Intention of prayers?

[hakop]

Hello brothers and sisters,
I have noticed that in some of the prayer intention posts in the appropriate category part of the forum, people, even after asking for specific requests from us to pray for specific things, do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves. It seems to be a very generic way of praying that does not actually pray for the person or what they are in need of, but repeat in a robotic and mindless way the prayers that they have memorized and placed into their minds for every day use. I don’t think, and after praying to the Holy Ghost for insight on this, that this is how prayer typically works. In the example Jesus gave us, he asks for very specific things, i.e, for our daily bread(food,spiritual or physical nourishment), as well as leading us away from evil and delivering us from evil as well, which surrounds us on the daily in various forms, so this prayer works against evil. But repeating this prayer for something like a job interview or perhaps some sort of medical concerns doesn’t, atleast I think, being led by the Spirit, to be appeasing to the Lord because of its generic and repetitive manner. All you would be doing is praying for constant daily bread and deliverance from evil and temptation, or constant praying for Queen Mary the Blessed Virgin to pray for us now and at the hour of death, or for Archangel St.Michael to send to hell all those damned evil scum of the earth, etc.
Am i wrong to think this? The Holy Spirit was very clear in its explanation to me, but I would of course like to hear my brothers and sisters opinions concerning this. You are more experienced than me. Thank you!

 

[4love2God]

hakop thinks we at the Forum are Robots : "I have noticed that in some of the prayer intention posts in the appropriate category part of the forum, people … do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves."

I see . . . What Prayers have YOU offered in the Prayer Intentions section?

"It seems to be a very generic way of praying … repeat in a robotic and mindless way the prayers … I don’t think … that this is how prayer typically works."

OK, Spiritual Guide, what Prayer should each of us make?
Pick one of the situations you are speaking about, and show us what a Christian SHOULD do in response to it.

Then, the OP speaks for God, Himself : "But repeating this prayer for something like a job interview or perhaps some sort of medical concerns [isn’t] … appeasing to the Lord because of its generic and repetitive manner"

So, you believe (and it was completely confirmed by the Holy Spirit Himself) that God doesn’t like to hear the Holy Mary and the Our Father?
Are you implying that the Popes have been wrong about us praying those Prayers?
I believe that God likes to hear ALL of the Prayers which people offer up to Him.
I also believe that God likes hearing the Our Father, because those are the exact Words Jesus used in teaching people the BEST way to Pray.
And, since you call yourself a “Worshipper of Christ” … I would think you would not condemn us for obeying Jesus (and reciting His Prayer).

People think like people, but God thinks like God. And people cannot think like God.

Then, the OP throws God around as his source to scold Catholics about Praying the Our Father and the Hail Mary** : “The Holy Spirit was very clear in its explanation to me, but I would of course like to hear my brothers and sisters opinions concerning this.”**

My opinion is that you are NOT a Catholic.
My opinion is that you are a Protestant (or an Atheist) who does NOT like Catholics (or Catholicism).
I wonder if the being you were in contact with was NOT actually the Holy Spirit at all.
Maybe it is from inside of your own Heart, or from inside your own Mind.

In my past experience, I have noticed that when a person starts putting other people down for something he heard from the Holy Spirit, that he rises up and uses that to put-down Christians about Christianity (and especially Catholicism).
Apparently (if I am to believe you) God is of TWO minds:

1. Prayer is Good and Wonderful … and
2. Prayer Sucks.

In the Christian Answers Forum, we have a Rule : NO Divine Revelations.
You are claiming to have had a Divine Revelation that we are praying like Robots.
While that might be True, YOU are violating the Rules here by telling us that.

 

[oldburkes]

Hello brothers and sisters,
I have noticed that in some of the prayer intention posts in the appropriate category part of the forum, people, even after asking for specific requests from us to pray for specific things, do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves. It seems to be a very generic way of praying that does not actually pray for the person or what they are in need of, but repeat in a robotic and mindless way the prayers that they have memorized and placed into their minds for every day use. I don’t think, and after praying to the Holy Ghost for insight on this, that this is how prayer typically works. In the example Jesus gave us, he asks for very specific things, i.e, for our daily bread(food,spiritual or physical nourishment), as well as leading us away from evil and delivering us from evil as well, which surrounds us on the daily in various forms, so this prayer works against evil. But repeating this prayer for something like a job interview or perhaps some sort of medical concerns doesn’t, atleast I think, being led by the Spirit, to be appeasing to the Lord because of its generic and repetitive manner. All you would be doing is praying for constant daily bread and deliverance from evil and temptation, or constant praying for Queen Mary the Blessed Virgin to pray for us now and at the hour of death, or for Archangel St.Michael to send to hell all those damned evil scum of the earth, etc.
Am i wrong to think this? The Holy Spirit was very clear in its explanation to me, but I would of course like to hear my brothers and sisters opinions concerning this. You are more experienced than me. Thank you!

