Catholics: God wants us to pray from our hearts?

Question

No offense, but I don't understand the whole rosary thing and the repeated prayers.

7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Why, then, do you chant man made prayers over and over?

MATTHEW 6:7

THIS IS A REAL QUESTION. I SINCERELY WANT TO UNDERSTAND AND AM NOT PUTTING ANYONE DOWN. GIMME A BREAK.

Answer 1

when they use the rosery the are hailing, or callling on mary,m becouse they say she us their intersessor. ypu are right we should pray from our heart. the cc also prayer to st luke and other deciples. the bible says the spirit prays through us and prays for things that we dont know about. the bible is plain about jesus being our intersessor.isiah 9: 6 tells who jesus is and what we can call him. love pastor carney
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Answer 2

Let's take this one piece at a time. Shall we?

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If you do not understand it, you should not attempt to criticize it. Hearing the Gospel is good. Reading it is better. But an even better thing is to PRAY the Gospel. When a Christian prays the Rosary, they are praying the Gospels.

There are 20 "mysteries", that highlight events in the Gospel that surround Jesus' ministry. As one prays their way through the decades of the Rosary, one is also meditating on the meaning of whichever mystery they happens to be contemplating.

Also, you should know that praying the Rosary is not mandatory for Catholics. However, anyone who truly understands what the Rosary is WILL want to pray the Rosary/Gospels. In addition, it's well to know that they make "Protestant" Rosaries. After all, non-Catholic Christians, as fond of the Bible as they are, shouldn't object to praying the Gospels either. Right?


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For your consideration:

Matt. 6:7 - Jesus teaches, "do not heap up empty phrases" in prayer. Protestants use this verse to criticize various Catholic forms of prayer which repeat phrases, such as litanies and the Rosary. But Jesus' focus in this instruction is on the "vain," and not on the "repetition."

Matt. 26:44 - for example, Jesus prayed a third time in the garden of Gethsemane, saying the exact same words again. It is not the repetition that is the issue. It's the vanity. God looks into our heart, not solely at our words.

Luke 18:13 - the tax collector kept beating his breast and praying "God be merciful to me, a sinner." This repetitive prayer was pleasing to God because it was offered with a sincere and repentant heart.

Acts 10:2,4 - Cornelius prayed constantly to the Lord and his prayers ascended as a memorial before God.

Rom. 1:9 - Paul says that he always mentions the Romans in his prayers without ceasing.

Rom. 12:12 - Paul commands us to be constant in prayer. God looks at what is in our heart, not necessarily how we choose our words.

1 Thess. 5:17 - Paul commands us to pray constantly. Good repetition is different than vain repetition.

Rev. 4:8 - the angels pray day and night without cessation the same words "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." This is repetitious prayer that is pleasing to God.

Psalm 136 - in this Psalm, the phrase "For His steadfast love endures forever" is more repetitious than any Catholic prayer, and it is God's divine Word.

Dan. 3:35-66 - the phrase "Bless the Lord" is similarly offered repeatedly, and mirrors Catholic litanies.

Answer 3

The Rosary and other 'repeated prayers' from the Missal and Prayer Books are like the cars on a train ... they carry the prayers of our hearts and minds with them to God. They are there to 'focus our thoughts' on talking with God, and are not meant to be 'just said' repetitively. We 'chant man made prayers' over and over so that they can 'carry our inner prayers' to God more easily. We DO NOT just say the prayers 'repetitively' and think/believe that we are 'talking with God' because we studied our catechism and we KNOW what we are doing, and how we feel during and after we say those repetitive prayers.

Answer 4

As others have mentioned, the key word in that verse is "vain", not repetition; also, the "heathen" of that day believed that they could force their deities to do something when they chanted. Sort of like a cosmic gumball machine; incantation in, reward out.

Your phrase "man-made" betrays a bit of prejudice even though you didn't intend to offend with the question. Man-made this and man-made that are frequent accusations flung against Catholics for what they do or believe.

Look at it this way: The case can be made that YOUR "from the heart" prayer is man-made, too. So let's just discard this needlessly divisive little distinction, shall we?

