Matthew under the arm 71

The sea lay below us this morning. The air was so still, that our breathing seemed an interruption! It was as if nature itself was calling us to be silent. There was, it seemed, no alternative but to sit down on the grass bank, between the gorse bushes! Columba held up his left hand and asked me to do the same. 'Let me teach you a simple way of praying. It's called "The Jesus Prayer". First, allow your eyes to look around you and take in all you see. Breathe easily and calmly. Try to be still and not fidget.' (That always irritates me. Columba always sees my physical, not to mention mental agitation! But I must say that practicing stillness everyday... its beginning to work.... stillness, I mean... as for the inner agitation, well...) 'So... say "Lord, Jesus Christ" on your thumb; "Son of the Living God" on your index finger' "Have mercy" on your middle finger (asking for love for ALL), "on me" (moving inwards to forgiving love for yourself), a sinner (acknowledging the distance you make between yourself and the practice of the Love of God. Then repeat the exrecise until it becomes part of your inner rhythm.' 'For how long?' I asked plaintively. 'For the rest of your life! But 20 minutes will do in the meantime!' Mmmm.


Matthew 15:21-28...
'Lord... have pity on me!' By now, our experience of Matthew will have revealed a disturbing recurrence: how much the participants in the Gospel are desperate! The woman is a Canaanite -two experiences of being rejected: gender and race - female and non-Jewish. The desperate don't even mind insults. If you are starving and naked you have nothing to lose. Is Faith difficult for us because we have too much to lose?


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me.


The sentence is that which is known as the 'The Jesus Prayer'. It comes from the Eastern Orthodox tradition of prayer. In turn, this sentence was evolved from desperate prayers in the Gospel, including the woman's prayer in this passage. There are those who use little else in their praying. The first half is adoration and the second half is the humility of desperate beseeching. You can 'say' the first half with the in-breath and the second half-with the outb reath. You can also fel the pulse oon your wrist and say the prayer in rhythm with it. All Christian spirituality is there! Take it with you everywhere.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles