Catholic Explanation of Repeated Prayers

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piety101:
You may kick and scream all you want and curse me to hell all of you, BUT anytime that the modern church changes what has already been established for hundreds of years by the early and pure Catholic church that is heresy and twisting established teachings period.
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My dear brother in Christ, why are you accusing us of this?? Nobody is cursing you to hell or even treating you badly.

I see that you are suspended temporarily. (Let us hope for a very short time). The way you write leads me to believe that you aren’t reading these posts correctly, if at all. It also makes me question your reading of the Early Fathers.

I am a convert, too. I suspected that you had a major problem with Mary and I was right.

Take this time and calm down. Pray for peace and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide not just you but all of us. If he guides us all to the truth then we will live here in peace. Rethink and reexamine your position. Just check it. Coming into the Catholic Church is not easy.

I will pray for you. Please pray for us, too.

Sue
 
TobyLue said:
“Under your mercy we take refuge, O Mother of God. Do not reject our supplications in necessity, but deliver us from danger,[O you]
alone pure and alone blessed.” Sub Tuum Praesidium, Egypt 3rd Century, From Rylands Papyrus,in MCF,79

“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.”** Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin,71:216(ante AD 373**),in MCF,106

“Give milk, Mother to him who is our food, give milk to the bread coming down from heaven … give milk to him who made you such that he could be made fruitfulness in conception and in birth, did not take from you the ornament of virginity.” Augustine,Sermon 369:1(AD 430),in THEO,187

“Hail to thee Mary, Mother of God, to whom in towns and villages and in island were founded churches of true believers” Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 11(ante AD 444),in CE

“Hail, our desirable gladness; Hail, O rejoicing of the Churches; Hail, O name that breathes out sweetness; Hail, face that radiates divinity and grace; Hail, most venerable memory;” Theodotus of Ancrya, Homily 4:3(ante AD 446),in MCF,267

“O Virgin all holy, he who has said of you all that is honorable and glorious has not sinned against the truth, but remains unequal to your merit. Look down upon us from above and be propitious to us. Lead us in peace and having brought us without shame to the throne of judgment, grant us a place at the right hand of your Son, that we may borne off to heaven and sing with angels to the uncreated, consubstantial Trinity” Basil of Seleucia, PG 85:452(ante AD 459),in THEO,187

“Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, because thou didst conceive Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of our souls” Coptic Ostraca (AD 600),in CE

“We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you mind, soul, body, and all our being and honoring you, as much as we can, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles.”** John of Damascene, Homily 1 on the Dormition,14(ante AD 749)**,in MCF,408

“Let us entrust ourselves with all our soul’s affection to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin: let us all, with all our strength, beg her patronage, that, at the moment when on earth we surround her with our suppliant homage, she herself may deign in heaven to commend us with fervent prayer. For without any doubt she who merited to bring ransom for those who needed deliverance, can more than all the saints benefit by her favor those who have received deliverance” Ambrose Autpert, Assumption of the Virgin, (ante AD 778)PL 39:2134,in THEO,188
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Woah, thats awesome material… Do your references come from a book or online sources? Can you can share titles and/or websites?
 
Under Catholicbridge.com I found this.

** Repetitious prayers? **
Some Evangelicals think the verse “Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.” (Mat 6:7 - NRSV) condemns repetitious prayers. But lets look at it. The key words here are “empty” and “Gentiles.” The Gentiles prayed to pagan Gods, their prayers were empty, insincere and blasphemous. The verse is a condemnation of empty prayers to pagan gods. I don’t think this passage is a condemnation of repetition. In fact the word “repetition” is not even mentioned in the verse. One could “heap up” empty “free form” praises (that don’t repeat) as easily as one could “heap up” a repeating phrase from Scripture. The crucial thing is not whether a phrase repeats, but rather whether it is sincere.

Two verses later Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer (Mat 6:9). This is a main prayer in Catholic prayer life. It is neither empty or pagan. It is Holy and honorable and worth repeating because it has meaning.

Are not many of the beautiful traditional Protestant hymns repetitious? What about the repetition of “Praise God” during free form worship in Assemblies? Even the angels are eternally in the presence of God repeating "Holy, Holy, Holy (Rev 4:8). This is not empty nor pagan is it? It pleases God. When I do the Rosary, I’m sincere. I’m saying very meaningful prayers that come from Scripture. I think this makes Jesus immensely happy and He has given me the experience of his love consistently during the Rosary to prove it.

Lord Jesus, let Your prayer of unity for Christians
become a reality, in Your way
we have absolute confidence
that you can bring your people together
we give you absolute permission to move
Amen
 
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TobyLue:
Here is the link where I found these quotes and I did a search on
Early Church Fathers on the Blessed Virgin…
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Thank you, thank you!
 
How would one explain a novena? Not only can the prayer be repeated many times, but repeated over many days?

My thinking was to demonstrate sincerity in the novena petition, but I’m not sure that sounds right. Looking at what I wrote looks even less right; anyone care to help me out with this?
 
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JimG:
Repetition is not the same as babbling. …
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Correct! I agree.


Definition:
babble:
To utter a meaningless confusion of words or sounds.
To blurt out impulsively; disclose without careful consideration.
(I chose 2 of the most apt definitions)

The Jerusalem Bible uses the word babble;
The RSV uses the phrase “heap up empty phrases” instead of babble.

So praying the rosary does not fall into the definition of babble.

It must be remembered that the rosary was prayed in lieu of the Psalms: 150 Psalms - 150 decades of the Rosary.
This was when the bible was not in every household (pre-printing press)

The whole Gospel is summed up in praying the rosary. Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection is reflected in the rosary.
So even today, with the bible easily available,

It is the Gospel on beads.
 
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Wildgraywolf:
How would one explain a novena? Not only can the prayer be repeated many times, but repeated over many days?

My thinking was to demonstrate sincerity in the novena petition, but I’m not sure that sounds right. Looking at what I wrote looks even less right; anyone care to help me out with this?
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The novena, as I understand it, began during the period when the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit to enlighten them. The nine day period began at Jesus’ Ascencion, ending at Pentecost. I know of no record of the prayers of the disciples, including Mary. So, we do not know for certain whether the disciples themselves reapeatedly prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit. We can have a reasonable assurance of certainty that they did not pray in vain, since the Holy Spirit did appear at Pentecost, the end of the novena. Of course, we also have fair certainty that the disciples did not know the duration for which they would need to pray and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. We only know reasonably well that the novena constitutes a prayer form of waiting for the Holy Spirit to enlighten us (see John 14:26, also).

Hopefully, this closing remark, following, does not muddle the issue. However, as a simple human being, I know that, in an indefinite period of time (which ended at nine days in the disciples’ case - the novena), if I wanted the Holy Spirit to come to fill me, I would ceratinly repeat some of my prayers of petition, even those as simple as, “Come, Holy Spirit.” I doubt God would consider my repetitions vain. If I didn’t speak them, I would almost certainly think them. IMHO, I believe any normal human being would do the same. I don’t think God would consider them vain or unfaithful to His will. At most, God might admonish me to let my faith grow, as He tells us in Ps. 46:10, “Be still, and know that I AM God.”
 
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bob:
…
It must be remembered that the rosary was prayed in lieu of the Psalms: 150 Psalms - 150 decades of the Rosary.
This was when the bible was not in every household (pre-printing press)…
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Errata: 150 Psalms - 150 Hail Marys in 15 decades (not 150 decades)
 
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