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Reflection from our Pastors
Thursday, August 7, 2025
The Aramaic Prayer of Jesus
In the Aramaic language, which was what Jesus spoke, when one prays, there is a wholeness in the words of the prayer, meaning that the words being said actually bring about the reality of the words themselves. Often, students learning about the divine from a spiritual master would pray by repeating the words that they learned from their master, essentially putting his words in their mouths. In chanting the words, they would be transforming themselves from within, being suffused with the same divine spirit as their master. (from my notes on a class on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer with Vie Thorgren, 2010)
Every word can contain several levels of meaning. Every letter can be an “angel” carrying its own power to inform and empower Therefore, the person reading or hearing is inspired to make meaning true to oneself. (Neil Douglas-Klotz)
Hearing the sounds of the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus Is hearing the same sounds that Jesus heard. Chanting the first word “Abwoon,” is feeling the same vibration Jesus felt in his body. While this prayer has traditionally begun with “Our Father,” “Abwoon” is translated as “one breath breathing” and connects spirit and breath. Just as Jesus breathed on his disciples and said “Receive the Holy Spirit,” so it is that our breath connects us to the Holy Spirit which lives within us and among us. Because there is one breath breathing in the world we are all breathing that breath, so we are literally connected to God and to everyone else-- the one breath of the universe.
The second line of the prayer, Hallowed be Thy Name, is pronounced “nethquadash shmakh.” Some of the many flavors of this verse include:
1. Penetrate the deepest recesses of our hearts and there create a space for thy holy shrine.
2. Clear a space in us where thy melody may be perceived.
3. Soften the ground of our being and hallow in us a space for the planting of thy presence
4. May I hollow out a space to plant your essence within.
The third line, Thy Kin-dom Come, is “Tey, Tey, Malkutakh.” Tey means welcome and is repeated to convey the deep welcoming of the Kin-dom as well as a welcoming of the reality of your own being.
Malku comes from the history of the Hebrews when they were nomadic. The Malku carried the responsibility for the survival of the tribe. The Malku found water, located areas for good hunting, warned of any approaching danger. The Malku existed solely for the existence of the tribe. This line is often translated as “May I exist for the One,” or “Let me be a presence that exists for the sake of all people.”
The Aramaic Prayer of Jesus deepens the meaning of the prayer we traditionally have known as The Lord’s Prayer. May you find special meaning for yourself as you read its entirety below:
One breath breathing,
Your name shines everywhere!
May I hollow out a space to plant your essence within.
Let me be a presence that exists for the sake of all people.
Grant me the delight that is your delight in oneness and uniqueness,
And embody your desire in every light and form.
Grow through me this moment's bread and wisdom.
Let me receive what is necessary and give to my other self what is necessary, for we are all one.
Untie the knots of failure binding me, as I release the strands I hold of others’ faults.
Let me forgive by breathing through to release.
Help me not forget my source,
and let me not forget who I am, made in your image and likeness.
For from you arrives every vision, power, and song, from gathering to gathering.
May this prayer be the ground from which my actions grow.
Amen
Mother Rosean
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