Introduction

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The word meditation attracts people, touching in us what we are constantly searching for in the depths of our heart. When asked why we want to meditate many of us would answer that we do it in search for peace and to return to our inner selves. Where is the source of internal peace? Is it possible to find a fixed reference point amongst various existential landscapes and emotional maelstroms? Learn from the mountain … learn from the ocean … learn from the poppy seed flower … recommends Father Seraphim from Mount Athos. For a Christian, meditation is something more than a prayer – it is direct contact with God: When you said, Seek my face; my heart said unto you, your face, LORD, will I seek. (Psalm 27:8). The desire of our soul is to your name, and to the remembrance of you. With my spirit within me will I seek you. (Isaiah 26:8-9). How to meditate? How to pray? “Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with each breath, and then you will know the value of the hēsychia – St. John Climacus writes. With a breath starts our earthly wandering and with a breath it finishes.

In meditation the name of Jesus is not an ordinary word which is the focus of our attention and which is to disperse restless thoughts. The repetition of the name of Jesus evokes the presence of the One who bore it. It is the confession of faith in the One who said that He is the resurrection, and the life (John 11:25), the light of the world (John 8:12; 12:46) and the way (John 14:6). Receiving the name of Jesus and abandoning oneself to it in the rhythm of breath is the simplest but at the same time the oldest form of Christian meditation. It is not only a prayer but a rule ordering and integrating all dimensions of manhood within God. It is the path lasting throughout an entire life and the path towards life. The web site you are visiting is to popularize Jesus Prayer and to show its depth as well as spiritual effectiveness. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink… Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-38).

Wojciech Nowak SJ