"In praying do not babble like pagans do"

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irishcolleen45

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I pray for close to an hour daily. I include two to three rosaries and two Divine Mercy chaplet (plus I say the novena) along with other prayers.

How do I know I’m not “babbling like pagans do”?
 
To babble is to utter unintelligible words or meaningless speech. As long as you mean whatever you pray you are not babbling.
 
The Lord knows whats in your heart and mind. Sometimes it takes a while to say what you want to say to Him, but thats ok as long as your heart´s intentions are good and pure. I suggest you say a prayer to the Holy Spirit and call out to Him before you start any prayer so that He guides you, enlightens you and teaches you how to pray to the Father (ask for the gift of prayer). Pagans do not speak the true intentions of their hearts and minds hence they merely “babble”.

Godbless
 
irishcolleen45 said:
I pray for close to an hour daily. I include two to three rosaries and two Divine Mercy chaplet (plus I say the novena) along with other prayers.

How do I know I’m not “babbling like pagans do”?
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I can usually tell when I am “babbling”😃
Our Father who art in heaven…etc, my mind is not on the prayer, I am just saying the words. I then stop, recollect myself, say sorry to the Lord, and start afresh with my mind and heart centered on Him, meaning what I am saying. At times it is difficult to concentrate, but the idea is to keep at it. God understands all our shortcomings. When we try, He meets us halfway.
So long as He is in your mind and heart as you pray, you are not babbling.😃
 
That verse isn’t talking about rosaries or prayers given to us by Jesus or His Church.

It is talking about the pagans who would babble meaningless speech and believed that the more words you used the more God would listen to you.
 
irishcolleen45 said:
I pray for close to an hour daily. I include two to three rosaries and two Divine Mercy chaplet (plus I say the novena) along with other prayers.

How do I know I’m not “babbling like pagans do”?
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The simple way to look at this is: unless you’re reciting things like “LO’MA ZATH AIO’N ACHTHASE MA…ZAL BALAMAO’N E’EIOY, protect me, NN, in the Present Hour! Immediately, immediately! Quickly, quickly!” or “I adjure You by Your Great Name, BORKE’ PHOIOUR IO’ ZIZIA APARXEOUCH THYTHE LAILAM AAAAAA IIIII OOOO IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ NAUNAX AI AI AEO’ AEO’ E’AO’” or "Make me Invisible, Lord Helios, AEO’ O’AE’ EIE’ E’AO’, in the presence of any man until sunset, IO’ IO’ O’ PHRIXRIZO’ EO’A" you’re not ‘babbling’/‘stuttering’ as pagans do. 😃 😛

But seriously, what Jesus meant in His warning is that we need not use an unnecessary excess of words just because we think that the more prayers/invocations we recite gives us a higher chance of our prayer being heard.

In those days, days many people in the Greco-Roman world often used the names of gods (any god apparently counts - even the God of Israel and the angels, and later Jesus, are no exception), made-up gibberish, fragments of words and phrases in various languages, strings of vowels and somesuch in their prayers and incantations, as you can see in the examples I give above. This was all because of their belief that the recitation of certain words and phrases and the repetition of certain formulas would compel the gods and spirits to give whatever you want.

Jesus was probably referring to this practice, and shows that we have no need of reciting very complicated strings of prayers, invocations or spells just to make God hear us, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” As long as you’re praying sincerely with your heart, and not being scrupulous (‘Did I pray enough?’ ‘Do I need to pray this more?’), then you’re not “babbling as the nations do.”

And I believe and hope that you’re pretty serious about your prayers (I’m actually ashamed of saying things like these to people who, to their credit, are very devout in their prayer life, as I feel as I’m just being somewhat hypocritical 😊). 🙂
 
patrick457 said:
, BORKE’ PHOIOUR IO’ ZIZIA APARXEOUCH THYTHE LAILAM AAAAAA IIIII OOOO IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ IEO’ NAUNAX AI AI AEO’ AEO’ E’AO’
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" or "Make me Invisible, Lord Helios, AEO’ O’AE’ EIE’ E’AO’, in the presence of any man until sunset, IO’ IO’ O’ PHRIXRIZO’ EO’A

And on this farm he had a pig… E I E I O. 😃

Reminds me of the guy in the New York City subway with “REPENT!” sign screaming into a cheap bullhorn that you can’t understand what he is saying.

