,
you don’t need to buy anything. Prayer
ropes tend to be expensive, and rosaries and prayer beads can break. Third, many prayer ropes, prayer beads and rosaries
have more beads in each section leading to a greater repetition of the Jesus
Prayer, and also less places for intercession between each group of knots or
beads.
[i] Gregory Palamas, The Triads, ed. John Meyendorf, trans.
Nicholas Gendle, (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1983), p. 1
[ii] St. Cyril of Jerusalem, The Catechetical Lectures, ed. in contemporary
language by Robin P. Smith
[iii] Charles Williams, The Descent of the Dove, (Vancouver: Regent
College Publishing, 1939), p. 234
[iv] Philippians 2:12-13
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