Chapter 204

On the Quirks of Practitioners of the Jesus Prayer

As to what you wrote about some practitioners of the Jesus Prayer who place their hand on the table and gather attention under their fingers—these are inappropriate quirks. It is also a quirk when someone strikes the palm of his left hand with the fingers of his right hand and thus gathers his mind and prays.

You propose that I clarify the matter of prayer. But there is nothing to clarify here. Place your mind in your heart before the face of the Lord and cry out to him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” That will be laborious prayer. According to how earnestly each person labors, the Lord, seeing the labor, will give him spiritual prayer, which is the fruit of the grace of the Holy Spirit. That is all that should be said and understood about the Jesus Prayer. Everything else contrived for this purpose does not belong to the work. This is how the enemy distracts from genuine prayer.

(Letter 922. Vol. 5, p. 205)