I would love to see the look on your face Patrick, when you stand nose to nose with Jesus and he asks you, “So my child, what was all this OOOO IEO make me invisible stuff on the CAF forums about?”

:rotfl:

Thanks for the laugh Pat. I had tears. You rock.

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
I would love to see the look on your face Patrick, when you stand nose to nose with Jesus and he asks you, “So my child, what was all this OOOO IEO make me invisible stuff on the CAF forums about?”

:rotfl:

Thanks for the laugh Pat. I had tears. You rock.

-Tim-
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And the sad part is, I didn’t make that up; those are actually authentic Greco-Roman stuff. Gotta love those pagans and their gibberish…😛

For the record, I’ve seen another one which is nothing but the letter E repeated a number of times: EEEEEEEE. I had trouble visualizing someone reciting it: it reads like a girl’s scream. 😃 A Mithraic ritual ups the ante and has, erm, this:

"*Hail, O Lord, Great Power, Great Might, King, Greatest of gods, Helios, the Lord of heaven and earth, God of gods: mighty is your breath; mighty is your strength, O Lord. If it be your will, announce me to the supreme god, the one who has begotten and made you: that a man –

I, _______ whose mother is _______ who was born from the mortal womb of _______ and from the fluid of semen, and who, since he has been born again from you today, has become immortal out of so many myriads in this hour according to the wish of god the exceedingly good-- resolves to worship you, and prays with all his human power (that you may take along with you the horoscope of the day and hour today, which has the name THRAPSIARI MORIROK, that he may appear and give revelation during the good hours, EORO RORE ORRI ORlOR ROR ROI OR REORORI EOR EOR EOR EORE!).*"

But wait a moment. Hasn’t anyone noticed that Old MacDonald Had a Farm has the chorus EE-I-EE-I-O? It’s too eerily similar to Greco-Roman magical formulas…that means it must be PAGAN! Quick, somebody call Jack T. Chick! :bigyikes: :rolleyes:
 
irishcolleen45 said:
I pray for close to an hour daily. I include two to three rosaries and two Divine Mercy chaplet (plus I say the novena) along with other prayers.

How do I know I’m not “babbling like pagans do”?
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For one thing you can understand the words you speak. The pagans had an language, babbling that they did not understand. I forget the academic terms for this type languages.
 
Thank you all who replied. I was not aware of pagans’ praying rituals.

I had asked my question because of what I also read in the Diary of St Faustina. Jesus complained that many people were constantly talking (saying prayers) and did not allow Him to come to them in the silence of their heart.

After hearing that Gospel (Mat 6:7-15) yesterday, it made me wonder.

I do recite prayer petitions to the Blessed Mother and various saints (Sts. Jude, Dymphna, Peregrine). Am I overdoing it since the Father knows my petitions before I speak? Am I being scrupulous?
 
The Greco-Roman prayer shared by Patrick is interesting, and it’s very much representative of a lot of the pagan religious practice which was about in antiquity. That is probably what is meant by “babbling as the pagans do”.

I do sometimes think about this myself, though. I am in the habit of praying some of the hours from the Divine Office each day, and sometimes it’s no more than that - habit. I sit down, unfocused, open up my book and start off, and quarter of an hour later I look up and realise I have prayed all of lauds or vespers and I couldn’t tell you about anything I have just read. I’ve been babbling, even if I’ve been babbling in English, but I certainly haven’t been praying.

