The Parables And Teaching Of JesusExemplo

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This passage alludes to Psalm 51 and influenced prayer in the early church. Particularly among the desert fathers, this became a repeated prayer that was eventually called “the Jesus Prayer.” Some versions of the prayer read, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The act of repetitive prayer was one of the earliest contemplative expressions of Christianity. Saint Hesychius the Priest wrote, “Truly blessed is the man whose mind and heart are as closely attached to the Jesus Prayer and to the ceaseless invocation of his name as air to the body or flames to the wax.”

What did this parable teach you about repentance?