"From the heart" is not something you or anyone else can determine. I have heard "spontaneous" prayers from Baptist elders (I used to be Baptist, so that's my example, but I'm sure you could insert other denoms/sects) that were -- or SEEMED to be -- the most insincere, falsely pious, cliche'-filled, windy things imaginable. The more people in attendance, the louder and longer these prayers became.

On the other hand, I have prayed from the depths of my heart to my Lord and Savior using words someone else wrote, but which expressed my heart so much better than anything I could possibly articulate in my distress. I also find that the more I pray a rosary and in that process take the time to really enter into and linger on events in Jesus' life, the more profoundly closer I feel to him. But to someone just observing me in prayer, what does it look like? Repetitious prayer (and using beads, besides!).

But isn't it a little presumptuous to judge my heart? And it's just as presumptuous of me to judge the hearts of those Baptist deacons by critiquing their prayer technique. Or yours.

Most Catholics also pray "from the heart" as you define it, just expressing themselves in conversation with the Lord. But we also avail ourselves of the richness and depth of the common prayers of the Church -- because we are of one body.

Answer 5

To explain, I want to ask you to think about the worship songs you sing at church. When you are learning a new song, can you worship through the song right away? Of course not. It takes a while for you to learn the song before you can worship through it. Some people even have to memorize it before they can authentically sing it with all their hearts and really mean it.

Is it "vain repetition" to sing one of these songs over and over again over the course of a year or more? I'll bet you say it's not, as long as the person really means what he/she is singing in that worship song.

So it is with the prayers that Catholics repeat -- which, by the way, are SCRIPTURAL. It's no more "vain" to repeat these prayers than it is for you to quote a verse of Scripture over and over again.

Anyway, when we pray the Rosary, we are meditating on the life of Christ (see the "mysteries" that a kind person already posted above). As we meditate on these mysteries, we pray the words we know already, but we mean them with all our heart.

We don't think that God will hear us because of our "many words." We think that we will train our hearts to think on godly things by meditating on the life of Christ and praying a lot. I'm sure you will agree that it's a good, godly and Scriptural thing to "train" one's heart to dwell on godly issues.

I hope this helps you understand better!

Answer 6

Catholicism includes a rich tradition of both informal (in our own words) and formal prayer just like our Jewish forefathers.

The Church teaches "the memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is important to help learners savor their meaning." In other words, the Church emphasizes that formal prayer should not be mindless lip moving but instead a formal expression of clearly understood and heartfelt sentiments.

The verse in question reads, in the King James Version, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

The important Greek word here for "vain repetitions" is battalogeo, or babbling. The heathens had a magical perception of prayer and thought the more they babbled to their gods, the more that that god would respond. I Kings 18:26 is an example of this:

"And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered."

Then, two verses after the warning in Matthew against "vain repetitions," Jesus gave us the "Lord's" prayer, which most Protestant Christians pray with no qualms about praying "in vain."

The same command in Luke 11:2 reads: "And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father..." -- "when you pray, say..."

In addition, Christ prayed in repetitions:
+ Matthew 26:44: "And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words."
+ Mark 14:39 reads: "And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words."

The angels pray repetitiously:
+ Revelation 4:8: "...and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

The Psalms are a collection of prayers and litanies, which were prayed formally in the Jewish synagogues and early Christian churches, are still prayed in synagogues and Catholic churches today -- and were even prayed by Christ from the Cross.

The liturgy of the synagogue was (and is) filled with repetition and formalized prayer. Christ said "use not vain repetitions, as the heathens do.” Were the Jews heathens? Jesus also prayed in the synagogue in this way.

They prayed (and still pray) the sh'ma twice a day and, in their liturgy, the Shemoneh Esrei, the Kaddish, the morning blessings, the Aleinu, etc. Check out a Jewish siddur (missal) sometime; does it look more typically Protestant or Catholic?

Hymns are prayers. Is it "vain" to sing "Amazing Grace" more than once?

Catholics do not babble but pray from the heart in formal and informal prayer.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, part four: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt4sect1.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 7

Since no offense was intended, I will take no offense.

When a person prays the rosary, he or she is not just repeating the Hail Mary without any thought in their head. That indeed would be vain repetition.

