Walking the Prayer of the Lamb

For the last ten years besides sitting in meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb, I have also prayed the Prayer while walking. Living where I do in a pedestrian-intensive neighborhood I walk to the post office, bank, grocery store, restaurants, etc. on a regular basis. So I get many opportunities for doing my practice interspersed throughout the week in the midst of routine activity. Not only am I getting in extra time beyond my commitment for daily sittings, but I know that I am also contributing to other beings around me as I walk along asking for that abundant and free-flowing mercy of the Lamb of God for all of us.

The labyrinth has been a spiritual practice that many people have tried out or engaged. It is a way to “go on pilgrimage” without traveling great distances. There are specific ways by which people can undertake walking a labyrinth, but here I would like to offer another option using the Prayer of the Lamb, although note that this should not replace the basic practice of sitting in silence.

Consider the following: As I embark on a personal pilgrimage of walking the labyrinth to its center and back, I begin from where I am. That means I am taking along with me all the current thoughts running through my head, all the to-do list, relationships currently being engaged, concerns, anxieties, desires, and an ever fluctuating self-identification. As I walk slowly, mindfully and deliberately with the words, Yeshua, Lamb of God, have mercy on us, gently marking each step, all that I have brought with me is offered into that mercy. As may often be the case in silent meditation, this stage may take awhile. By the time I reach the center all has been offered (purgation) and now comes a time to sit and simply be in that mercy offering the innocent devotion of the Prayer with an openness of heart to God (illumination). After a luxuriously long amount of time at the center, I begin the journey of returning, and out of the realization of baptismal identity in the Lamb of God (union) I am offering the Prayer as a universal intercession for all beings that I will encounter as I emerge from this walking meditation. This last stage is an act of outreach ministry, a contribution pouring out of abundance. As with all my meditation this is not a private spiritual practice; it is ecologically and sacramentally integrated. …another way to walk the labyrinth.