The Prayer that Jesus Taught

Description

Gerry Pierse offers reflections that encourage readers to engage in daily meditation by surrendering all thought and repeating the prayer word, called a mantra. Such meditation is a discipline to be followed every day as we attempt to create a space for God in which we grasp nothing and want nothing. We do not pray to be successful; we pray to be faithful. Through this meditative experience we die to the self and are reborn into Christ. We do not need to seek God’s presence, because he is already within us; we must simply recognise it, for “the Kingdom of God is within you.” Conviction comes through the meditative experience. We must always come back to the prayer word, persistently but gently.

Pierse, Gerry, Author

Gerry Pierse (1940-1999) was a Redemptorist priest from County Kerry in Ireland. He went to the Philippines in 1961 at the age of 21, serving primarily in rural missions, while in later years he specialised in giving retreats. This ministry coincided with his becoming more deeply involved in contemplative prayer – in this he was greatly inspired by the teaching of Benedictine monk John Main. Pierse had a gift with words that made his teaching always simple, clear and effective.