Into the Inner Room, with a Guide

Reflection

Christ tells us to pray in secret, in our “inner room,” and the Fathers often understood that room as the heart. Over the centuries, monks wrote a great deal about praying the Jesus Prayer in the heart, gathered especially in the Philokalia, a collection first published in 1782. Some of those writings describe joining the prayer to the breath, or praying it many hundreds of times a day. These are not techniques to experiment with alone. The Church's consistent advice is that a fuller rule of prayer, especially many repetitions or attention to breathing, is taken on with the blessing of your priest or spiritual father, who knows you and can guide you. For most of us the beginning is simple and safe: a few quiet minutes, attention to the words, humility, and the life of the Church around us, the services, confession, and Holy Communion. The Jesus Prayer is not a way to produce feelings. It is a way of staying with Christ.