Hi, hakop.
I would simply say that the intentions of the prayers lie in the heart of the person praying them, and since they are in response to a request, the very fact that the prayers are posted there reflects the sincerity with which they are intended.

 

[hakop]

hakop thinks we at the Forum are Robots : "I have noticed that in some of the prayer intention posts in the appropriate category part of the forum, people … do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves."

I see . . . What Prayers have YOU offered in the Prayer Intentions section?

"It seems to be a very generic way of praying … repeat in a robotic and mindless way the prayers … I don’t think … that this is how prayer typically works."

OK, Spiritual Guide, what Prayer should each of us make?
Pick one of the situations you are speaking about, and show us what a Christian SHOULD do in response to it.

Then, the OP speaks for God, Himself : "But repeating this prayer for something like a job interview or perhaps some sort of medical concerns [isn’t] … appeasing to the Lord
because of its generic and repetitive manner"

So, you believe (and it was completely confirmed by the Holy Spirit Himself) that God doesn’t like to hear the Holy Mary and the Our Father?
Are you implying that the Popes have been wrong about us praying those Prayers?
I believe that God likes to hear ALL of the Prayers which people offer up to Him.
I also believe that God likes hearing the Our Father, because those are the exact Words Jesus used in teaching people the BEST way to Pray.
And, since you call yourself a “Worshipper of Christ” … I would think you would not condemn us for obeying Jesus (and reciting His Prayer).

People think like people, but God thinks like God. And people cannot think like God.

Then, the OP throws God around as his source to scold Catholics about Praying the Our Father and the Hail Mary** : “The Holy Spirit was very clear in its explanation to me, but I would of course like to hear my brothers and sisters opinions concerning this.”**

My opinion is that you are NOT a Catholic.
My opinion is that you are a Protestant (or an Atheist) who does NOT like Catholics (or Catholicism).
I wonder if the being you were in contact with was NOT actually the Holy Spirit at all.
Maybe it is from inside of your own Heart, or from inside your own Mind.

In my past experience, I have noticed that when a person starts putting other people down for something he heard from the Holy Spirit, that he rises up and uses that to put-down Christians about Christianity (and especially Catholicism).
Apparently (if I am to believe you) God is of TWO minds:

1. Prayer is Good and Wonderful … and
2. Prayer Sucks.

In the Christian Answers Forum, we have a Rule : NO Divine Revelations.
You are claiming to have had a Divine Revelation that we are praying like Robots.
While that might be True, YOU are violating the Rules here by telling us that.

I am sorry I have offended you. Forgive me. I have offered a prayer for the world in the prayer intentions forum. One that I wrote from my own needs of divine Providence for the aid of the whole world to come to the knowledge of Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Prayers we should make are ones suitable to our needs, customized to the benefit of ourselves and others and neighbors, while praising God and giving him honor and glory and thanksgiving, and also using the Lord’s taught prayer as a guideline of perfection to creating our own prayers for the graces and blessings we need from God and using our Lord’s prayer as a guideline for that. I’m not bashing any of you, I love you as I love myself, and I am truly sorry it came off in that way. Christ taught how to pray, never would I bash his prayer, never in my wildest dreams, however, if you want your prayers answered for your specific need or request, you have to make an appropriate prayer for it, not continuously pray for the same things, but learn from the teaching of Christ and pray for certain things in a similarly formulated way. I’m sure God Almighty loves to hear us praying the Lord’s prayer, and I’m also absolutely certain He grants us those things in the prayer, because that is what we ask for. But to ask for these same things and use this prayer for someone in need of something specific I don’t believe would suffice to get what you need answered. You’re not asking for help for your job interview, or illness, but for a wide assortment of other wonderful things that Christ taught us is to be valued and prayed for to keep us Sanctified and on the path of righteousness.

I’m not condemning you there is only One who can condemn you. It is not me. I am not a Catholic but will be converting this month through an RCIA program. Understand I bring up this issue out of love and for the purpose of having our prayers and requests for prayers answered. And i apologize, im a nobody and didn’t mean to cause any friction or disputes.

 

[hakop]

hakop thinks we at the Forum are Robots : "I have noticed that in some of the prayer intention posts in the appropriate category part of the forum, people … do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves."

I see . . . What Prayers have YOU offered in the Prayer Intentions section?

"It seems to be a very generic way of praying … repeat in a robotic and mindless way the prayers … I don’t think … that this is how prayer typically works."

OK, Spiritual Guide, what Prayer should each of us make?
Pick one of the situations you are speaking about, and show us what a Christian SHOULD do in response to it.

