Changing the words of a prayer

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Philothea53

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I received in the mail today a prayer request form from the Sisters of St. Benedict, you know the kind where you send in a person’s name with a donation and they provide a card to give to a person in whose name you have requested prayer.

I love receiving and using these. But, this particular one also included a prayer card with the Salve Regina that, although it has the same spirit of the one I am used to, the words are all different.

I am used to "Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs…) I’m sure most recognize it.

This prayer card says, " Hail, O Holy Queen, Hail Mother full of mercy. To all your children, life and hope and sweetness. We lift our voices, loving Mother of our Savior. O Mother, hear our prayers, as longing and searching, we pass through this earthly journey. In all our needs, be our intercessor. Look down with mercy, full of love and tenderness, upon us sinners. Then show to us, when this earthly journey shall be ended, your Son, the blessed fruit of your most holy womb. O gentle, O sweet and loving O holy Virgin, our Mother Mary."

It continues on in the same manner. My question is, why? Why would the words of such a beautiful prayer be changed? It also removes the name of our Savior. As I said the spirit of the changed words is essentially the same, but it just seems… unnecessary and wrong.

Am I being picky?
 
This might help some people reflect more deeply on the prayer by slowing them down. What you have posted doesn’t seem to change the meaning of the prayer. When you said Sisters of St. Benedict I looked for a feminist or liberal agenda but that doesn’t seem to be the case. So my judgment would be not necessary but not wrong. It could possibly have been done to fill up more space on the card.
 
A friend told me they were Feeneyites (not sure whether that’s true; nor am I sure what it means).

To my eye the prayer looks as if someone has taken the old “Anglican” English version of Salve Regina and attempted to update and PC-ise it, with disastrous results. (Of course, to those used to the Roman-English version, it looks even worse!)
 
markadm said:
A friend told me they were Feeneyites (not sure whether that’s true; nor am I sure what it means).

To my eye the prayer looks as if someone has taken the old “Anglican” English version of Salve Regina and attempted to update and PC-ise it, with disastrous results.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity- what are the PC-bits in it?
 
Philothea53 said:
I received in the mail today a prayer request form from the Sisters of St. Benedict, you know the kind where you send in a person’s name with a donation and they provide a card to give to a person in whose name you have requested prayer.

I love receiving and using these. But, this particular one also included a prayer card with the Salve Regina that, although it has the same spirit of the one I am used to, the words are all different.

I am used to "Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs…) I’m sure most recognize it.

This prayer card says, " Hail, O Holy Queen, Hail Mother full of mercy. To all your children, life and hope and sweetness. We lift our voices, loving Mother of our Savior. O Mother, hear our prayers, as longing and searching, we pass through this earthly journey. In all our needs, be our intercessor. Look down with mercy, full of love and tenderness, upon us sinners. Then show to us, when this earthly journey shall be ended, your Son, the blessed fruit of your most holy womb. O gentle, O sweet and loving O holy Virgin, our Mother Mary."

It continues on in the same manner. My question is, why? Why would the words of such a beautiful prayer be changed? It also removes the name of our Savior. As I said the spirit of the changed words is essentially the same, but it just seems… unnecessary and wrong.

Am I being picky?
Click to expand...
What are prayers other than ways to communicate with God? People communicate with Him differently; and if that’s how these sisters interpret that prayer, then let them interpret it thus. It’s not like it’s turned into devil worship or anything. Roman Catholic practices have become somewhat trite and predictable, making it seem less than sincere. Interpreting and rephrasing to make it a little more applicable I think is good.
 
I’ve discovered many different versions of “The Prayer Before A Crucifix.” They all say basically the same thing, but they are worded slightly differently. Some of the versions are more modern-sounding and easier to understand, while others are in “King James English,” and although beautiful to read and hear, are a little more vague in their meaning to a 21st Century person.

I’m sure that a translation of this prayer into another language would probably read differently than our English version.

I agree with Tic Toc–individuals are all entitled to pray in different ways and words. Unless they are copyrighted, prayers are not “sacred liturgy” and therefore, can be changed, reworded, annotated, illustrated, elaborated upon, etc.
 
You’all know the words and title Salve Regina are not copyrighted. One could probably write a dozen different similar prayers starting with those same words and even using them as the title. I like the old one and say it every day. From the sound of the first part of this new one it seems stilted and filled with that Thee’s and Thou’s language that makes me want to throw up. I like my prayers to be reasonably contemporary language.
 
Claire_from_DE said:
This might help some people reflect more deeply on the prayer by slowing them down. What you have posted doesn’t seem to change the meaning of the prayer. When you said Sisters of St. Benedict I looked for a feminist or liberal agenda but that doesn’t seem to be the case. So my judgment would be not necessary but not wrong. It could possibly have been done to fill up more space on the card.
Click to expand...
I say the older, well-known version - I love it, and I go out of my way not just to rush through it when saying it together with a group - but also putting emphasis on certain words. Personally, I don’t see a need to change the words to slow people down.

I’ll put a question to everyone: When you say this prayer - are you sitting, kneeling or standing? I ask that for a reason. Do you think to change the word that NEEDS to be changed? “To thee we come, before Thee we STAND (or KNEEL or SIT), sinful and sorrowful”. I change it accordingly when I can. That’s what I consider paying attention to what we’re saying…let’s not change a beautiful prayer.
Please?
 
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