A question re rosary and saint-prayers

[hermitcrab]

This is hard to put , sp please bear with me.

When I read the Vatican 2 documents, and then the Catechism in its entirety - and I don’t now have a copy…I remember the phrase a “soft Marian approach.”

Yet this is not how it seeme here?

Is it “mandatory” thus now to ask saints to pray?

All of us out here know I think Roman Catholics who do actually pray to saints…There is one elderly Irish Sister who expresses what she calls a “devotion to Little Flower” and her favourite prayer which she vocalises and writes so often is, “Little Flower, Little Flower, In this hour, Show your power.” She pray this rather than to Jesus…

The rosary; I did not think that this is “mandatory”? We have a nun in the UK here, famous for her art history TV; Sr Wendy Beckett. A Roman Catholic, living now as a hermit in a caravan ( trailer to you!) in the grounds of a Carmelite Convent. She speaks in an interview I read here online about the rosary. That it works for so many, but is a form of prayer that she never uses as it does not help her prayer. something I also found after several years of it. She has a beautiful understanding of the devotion.

Several times on threads it has seemed as if this is a mandatory form of prayer?

Thank you.

 

[water]

Hello hermitcrab,

Praying the rosary and asking St. for their intercession are not mandatory. However, why shouldn’t they stop loving us when they are in Heaven? God teach all of us to love one another. Heaven is not a place where love does not exist.

Take advantage of all the love God has given us…why not?

I am not good at explaining, but hopefully this article will help you:

anawim.pair.com/CATHOLICS/SAINTS.htm

Thank you for asking!
God bless.

 

[Allweather]

Is it “mandatory” thus now to ask saints to pray?

Howdy, hermitcrab. Here in the U.S. we have a version of the Catechism that is produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and is somewhat easier to read than the English version of the CCC, but it is based on that. Since the intent of the CCC was that localized catechisms would be generated out of it, I believe you probably have one of those in the UK. There is an extensive treatment of prayer in the CCC. You probably should spend some time there, to get a firm hold on all the dimensions of prayer.

But in answer to your specific question, no, there is nothing “mandatory” about the Rosary. The Rosary is one of many devotionals that is popular, but we all have our choices in these things. Personally, I love the Rosary, but I go through phases with it. At certain times I am in a near constant state of Marian prayer based on the format of the classical Rosary. At other times, I will go for weeks or months and pray the Rosary only sporadically. That is just my own personal preference and style. Yours would probably differ. The point being, we aren’t all the same… God allows us to each have our own styles and manners of worship and prayer.

God bless.

 

[artist3189]

This is hard to put , sp please bear with me.

When I read the Vatican 2 documents, and then the Catechism in its entirety - and I don’t now have a copy…I remember the phrase a “soft Marian approach.”

Yet this is not how it seeme here?

Is it “mandatory” thus now to ask saints to pray?

All of us out here know I think Roman Catholics who do actually pray to saints…There is one elderly Irish Sister who expresses what she calls a “devotion to Little Flower” and her favourite prayer which she vocalises and writes so often is, “Little Flower, Little Flower, In this hour, Show your power.” She pray this rather than to Jesus…

The rosary; I did not think that this is “mandatory”? We have a nun in the UK here, famous for her art history TV; Sr Wendy Beckett. A Roman Catholic, living now as a hermit in a caravan ( trailer to you!) in the grounds of a Carmelite Convent. She speaks in an interview I read here online about the rosary. That it works for so many, but is a form of prayer that she never uses as it does not help her prayer. something I also found after several years of it. She has a beautiful understanding of the devotion.

Several times on threads it has seemed as if this is a mandatory form of prayer?

Thank you.

Things considered as *‘pious devotions’ *are not a mandatory practice dictated by the Church, but are encouraged as ‘tools and avenues’ to open yourself to grace. Holy disciplines such as the rosary, deepen a personal understanding and devotion to the Lord. Even things such as miraculous occurrences, like Fatima, although proclaimed genuine by the Church, the Church does not mandate any attachment to the event, which basically can be ignore by Catholics if they so choose, or embraced as a ‘pious devotion’. Praying ‘to’ Saints is really asking them to act on your behalf, to pray for you, through Jesus, as you would ask anyone now living to pray for you. Praying for a Saints to lend aid, is to understand that the Saints stand, glorified, in heaven with Jesus, and, as St James said, ‘the prayers of the righteous man profit much’, knowing the Saints to be ‘the most righteous’, much more so than us sinners here on earth, we implore them to pray on our behalf, before God. This includes Mary, the most perfect.

