I’m talking here about repeating written words over and over again. Some things are just that, words. Pray from your heart. Pray them often or as often as you wish. Just praying words by rote is vain repetition.
Yes.
Let’s take another example that I think will finish the parameters.
Say there’s a lady in a dire critical experience. She is filled with fear, so much so that her mind can hardly work. All she can think of is the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven...” and she repeats it over and over.
Her friend next to her is ever worse off, the best she can manage is “Lord, help us. Lord help us..” over and over.
If you were there, would you caution them about repeating “written” words over and over? Would you try to stop them, or try to get them to add some variety to their prayers?
There is something to be said for all forms of prayer and all should be practiced by each of us.
Deep spontaneous personal prayer to God is important. No one is saying it isn’t. Before you disparage what you call “rote” prayer, I ask you to consider these points:
1) No one ever gets tired of hearing “I love you” and God doesn’t either. Repeating classic prayers is a way of simply saying “I love you” to God and is helpful when you don’t have the inspiration or energy to compose something on your own. You can rely on the wisdom, faith and clarity of the classic prayers. Christ Himself gave us a classic: the Our Father. Some people haven’t been given the gift of spiritual eloquence and, for them, these classic prayers are a blessing.
2) The angelic host in heaven is continually praising God. I imagine they repeat their praise and hosannas quite often. Apparently, God never tires of it.
3) Christ asked us to come to Him in faith as little children do. Children don’t do too much deep bible study, or fancy praying. They offer short, sincere prayers. They also don’t spend much time judging each others’ prayers or spiritual development.
4) Jesus was a Jew. He spent His whole life praying the “rote” prayers of a Jew. He did nothing by chance and He doesn’t make errors. Apparently He found value in the routine, vain repetition. He does, however, have harsh words for those who judge everyone else’s spirituality to be beneath theirs.
These threads make me sad. So many people hate Catholics because of what they think we believe, not what we REALLY believe. If all you know about Catholicism is what your Protestant pastor told you, I invite you to do a thorough study on your own. Read Scott Hahn or Tim Staples. Just read one of their books before you feel you are expert enough to criticize Catholics.
For those of you who used to be Catholic, what you felt, thought, or experienced as a child may be colored by your childish perceptions. I ask you to forgive the hurts which are so obviously painful for you. I invite you to explore, with an adult’s objectivity, what the Catholic Church really teaches and believes. You may have misunderstood or have received bad instruction.
It is up to every Catholic to continue to grow and learn in his faith. It’s up to every Christian to learn more about his brother. Former Catholics, I invite you to read Scott Hahn’s books also. He examines Catholicism by taking each Protestant objection to it and doing historical, scriptural research.