The Jesus Prayer
Bishop Kallistos WareWhen I was about twelve years old, I heard a story in a sermon, which I have never forgotten. It is, I believe, a story recounted by the Curé d’Ars, but the preacher did not mention his name. Once there was an old man who spent several hours each day in church. “What are you doing there?” his friends enquired. “I’m praying,” he replied. “Praying!” they exclaimed. “There must be a great many things that you want to ask from God.” With some indignation the old man responded, “I’m not asking God for anything.” “What are you doing, then?” they said. And the old man replied, “I just sit and look at God, and God sits and looks at me.”
At the age of twelve, I thought that an admirable description of prayer, and I still think so today. But how are we to acquire prayer in this deep sense, prayer of simple gazing, prayer in which there is a personal encounter between us and God? How shall we begin?