Although the Jesus Prayer was originally only known and developed in Eastern Christianity, both in the Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Catholic Church, along with the spread of information, this simple prayer also began to be known by Catholics in Western Christianity, both among clergy and laity. .

One of the most influential books in spreading the Jesus Prayer among Catholics is the classic, "The Way of A Pilgrim." Most likely this book is an autobiography written in the 19th century by an anonymous Russian. This book tells about the experience of the author who traveled around Russia while practicing the Jesus Prayer. In his encounters with various people, and from the various events he experienced along the way, he learned a lot about the meaning and power of the Jesus Prayer. On the way he also struggled with various doubts, difficulties and temptations. But thanks to the Jesus Prayer which he practiced along the way, he found peace and enlightenment through a spirit of humility, self-denial and closeness to God.


From Jesus Prayer to Jesus Meditation

The book "The Way of a Pilgrim" has been widely distributed throughout the world and is read by millions of Christians, including Catholics. The simple but powerful message of this book about the spiritual gift and power of the Jesus Prayer, has captivated countless people and made them interested in practicing it. This interest was also experienced by a group of young Catholics in Bandung around the mid-90s. They practice this Jesus Prayer in one of the prayer activities in their group.

As Catholics they are used to practicing the Rosary Prayer, so the practice of the Jesus Prayer which they did, more or less, is also influenced by the patterns and habits that exist in the Rosary prayer activities. One example, because they don't have a komboskini, they practice the Jesus Prayer with the help of rosary beads.

The problem is, the rosary beads have a different basic shape from the komboskini which is usually used in the Jesus Prayer. The komboskini is generally used to say one prayer repeatedly while the rosary string is used to say at least two prayers, the Our Father and 10 Hail Marys, repeatedly. Consequently, the use of this rosary beads also gave rise to a new idea, namely the need to add another prayer as a complement to the existing formulation of the Jesus Prayer.

Several kinds of prayers were tried until finally an additional prayer was found that was very suitable to be added to the Jesus Prayer. Furthermore, the form of prayer that is practiced becomes like this:

On the item "Hail Mary" 10 times:

"Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"

On the item "Our Father":

"Lord Jesus Christ, I love Thee"

This newly added prayer takes inspiration from Peter's answer when God asked three times in a row, "Simon son of John, do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17)

At first, in group prayer activities this new form of prayer was still very flexible, the number of repetitions of the prayer was not limited, it could be anything. Sometimes one round of the rosary is prayed, sometimes twice or more, according to mutual agreement. This flexible form of prayer has survived for several years. At that time, the prayer was given the name 'Jesus Meditation' to distinguish it from the original Jesus Prayer. The book about Jesus Meditation was written several years ago with the title: "Jesus Meditation: Transformative Mental Prayer Rooted in Two Church Traditions", foreword by Fr. Istimoer Bayu, and published by "Kanisius" publisher.

The Emergence of the Psalter of Our Lord

Finally, around 2017 there was a strong push to bring this form of prayer closer to the Rosary. The trick is to add reflections on the Bible like those in the Rosary Prayer. But the difference is that the Bible meditations which is chosen are the meditations on the Lord's passion. This series of meditations is almost the same as the meditations on the Stations of the Cross, which starts from the Lord Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane until the burial of Our Lord Jesus. With the addition of this meditation on the passion of Our Lord, the form of prayer becomes standard and no longer as flexible as before. The pattern is also very similar to the original Rosary, namely 150 times of Jesus Prayer which is divided into 15 decades and each decade is preceded by a meditation on Our Lord's passion.

As stated in the previous chapter or video, for about two centuries the prayer that Our Lady taught to St. Dominic is known as the Psalter of Mary. In fact, in the official document "Consueverunt Romani Pontifices" Pope St. Pius V lists the Psalter of Our Lady as another name for the Rosary:

Here's the quote:

And so Dominic looked to that simple way of praying and beseeching God, accessible to all and wholly pious, which is called the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary....

The use of the name Psalm Mary is related to the number of 150 repetitions of the Hail Mary according to the number of Davidic Psalter, which is the basic form of the prayer. Based on this fact, a new prayer which also follows the pattern of the Rosary or the Psalter of Our Lady with 150 repetitions of the Jesus Prayer, gets a new, similar name, namely the Psalter of Our Lord or Psalter of Jesus.

As the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady is paired with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so in faith we can say the Psalter of Jesus are the perfect match for the Rosary or the Psalter of Mary. In addition, in the context of spiritual weapons the presence of the Psalter of Our Lord as a companion to the Rosary is also very appropriate. According to the prophecy of the Scriptures (Gen. 3:15), the enmity put by God is between the woman against the snake and between the seed of the woman against the seed of the snake. So symbolically there are two spiritual weapons needed in battle. The first, spiritual weapons that come from woman (Our Lady), namely the Rosary which is filled with Hail Mary prayers. And secondly, spiritual weapons that come from woman descendant (Our Lord Jesus Christ), namely the Psalter of Jesus which are filled with the prayers in the Name of Jesus or the Jesus Prayer.

In conjunction with the Jesus Prayer, by adding a new prayer and contemplating the Lord's passion, the Psalter of Jesus have elevated the Jesus Prayer that has been known for centuries to become a new, more complete and different prayer. The addition that brought about this significant change is almost the same as the prayer that Our Lady taught to St. Dominic. The addition of the 15 Gospel meditations requested by Our Lady proved to have completed or perfected the Psater of Mary that had been practiced previously by the Cistercian monks. Likewise, we can say that the addition of meditations on the story of God's passion and the addition of a new prayer in the Psalter of Jesus have complemented and perfected the classic Jesus Prayer that was known before.

Over the centuries, the Jesus Prayer, which has been known since the third century, has not changed much other than minor changes in the formulation of the prayer, variations in the number of repetitions, or the application of the hesychasm technique that emphasizes silence in its practice. However, after experiencing an encounter with the Rosary that comes from the Western Christian tradition, this simple prayer now has a very significant change in the form of the Psalter of Jesus.

So it can be concluded that the Psalter of Jesus Prayer od Psalter of Our Lord is a simple prayer that arises from the synthesis or combination of two Christian prayer traditions, namely the Jesus Prayer from Eastern Christianity and the Rosary from Western Christianity. This synthesis, which has been in the process for more than 20 years, has finally resulted in a completely new prayer. A prayer with different spiritual characteristics and virtues from the Jesus Prayer on which it is based. Apart from that, the meditation on the mystery of Christ's passion in the Psalter of Our Lord also places it as a harmonious companion to the Rosary or the Psalter of Mary.