Many questions Catholics get asked have to do with our prayer tradition. Why do we pray to saints? Why pray the rosary? Why do we pray formulaic prayers at all? Most of the Catholics I know with solid prayer lives pray both using their own words and formulaic prayers. Why pray using someone else's words? Because often those prayers come to us from the saints, from scripture, or even from the Lord Himself (the "Our Father") and can express the thoughts we wish to express in words much clearer and more beautiful than we can manage ourselves. Also, it is nice to have certain prayers memorized as an aid to us to be able to pull them out at a moment's notice and go to in a time of need.
Today's gospel reading is from Mt 6:7-15, and is where Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer. It's also the passage in which Jesus warns us not to "babble" in our prayers "like the pagans." Some translations use the phrase "vain repetition," which often gets brought up against Catholics, as many of our prayer practices involve repeating the same prayer multiple times. Does this Bible verse mean we are wrong in praying the rosary, the divine mercy chaplet, or other forms of repeated prayer?
The answer is no, of course. Praying the rosary or other forms of repeated prayer does not violate scripture. For an in-depth look as to why, here is an article by Tim Staples, "Do Catholics Pray Vain Repetitions?" that goes into more detail about this question.
If you are unfamiliar with the rosary, we invite you to give it a try. It's a simple prayer that can draw you closer to our Lord through His Blessed Mother, and be a great comfort in times of need.
A young priest once saw John Paul II praying the rosary so devoutly that it really impressed upon him the importance of this devotion. He began praying the full rosary every day, all four mysteries. He still finds the time to do so today, even though that priest is now Pope Francis!
Have a blessed, snowy day!
Pax Christi,
Matt
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
(828)293-9374 | POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723
