Prayer Practice: ‘I AM’
Jesus said ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' Our whole being needs to be engaged when we pray. As we drop into a place of stillness of mind, body and spirit we touch into a deeper way of knowing where we are open to the divine presence. Our spiritual senses come alive.
‘The Epistle of Privy Counsel’, by the same anonymous 14th century author as ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’, says that ‘God is my being’ and encourages us to offer that simple sense of our being to God. We let go of any thoughts about who or what we are and simply stay with the sense of being. He encourages us to pray ‘O Lord, all that I am I offer to you for it is yourself’.
Like the early Christians he teaches that encapsulating prayer in a simple phrase or even a single word is a helpful way in to the stillness where God is encountered. I like to condense his prayer into the phrase ‘I AM’, said silently with my breathing. It has a double meaning, which we find when Moses encounters God in the burning bush. Moses says ‘Here I am’, and as we say ‘I am’ we are with Moses saying ‘I am here and I am listening’. Then when Moses asks for God’s name, God replies ‘I AM who I AM’, the God beyond all words and concepts, the God that cannot be named.
Start with a simple body awareness exercise (such as that given in the handout 'Body Awareness into Prayer') to awaken a whole-body awareness. Then sit for a time of silent prayer, using the phrase ‘I am’ as your anchor. During the time of prayer, when your mind wanders off let the sense of your breath draw you back to the present.
Whisper inwardly ‘I am’, giving word to your intention to detach from your thoughts and to be present to God with the whole of your being. It can be helpful to let the words float on your breath, to let the rhythm of your breathing carry your prayer. Be gentle with yourself, don’t feel stressed about your mind wandering. Each distraction is simply an invitation to renew your desire to attend to God alone.
Return to that sense of your whole body alive and present, maybe revisit each arm and leg in turn to renew that sense.
Stay with this prayer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Close with the prayer: O Lord, all that I am I offer to you for it is yourself. Amen.
Further Reading
Francis Bennett, “I Am That I Am: Discovering the Love, Peace, Joy and Stability of the True Self” (2013).
Cynthia Bourgeault, “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening” (2004).
Mother Anne Clarke, Abbess OSB, Malling Abbey
© The Benedictine Community at Malling Abbey 2025