DID YOU KNOW?
Department of Religious Education (DRE)
The Jesus Prayer
Did you know that when we pray the Jesus Prayer, we are praying for the whole world?
When we pray the Jesus Prayer, we pray not only for ourselves but for all people, as we are called to pray for everyone (1 Timothy 2:1). We pray with and for our fellow believers because the Church is one body (1 Corinthians 12:20). When one member suffers, all members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all members rejoice (1 Corinthians 12:26). We also pray for those outside the Church because we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Jesus also says that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).
When we pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” we are to think of the “me” as “us,” similar to how we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father…” Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia says to pray for “the Church, for the world, for everyone” and that the Jesus Prayer is not exclusively for the individual, but for Adam, Eve, and the entire human race. He says, “Prayer for others, which is made gently and with deep love, is selfless and has great spiritual benefit. It brings grace to the person who prays and also to the person for whom he is praying. … When He sees your efforts, God bestows His grace abundantly on both you and on the person you are praying for.”
During the Jesus Prayer, when we pray for “mercy,” we pray for everything we need. And when we pray for “me,” we are also praying for everyone — joining with the Church for the whole world.
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