I spoke last night for our church’s Lenten devotional dinner series on the theme for the dinners, “Praying with Jesus,” on breath prayers as a way of praying without ceasing and praying Scripture adn the Tradition of the Church. Here are some of the sample prayers and sources that I handed out.
The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
A Baptismal Covenant Prayer: “Holy Spirit, work within me (this day), that I may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.”
A Formation Prayer for Reading Scripture (Jer. 31:33 influence): “Write your Word on my heart, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that I may be formed into the likeness of Christ, for the sake of your glory and the sake of your world.”
A Eucharistic Mission/Ministry Prayer: “As you have given yourself for us, send us forth in the strength of your Spirit to give ourselves for others, in the name of Christ.”
The Psalms: Bonhoeffer called the psalms “The Prayerbook of the Church.” Predictable, but I’ve found Psalm 23 a wonderful and challenging psalm for phrase contemplation and prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer: Again, predictable, but praying the Lord’s Prayer while contemplating it phrase by phrase will rock our worlds if we will let it… perhaps even if we try not to allow it…
A Prayer for Humility from St Teresa of Avila: “Grant us, my God, to understand how little we understand ourselves and how empty our hands are when we come to thee that thou, of thy mercy, mayest forgive us.”
A Blessing Prayer from St Teresa of Avila: “Blessed and praised be the Lord, from whom comes all the good that we speak and think and do. Amen.”
What verse/s or quotation/s of Scripture, liturgy, lyrics, or saints/writers have given birth to breath prayers for you?