 

[kell0618]

Howdy Hermitcrab!

Prayer is necessary. No specific prayer is required.

The communion of Saints is very important within our Catholic faith and I think that perhaps you would do well to study the subject. After all, it is in our creed!

Kelly

 

[LilyM]

There is one elderly Irish Sister who expresses what she calls a “devotion to Little Flower” and her favourite prayer which she vocalises and writes so often is, “Little Flower, Little Flower, In this hour, Show your power.” ***She pray this rather than to Jesus… ***

That’s like saying that if I praise your cooking, your garden or your child, that I’m doing this rather than praising you. In reality I’m doing both at the same time - praising you by praising that which you have made or done.

Besides which, the nun absolutely would attend Mass, probably daily, which is the greatest worship we can offer, and is certainly not directed at the Little Flower

 

[hermitcrab]

Thank you.

Having read and studied the Roman Catholic Catechism in depth and turned from that way and tradition, I just wonderd is all.

Yes, there are many forms and ways of prayer indeed.

Yet I am a simple soul totally in love with my Lord Jesus and need nothing more than Him.

 

[hermitcrab]

Interesting reasoning…

A thin line though. Very thin indeed.

That’s like saying that if I praise your cooking, your garden or your child, that I’m doing this rather than praising you. In reality I’m doing both at the same time - praising you by praising that which you have made or done.

Besides which, the nun absolutely would attend Mass, probably daily, which is the greatest worship we can offer, and is certainly not directed at the Little Flower

 

[hermitcrab]

Thank you; but, believe me, my grasp of the depth of prayer is very, very firm indeed.

Howdy, hermitcrab. Here in the U.S. we have a version of the Catechism that is produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and is somewhat easier to read than the English version of the CCC, but it is based on that. Since the intent of the CCC was that localized catechisms would be generated out of it, I believe you probably have one of those in the UK. There is an extensive treatment of prayer in the CCC. You probably should spend some time there, to get a firm hold on all the dimensions of prayer.

But in answer to your specific question, no, there is nothing “mandatory” about the Rosary. The Rosary is one of many devotionals that is popular, but we all have our choices in these things. Personally, I love the Rosary, but I go through phases with it. At certain times I am in a near constant state of Marian prayer based on the format of the classical Rosary. At other times, I will go for weeks or months and pray the Rosary only sporadically. That is just my own personal preference and style. Yours would probably differ. The point being, we aren’t all the same… God allows us to each have our own styles and manners of worship and prayer.

God bless.

 

[ctos]

I like to pray the Rosary while I’m walking, or if I’m at home I like to use a booklet of Scriptures, ten verses for each mystery (ten verses for the Annunciation, ten for the Visitation, etc.). The verses touch upon the mystery but also upon its applications. For example, for the 4th Sorrowful Mystery, Jesus Carries His Cross, one of the Scripture references is “the worldly person is an ‘enemy of the Cross of Christ’” (Phil 3:18). It’s a line of Scripture that fits the mystery. I like the Rosary because it gives me a daily overview of a large swath of salvation history. I use the usual pattern, Joyfuls on Monday and Thursday, Sorrowfuls on Tuesday and Friday, and Glorious on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Thursday I pray the Luminous Mysteries when I’m in church with others, the Joyfuls when I’m alone. It’s not liturgical so I can choose that. The Rosary is nice because one can think of the actual prayers, or about the mysteries, or about the relevant Scripture verses… and when the mind wanders, it usually comes back around to the current mystery, as if the Rosary were seasoning the mind. I pray that if I am ever in a coma or something, my mind will still know the Rosary.

 

[HailMary]

Is it “mandatory” thus now to ask saints to pray?

I would ague yes.

Just like I would argue without your Guardian Angel you will not make it to Heaven.

For Eliphaz and his two friends, the intercession of Job was absolutely necessary to obtain pardon for their sins, it was ONLY through Jobs cooperation in his FREE WILL that moved God to save those men ( Job 42: 7-11 ).

Likewise, without your Guardian angel, good luck. What does scripture say about this?

Luke 22:43-44

And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.

So if Jesus needed His angel to help him endure His cross, what makes you think you can without yours? Shame on all of us for having such a lukewarm relationship with our Blessed Angel.

