Breath Prayer

Take a seat in solitude and silence. Bend your head, close your eyes and breathing softly, in your imagination, look into your own heart. Let your mind, or rather, your thoughts flow from your head down to your heart and say, while breathing: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Whisper these words gently or say them in your mind. Discard all other thoughts. Be serene, persevering and repeat them over and over again.

The Jesus Prayer combines “Son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:39) with “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Breathing in, you pray “Jesus, Son of David,” breathing out, you say, “have mercy on me, a sinner.” This short repetitive prayer frees you from linear thought and allows you to begin to pray in your body, not just your mind. It is meant to be a lived, breathing rhythm of surrender. And it is a constant reminder of the One in whose presence you stand.

To practice breath prayer, ponder the nearness of God. Settle deeply into the truth that Christ is in you. Deeply breathe in, repeating any name of God that is dear to you (see “Names for Worshiping God,” appendix 5). As you exhale, voice a deep desire of your heart. When you exhale, offer up the desire of your heart. The brevity of the prayer allows it to be repeated over and over throughout the day.

Examples of breath prayers are

• breathe in “Abba,” breathe out “I belong to you.”
• breathe in “Healer,” breathe out “speak the word and I shall be healed.”
• breathe in “Shepherd,” breathe out “bring home my lost son.”
• breathe in “Holy One,” breathe out “keep me true.”
• breathe in “Lord,” breathe out “here I am.”
• breathe in “Jesus,” breathe out “have mercy on me.”

Reflection Questions

1. How do you practice Paul’s injunction to pray without ceasing?
2. How do you pray in a way that keeps you as conscious as possible of Christ’s presence within you?
3. How does the thought of repetitive prayer strike you?
4. What are the up sides and down sides of repetitive prayer?
5. How might a breath prayer be shorthand for a longer prayer of your heart?

Spiritual Exercises

1. Become comfortable. Breathe deeply. Intentionally place yourself before God. In rhythm with your breathing, gratefully inhale the breath of life. Exhale remembering that Jesus gave his last breath for love of you. Gently and thankfully repeat, “Breath of life, breathe on me.”
2. Decide to pray the Jesus Prayer or some other scriptural breath prayer as often as you are able during one day. If you worry about forgetting, set a clock at every hour to remind you, or put the prayer on your car mirror. Reminders should be gentle and not forced. • In the evening spend time telling the Lord what it means to you to be able to return to him again and again during the day with one particular prayer.
3. Is there someone for whom you wish to pray ceaselessly? Listen deeply to what Jesus’ desire for this person might be. • Form a breath prayer naming God’s adequacy and your desire for the person. Throughout the day as they come to mind, offer up your prayer. Don’t allow yourself to be drawn into long prayer dialogues about what you want God to do in this person’s life. Let the breath prayer carry all your desire to God.
4. Begin and end each day with your breath prayer. Let it be the word that comes to mind as you wake and as you fall asleep.
5. Tell someone what breath prayer means to you.
6. Help a child form a breath prayer to say while at school or at play.

Resources on Breath Prayer

Soul Feast, chapter 3, by Marjorie Thompson

The Way of the Pilgrim translated by Helen Bacovcin

“In prayer we seek God. We do not seek peace, quiet, tranquility, enlightenment; we do not seek anything for ourselves. We seek to give ourselves . . . to God. He is the all of our prayer.” —M. Basil Pennington

Centering Prayer