Prayer Guide Leaflet


for children

(In Adobe Acrobat Reader format - click to download)

There's some complicated stuff been written about the Jesus Prayer, but it's really very simple.

To start with, you may want to focus on the meaning of the words, but after a while you may be drawn to silence.

One of the Russian saints said that 'prayer is descending from the mind into the heart, there to gaze on God.'
This is 'contemplation' - to 'gaze' on God in loving attention - just let this happen and leave the words behind... If thoughts come or your mind wanders, use your Jesus Prayer to bring you back into focus and silence. Linger like this for as long as you like, some suggest ideally twice a day

'Sometimes prayer is an inner struggle. Sometimes it is simply surrendering our whole being to God in silence, with no words.' (Brother Roger of Taizé)

With the Rosary you think about 'mysteries' - incidents in the life of Jesus from the Gospels. Using a knotted prayer cord with a Jesus Prayer is different from the Rosary - it's more like using a 'Chotki' or Eastern Christian Prayer Rope.

In Rosary 'imaginative prayer' you allow yourself to be drawn into the gift of an encounter with Jesus using your imagination, guided by the Holy Spirit. You pray the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' prayers as a 'background' to using your imagination.

You might like to use your knotted prayer cord in that way too sometimes; just imagine yourself in a scene from the life of Jesus - how does it look, feel, smell? Who are you in the scene - a disciple, an onlooker, a critic? - and what do you say to Jesus - what does Jesus say to you? It helps to do this more than once with the same scene to really get into it. For help on this way of prayer, see Books in anamchara Shop

Fruits of prayer?
Prayer will bear fruit: awareness of your own and other people's needs - take action caring for others, working for peace and justice - seek the Spirit's leading...

Ideally you should have an 'anam chara' (soul-friend, spiritual companion or director) to help you with this way of prayer; if you look around, there may be a network of soul-friends you could contact - in the meantime, may these resources support you.

If you would like to gather a few people together for a Workshop, please contact me for information.