The Active Prayer Sentence
The active prayer sentence is an ancient practice that purposefully brings our awareness into the divine presence of God. This practice of saying the Jesus Prayer in Orthodox Christianity is a model of the discipline. It was drawn from scripture and used in daily life. According to the teaching of The Way of the Pilgrim; when the prayer has been repeated day after day for a long period of time it settles in the heart and starts to repeat itself. Unlike Centering Prayer, which asks us to use a short, one-or-two syllable word; the active prayer sentence should be six to twelve syllables in length. The use of the syllables of the prayer sentence can be synchronized with one’s heartbeat.
Past contemplative teachers have noted the human condition, memory, imagination and the emotions live all on the same level of the unconscious. They have observed that imagination and memory jump start the emotions as well as the reverse.
As a result, patterns of commentaries are programmed into the imagination. These commentaries are established in early childhood and come from the 3 primary needs of security and survival, esteem and affection, and power and control. Each time a frustration bumps into one of these programs a commentary is emitted from the subconscious. These commentaries are like prerecorded messages, “why do I have to do all the work.” “I always have this happen to me.” “I’m so stupid,” etc. They lead us away from the present moment and God’s presence in it. If we begin to say the active prayer sentence throughout the day; when we are not involved in something that requires our attention and focus: these short scriptural sentences begin to work their way into the heart. The advantage of the active prayer sentence is that it begins to say itself in the subconscious; and like an eraser on the end of a pencil it erases the emotionally charged commentaries of our afflictive emotions. “Thus providing a neutral zone in which common sense or the Spirit of God can suggest what should be done, writes “Fr. Keating in his book Open Mind Open Heart. The Active Prayer sentence can take up to a year to root itself in one’s unconscious. It will then begin to arise all on its own, naturally, as a clear small voice interrupting the flow of emotionally charged commentaries in the everyday events of our daily life. You may find your own active prayer sentence as you read scripture or you may choose one from the list below.
O Lord, come to my assistance, O God make haste to deliver me.
Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me.
Abide in my love.
My God and my all.
Soul of Christ’ sanctify me.
I belong to you, O Lord.
Bless the Lord my soul.
Take, Lord and receive all I have.
Open my heart to your love.
Not my will but thine be done.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.
May my being praise you, Lord,