A Rule of Prayer

For the past week or so, I've been following a Byzantine Rule of Prayer. It is markedly different from many other rules of prayer in that it has the unmistakable focus on the fact that we--humanity--are imperfect and humble sinners.

The Morning (and Evening) prayer are the same each day. We begin each morning by saying,

O God, be merciful to me a sinner.
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
O Lord, forgive me; for I have sinned without number.

Each morning we also recite Psalm 50 (51), the Penitential psalm that we also say during Holy Week which begins, Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion, blot out my offense. Wash me more and more from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. Such a fitting way to start the day--asking God to cleanse us of our sins as we cleanse and prepare our outer bodies to face the world. So often, our days begin with left over "baggage" from the night before--or from times long past in our lives.  The frustration and guilt at our own shortcomings often comes back to negatively affect us throughout each day. We ask God to cleanse us of our sins so that we may do His will in our lives anew each morning.   

Both in the morning, and in the evening, we recite The Jesus Prayer 150 times. The Jesus prayer is, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." It is also called The Prayer of the Heart and is a way Eastern Christian monks use to follow St. Paul's admonishment to "pray unceasingly." Eastern Christians often use a prayer rope (chotki) to keep count. I just use the small beads of a Rosary, 3 times around.

I have found that this Eastern approach to prayer trickles in the subconscious, as the Holy Spirit often does-- Our Lord is a gentleman and would never force his Love on anyone.

This way of prayer of crying out to God for mercy (for our sins) at once acknowledges God's existence, power, forgiveness and love, and at the same time, my own innate weakness without Him.  It is such a relief to have my entire outlook directed toward one more *everything* than I. 

There is such a freedom in giving my life in its entirety, to Our Lord each morning before I start my day, and in giving it back to Him each evening before I sleep.  This simple prayer rule that does not change reminds me that "God is the same, yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8) and that nothing extravagant and unique that I could do would ever be enough to save myself.  Only in emptying all that I am into the arms of the Lord, every day, and every night, will I be able to continue on.

Note:  I have a link to the morning and evening rule of prayer in my sidebar for those interested.