O Ravisher of Hearts, pray for us.

 

[JonathanKinsman]

Thank you.

Having read and studied the Roman Catholic Catechism in depth and turned from that way and tradition, I just wonderd is all.

quote]

 

[lumendelumine]

I would say praying to the saints has everything to do with our love for Our Lord. It’s He who wants us to be friends with His friends and family after all! So, “devotion” to the saint often does not mean more than a certain sympathy for the saint’s personality - a sympathy you would also have towards a person still on earth.

Also, it is often connected with trust towards the praying powers of the saint - so if the person you know has a “great devotion to the Little Flower”, then this surely means that she trusts her intercession, especially as St. Therèse had promised before her death to let “a shower of roses” fall on earth through her intercession.

And also, I think it’s quite clear that if you look at the Little Flower, you also “look” at the Holy Spirit that filled her and you are also immediately pointed to the One she loved most herself: Our Lord Jesus Christ. So saints always point to Our Lord, not away from Him.

As to the rosary: when I was preparing for my conversion, I was at first irritated by the idea of the rosary. But then the priest who was giving me instruction told me that it was a meditation on the life of Christ (I hadn’t known that!). That made me look more deeper into it. So, if you’re irritated by the “Hail Marys”, see them first only as a time-measuring device, while looking solely to Our Lord. Later, you may discover however that taking the perspective of Our Lady, “ruminating” Our Lord’s life together with her, as it were, will strengthen your focus and your commitment to the rosary.

If you have seen “The Passion of the Christ”, you may have noticed that many scenes are represented through the eyes of Mary, through her mother’s eyes. I guess that that element partly developed from the rosary: through Mary, we get closer to her Son.

 

[hermitcrab]

Ah, yes.

But over here we do say the "Roman Catholic Church’ you see; the Roman Catholics ask that.

Local custom, like using leylandii and cypress as palm leaves on Palm Sunday,…

Also it helps stop confusion with other catechisms for us.

 

[hermitcrab]

What a bewildering diversity of responses there is now…

All so… busy… “Be still and know that I am God”

 

[jediliz]

when I misplace something, I say “Tony Tony, Come around, something is lost and can’t be found”.

I recently said a novena of Saint Theresa (the Little Flower). It starts with a small bible passage, you ask her to ask “Jesus to obtain what I ask of him today” and then pray an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Two years ago, when Terri Schindler was on the verge of being starved and dehydrated to death, I prayed the Novena. Then when I went to do my prayer vigil hour at the abortuary, I saw a rose on this cart they kept there on the pro life house’s side.

Saint Teresa said she’d send a shower of roses in response to prayers. I took it as a sign that maybe somehow, Terri would be okay. Unfortunately, she was still starved to death, but maybe it was a sign that God would take her and keep her safe.

When my grandmother was pregnant with my dad’s youngest brother, she had some difficulties and almost lost him. She asked Saint Gerald, patron of expectant mothers, to keep him safe for the rest of the pregnancy.

When he was born, he was named Gary Gerald.

There’s nothing like the power of prayer.

This is how I explained praying to Mary to a protestant friend (he’s now Catholic).

Mary is like the order taker at a fast food restaurant. She takes our prayers (fast food order) to God (the cook).

 

[hermitcrab]

“Jesus, our only Mediator and Advocate”

A strange image.

“Mary is like the order taker at a fast food restaurant. She takes our prayers (fast food order) to God (the cook).”

 

[puzzleannie]

Several times on threads it has seemed as if this is a mandatory form of prayer?

Thank you.

I have been a member of the forums as long as most people here, and I NEVER saw a thread that says praying the rosary is mandatory.

 

[hermitcrab]

As i said, I said, “It seems”, from the insistence/emphasis on it…so I simply sought clarification on this matter from experts here.

. As I also said, apologising in advance, it was hard to express exactly what I meant.

:crying:

I have been a member of the forums as long as most people here, and I NEVER saw a thread that says praying the rosary is mandatory.

 

[water]

As i said, I said, “It seems”, from the insistence/emphasis on it…so I simply sought clarification on this matter from experts here.

You probably don’t need an expert to answer your question. I hope you’ve already got the answer. Praying the rosary is not required, and we do not pray to the Saints as the way we pray to God. Praying to the saints is as same as asking your loved ones to pray for you, except they are the ones who are in Heaven, who see God face to face, who are pure at heart and have so much love for God and for those who are still on earth.