I’ve had similar experiences with the rosary. Sometimes I wonder if I should stop myself when I catch myself doing this and set my rosary or book aside and take a couple of minutes to sit quietly and remind myself that it’s not a race or something on my to do list that needs to be ticked off, and that I should be in no hurry. Then, when the moment has passed, I can get back to it in a better frame of mind.
 
patrick457 said:
And the sad part is, I didn’t make that up; those are actually authentic Greco-Roman stuff. Gotta love those pagans and their gibberish…😛

For the record, I’ve seen another one which is nothing but the letter E repeated a number of times: EEEEEEEE. I had trouble visualizing someone reciting it: it reads like a girl’s scream. 😃 A Mithraic ritual ups the ante and has, erm, this:
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I seem to recall someone describing a Mithraic initiation. The initiate was placed in a rather large pit and a platform was placed over the pit. A bull was led out onto the platform, placing him directly over the initiate. The bull was then slaughtered and the blood of the bull entered the pit showering the initiate.

In a sense, the initiate was “washed in the blood of his god”. Sound familiar?

Or is it simply too gruesome to even comprehend? :eek:
 
odhiambo said:
Hi NotWorthy!🙂
To me, one way we “Babble” is just that “when my lips are moving” as you say but the mind is miles away and the heart is not in it.😃
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Absolutely.

When Catholics are accused of vain, repetitious prayer, those accusations are both very true and very false at the same time… depending on where the mindset is.

Take the rosary as the most glaring example. While saying each prayer, what are we supposed to focus on? The mystery, of course, depending on which decade we’re on. But, when one has the attention span of a tree frog, like yours truly, its sometimes extremely hard to keep focus.

That’s why I recommend the Scriptural Rosary, where each Hail Mary is preceded by a Scripture verse that pertains to that mystery.
 
NotWorthy said:
Absolutely.

When Catholics are accused of vain, repetitious prayer, those accusations are both very true and very false at the same time… depending on where the mindset is.

Take the rosary as the most glaring example. While saying each prayer, what are we supposed to focus on? The mystery, of course, depending on which decade we’re on. But, when one has the attention span of a tree frog, like yours truly, its sometimes extremely hard to keep focus.

That’s why I recommend the Scriptural Rosary, where each Hail Mary is preceded by a Scripture verse that pertains to that mystery.
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I totally agree:)
 
Statius said:
I do sometimes think about this myself, though. I am in the habit of praying some of the hours from the Divine Office each day, and sometimes it’s no more than that - habit. I sit down, unfocused, open up my book and start off, and quarter of an hour later I look up and realise I have prayed all of lauds or vespers and I couldn’t tell you about anything I have just read. I’ve been babbling, even if I’ve been babbling in English, but I certainly haven’t been praying.
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Myself as well. Half way through I realize that I’ve read half of it but was thinking about something else the whole time…

Using the techniques of how to place oneself in God’s presence which were taught to Philothea by St. Francis DeSales in “Introduction to the Devout Life” has helped me greatly in that regard. These are based mostly on Pslam 139 and after about a year of use, paraphrasing and adapting what St. Francis DeSales taught, I can now very quickly and easily recollect myself and place myself spiritually in the presence of God in preparation for prayer. It’s not foolproof and I often have to slow down even the recollection process and go through what I call “The long version” of placing myself in God’s presence. But it is highly effective. Drinking less coffee helps too.

I think the other side of the same coin is to join Samuel as he slept in the temple and say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” as we end our prayers. Taking five minutes to just be quiet and listen is difficult at first but also highly effective. Sometimes all I can hear is a motorcyle in the distance or my stomach gurgling, but often times God will speak to me very clearly later on in the day.

-Tim-
 
irishcolleen45 said:
Thank you all who replied. I was not aware of pagans’ praying rituals.

I had asked my question because of what I also read in the Diary of St Faustina. Jesus complained that many people were constantly talking (saying prayers) and did not allow Him to come to them in the silence of their heart.

After hearing that Gospel (Mat 6:7-15) yesterday, it made me wonder.

I do recite prayer petitions to the Blessed Mother and various saints (Sts. Jude, Dymphna, Peregrine). Am I overdoing it since the Father knows my petitions before I speak? Am I being scrupulous?
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I am reading “How to Listen When God Speaks: A Guide for Modern Day Catholics” by Fr. Mitch Pacwa. He says the same thing, and gives very good practical instruction on praying and listening. 👍
 
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