Prayed correctly, a person is meditating and reflecting on the events in the life of Jesus and Mary (the mysteries) while saying the Hail Mary's.

A person whould be thoughtfully praying the words of teh hail Mary, "pray for us sinners, now and at teh hour of our death" while meditating on teh following events and asking for the fruits of each mystery:

Joyful Mysteries
The Annunciation. Fruit of the Mystery: Humility
The Visitation. Fruit of the Mystery: Love of Neighbor
The Nativity. Fruit of the Mystery: Poverty
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: Obedience
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: Joy in Finding Jesus, also known as Zeal

Luminous Mysteries
The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Fruit of the Mystery: Openness to the Holy Spirit
The Wedding at Cana. Fruit of the Mystery: To Jesus through Mary
Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Fruit of the Mystery: Repentance and Trust in God
The Transfiguration. Fruit of the Mystery: Desire for Holiness
The Institution of the Eucharist. Fruit of the Mystery: Adoration

Sorrowful Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden. Fruit of the Mystery: Sorrow for Sin
The Scourging at the Pillar. Fruit of the Mystery: Purity
The Crowning with Thorns. Fruit of the Mystery: Courage
The Carrying of the Cross. Fruit of the Mystery: Patience
The Crucifixion. Fruit of the Mystery: Perseverance

Glorious Mysteries
The Resurrection. Fruit of the Mystery: Faith
The Ascension. Fruit of the Mystery: Hope
The Descent of the Holy Spirit. Fruit of the Mystery: Love of God
The Assumption of Mary. Fruit of the Mystery: Grace of a Happy Death
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fruit of the Mystery: Trust in Mary's Intercession

Answer 8

the only time you're to maximum suitable somebody for sinning is different Christians or brothers and sisters. then you definitely are to show it out with humility. possibly you will desire to provide them a bible verse on the problem, including case in point, Blessed is he that loves correction, for God corrects those whom He loves, (not right quote there, yet i think of you get the belief. in the event that they don't take it with grace because it additionally should be delivered with grace, then pray that the Lord will circulate on their hearts so they'll quit employing the Lords call in ineffective. Then enable it bypass. you additionally should pray for therapeutic and deliverance of the OCD for your self. believe God hears your prayer over that individual, and depart it in his palms. And in the event that they don't quit when you have informed them, then love them from a distance. tell them which you come across it an insult to apply the Lords call in ineffective, maximum and then would be greater careful around you, if although they don't then evaluate removing your self from their presence. bypass with God.

Answer 9

Read your Bible a little more closely, my dear:

Matt. 6:7 - Jesus teaches, "do not heap up empty phrases" in prayer. Protestants use this verse to criticize various Catholic forms of prayer which repeat phrases, such as litanies and the Rosary. But Jesus' focus in this instruction is on the "vain," and not on the "repetition."

Matt. 26:44 - for example, Jesus prayed a third time in the garden of Gethsemane, saying the exact same words again. It is not the repetition that is the issue. It's the vanity. God looks into our heart, not solely at our words.

Luke 18:13 - the tax collector kept beating his breast and praying "God be merciful to me, a sinner." This repetitive prayer was pleasing to God because it was offered with a sincere and repentant heart.

Acts 10:2,4 - Cornelius prayed constantly to the Lord and his prayers ascended as a memorial before God.

Rom. 1:9 - Paul says that he always mentions the Romans in his prayers without ceasing.

Rom. 12:12 - Paul commands us to be constant in prayer. God looks at what is in our heart, not necessarily how we choose our words.

1 Thess. 5:17 - Paul commands us to pray constantly. Good repetition is different than vain repetition.

Rev. 4:8 - the angels pray day and night without cessation the same words "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." This is repetitious prayer that is pleasing to God.

Psalm 136 - in this Psalm, the phrase "For His steadfast love endures forever" is more repetitious than any Catholic prayer, and it is God's divine Word.

Dan. 3:35-66 - the phrase "Bless the Lord" is similarly offered repeatedly, and mirrors Catholic litanies.

Answer 10

The prayers of the Blessed Rosary are prayers of the Gospel

Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.

In your ignorance please do not assume you know what it is that you are talking about