Can 'thinking' a prayer be just as sufficient as speaking it verbally?

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For example, can someone ‘think’ the entire Rosary instead of verbally speaking it with their lips for it to work?

If yes, this leads to another question though that might be troublesome.

Would just having a thought of a satanic prayer (for example, reciting what is said in it for information purposes) invoke Satan on us even though we don’t actually want what the prayer is offering?

This question was inspired when I was watching the new Star Wars movie tonight. A character kept repeating the prayer. “I am one with the force and the force is one with me” over and over and over, to the point where it got stuck in my head and I kept thinking of what he was saying…so was basically ‘thinking’ that prayer
 
The key is intent. When you “say” your prayers mentally, do you intend for them to “work”? (BTW, phrasing it that way makes it sound like superstition or as if we think it’s some kind of magic formula.)

If you think or even study something but don’t intend for it to have the intended effect of a prayer, that’s different.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
For example, can someone ‘think’ the entire Rosary instead of verbally speaking it with their lips for it to work?
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Yes, because mental prayer counts: ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/MOSTPRAY.TXT
If yes, this leads to another question though that might be troublesome.
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Would just having a thought of a satanic prayer (for example, reciting what is said in it for information purposes) invoke Satan on us even though we don’t actually want what the prayer is offering?
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No, because prayer is not just an act of the mind, but also of the will. If you do not Will to pray, you are not praying, even if you are mentally reciting the words of a prayer.
 
It is my understanding that only God can actually read hearts and minds. However, he can certainly share that info with the Blessed Virgin Mary or other saints in heaven, if he wishes. So, those prayers of the rosary that are addressed to God (Our Father, Glory Be, O my Jesus) will certainly be heard by God even when they are just thought. However, if those addressed to the Virgin Mary (Hail Mary, Hail Holy Queen) are just thought, she will not be able to hear them directly but might hear them indirectly through God, if God chooses to share them with her.

I once lost something and just thought a prayer to St Anthony and I received supernatural help and found the lost item. So, I know that God sometimes shares our thoughts with the saints in heaven.
 
Todd977 said:
It is my understanding that only God can actually read hearts and minds. However, he can certainly share that info with the Blessed Virgin Mary or other saints in heaven, if he wishes. So, those prayers of the rosary that are addressed to God (Our Father, Glory Be, O my Jesus) will certainly be heard by God even when they are just thought. However, if those addressed to the Virgin Mary (Hail Mary, Hail Holy Queen) are just thought, she will not be able to hear them directly but might hear them indirectly through God, if God chooses to share them with her.

I once lost something and just thought a prayer to St Anthony and I received supernatural help and found the lost item. So, I know that God sometimes shares our thoughts with the saints in heaven.
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While we are on the topic, I’d like to point out a theory that occurred to me once. It starts with an obvious fact: when we say our prayers out loud, nobody needs to read our hearts to hear that prayer. Perhaps the saints in heaven don’t need additional help to hear spoken prayers beyond the natural ability to interact with our world.

Second, their powers are amplified beyond ours. So far I think I’m on pretty safe speculative ground. If the saints can hear our vocal prayers, they could probably detect them just as surely if we just mouthed our prayers. If we living people can read lips here on earth, surely they don’t lose that ability in heaven. (This is a speculation, but I think it’s a safe one.) Especially since they don’t experience time in the same way we do. They’ve got all the time in the world to read our lips and “hear” our silent prayers that way if they want to.

Building on that, it doesn’t seem impossible to me that there might be tiny differences in our brain waves when we pray that are just as detectable to a departed soul as moving lips are to us. If they’ve got all the time in the world, as I think, and if they are incredibly much more powerful than we are, I wouldn’t be surprised if they could detect exact signs of our mental prayers that are invisible to us but visible in principle. This wouldn’t mean they can read our hearts, just our brain waves. But if it’s a true speculation it’s just an additional reason why mentally praying to a saint is okay.

Just my thoughts. 😉
 
Yes, you can think a prayer according to need or intent. Many political prisoners or martars have been where that was the only way they could pray or in a social or cultural situation that mental prayers were the only “way to go.” As for the rosary I think it best to vocalize the prayer even if only in a faint whisper, but I leave that open to others that are more knowledable than I. I do think that that the vocal prayer or even the written prayer lends itself to more clarity of intent. Waiting to learn of what others think. Peace.
 
I’d say yes!

What if someone can’t speak or even breathe? Don’t you think God hears the cry of their mind?

ICXC NIKA
 
Yes.
We read to ourselves all the time. It’s a corm of communication. We pray silently when we receive communion, no?
 
Yes to the al all the above…

Remember too that the evil one cannot read minds either and does not know you are praying if it’s mental prayer.

We all know we can use prayer as a weapon against him, so during these times, try to verbalize them.
 
Yes, God can read hearts but some prayers like the Liturgy of the Hours are meant to be vocalised.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
This question was inspired when I was watching the new Star Wars movie tonight. A character kept repeating the prayer. “I am one with the force and the force is one with me” over and over and over, to the point where it got stuck in my head and I kept thinking of what he was saying…so was basically ‘thinking’ that prayer
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You weren’t thinking a prayer. You had a line from a movie stuck in your head.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
You weren’t thinking a prayer. You had a line from a movie stuck in your head.
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Define prayer. “May the Force be with you” or “I am one with the Force” not recognizing that there is a greater power-God-then ourselves? “I am one with the Force” is a stretch, but I won’t knock it because we ARE one with God, “in Him, with Him…” Oh Dear, I can hear flack coming my way. Peace 🙂
 
Mary_Estelle said:
Define prayer. “May the Force be with you” or “I am one with the Force” not recognizing that there is a greater power-God-then ourselves? “I am one with the Force” is a stretch, but I won’t knock it because we ARE one with God, “in Him, with Him…” Oh Dear, I can hear flack coming my way. Peace 🙂
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Science Fiction movies are scripted, and then the script is acted out by actors, and shot with film, then edited and released to the public. What Ben Sinner saw was a scripted line acted out in a movie…it was not a prayer. That was my point.
 
Quiet Interior Prayer, is the best prayer according to St Terese of Avila.

In the depth of our being, is where God speaks to us best, according to the Saint.

It is valid to say the Rosary as quiet interior prayer.

I think that in order to do it however, the prayers must be so embedded within you, you can say them mentally while focusing on the mysteries at the same time.

Personally, I prefer just Quiet Prayer, where I just say a sacred prayer word, while focusing on being in the presence of God who dwells within.

The Rosary, I pray with almost no vocal words, but meditate on the mysteries,
In fact, during this time of prayer. God reveals the deeper truths of the mystery, rather than having a video image playing out in my mind.

I highly recommend Quiet Prayer Contemplative Prayer. It will help bring a deeper level of prayer to all others, including the Holy Eucharist.

Jim
 
Yes, because God can read our minds because He created the mind, and can obviously grant that power to saints and the Blessed Mother for the purposes of hearing prayers. It’s like your computer asking mine if humans can read the programming code behind their actions. If God couldn’t at least know what we are thinking (if not hear the actual words), we would be in trouble, basically left at the mercy of mankind and Satan, with God powerless to do anything until it’s too late, and of course captive Christians couldn’t pray. Like others have said, it’s all about intent.

I often pray the Rosary in my thoughts rather than out loud, except for the odd whispering slipping out, because my voice might be scratchy and tired or something, and I just don’t feel like talking.

If you’re reading about Satanism or something and come across a “prayer”, just cross yourself or something, and ask for Jesus and Mary’s protection.
 
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