Then, the OP speaks for God, Himself : "But repeating this prayer for something like a job interview or perhaps some sort of medical concerns [isn’t] … appeasing to the Lord
because of its generic and repetitive manner"

So, you believe (and it was completely confirmed by the Holy Spirit Himself) that God doesn’t like to hear the Holy Mary and the Our Father?
Are you implying that the Popes have been wrong about us praying those Prayers?
I believe that God likes to hear ALL of the Prayers which people offer up to Him.
I also believe that God likes hearing the Our Father, because those are the exact Words Jesus used in teaching people the BEST way to Pray.
And, since you call yourself a “Worshipper of Christ” … I would think you would not condemn us for obeying Jesus (and reciting His Prayer).

People think like people, but God thinks like God. And people cannot think like God.

Then, the OP throws God around as his source to scold Catholics about Praying the Our Father and the Hail Mary** : “The Holy Spirit was very clear in its explanation to me, but I would of course like to hear my brothers and sisters opinions concerning this.”**

My opinion is that you are NOT a Catholic.
My opinion is that you are a Protestant (or an Atheist) who does NOT like Catholics (or Catholicism).
I wonder if the being you were in contact with was NOT actually the Holy Spirit at all.
Maybe it is from inside of your own Heart, or from inside your own Mind.

In my past experience, I have noticed that when a person starts putting other people down for something he heard from the Holy Spirit, that he rises up and uses that to put-down Christians about Christianity (and especially Catholicism).
Apparently (if I am to believe you) God is of TWO minds:

1. Prayer is Good and Wonderful … and
2. Prayer Sucks.

In the Christian Answers Forum, we have a Rule : NO Divine Revelations.
You are claiming to have had a Divine Revelation that we are praying like Robots.
While that might be True, YOU are violating the Rules here by telling us that.

I am sorry I have offended you. Forgive me. I have offered s prayer for the world in the prayer intentions forum. One that I wrote from my own needs of divine Providence for the aid of the whole world to come to the knowledge of Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Prayers we should make are ones suitable to poor needs, customized to the benefit of ourselves and others and neighbors, while praising God and giving him honor and glory and thanksgiving, and add using the Lord’s taught prayer as a guideline of prefection to creating our own prayers for the graces and blessings we need from God and using our Lord’s prayer as a guideline for that. I’m not bashing any of you, I love you as I love myself, and I am truly sorry it came off in that way. Christ taught how to pray, never would I bash his prayer, never in my wildest dreams, however, if you want your prayers answered for your specific need or request, you have to make an appropriate prayer for it, not continuously pray for the same things, but learn from the teaching of Christ and pray for certain things in a similarly formulated way. I’m sure God Almighty loves to hear us praying the Lord’s prayer, and I’m also absolutely certain He grants us those things in the prayer, because that is what we ask for. But to ask for these same things and use this prayer for someone in need of something specific I don’t believe would suffice to get what you need answered. You’re not asking for help for your job interview, or illness, but for a wide assortment of other wonderful things that Christ taught us is to be valued and prayed for to keep us Sanctified and on the path of righteousness.

I’m not condemning you there is only One who can condemn you. It is not me. I am not a Catholic but will be converting this month through an RCIA program. Understand I bring up this issue out of love and for the purpose of having put prayers and requests for prayerd answered. And i apologize, im a nobody and didn’t mean to cause any friction or disputes.

 

[oldburkes]

I see what you’re saying. You feel that prayer should be specific to the need, or request, or thanksgiving. My opinion is that, since Jesus told us that our Father knows our needs and concerns before we ask, our mere human words are simply expressions of our desire to ask for them.
The important thing is what’s in our hearts when we voice these expressions.
It IS inspiring to hear others pray in very poetic and engaging ways, and sometimes we want to send up the same expression, with the same emotion, so we repeat what has been said many times, but with our own hearts, at that moment.

 

[hakop]

thank you brother,for that clarification and showing me the truth from the Gospel.
Yes He in His almighty wisdom knows what we need before we ask, but we still have to ask for them. “Ask and it shall be given to you.” -Lord Jesus
A dad may know what his kids want but the kids can also go to the dad in supplication with kind,respectful,loving words seeking what they truly need for their own benefit,as in accordance to the gospel and the true good based off of the Gospel.
We have to step up and ask Him.
If we revere Him properly, as Christ did, he will give us what we want from Him.
I don’t think He’d like us to misunderstand what Christ meant.
Personally, I think even though He knows what we need before we ask, we still need to find the appropriate words of reverence to ask Him in a majestic way for He is infinitely majestic.King Christ showed us the way, it doesn’t mean we should take the work off of ourselves to make up good prayers for the goals and aspirations that are according to Scripture that we need. You don’t believe Christ meant for us to just repeat His prayer all the time do you, He meant for us to learn from His example of proper prayer, to revere the Father, i.e Hallowed be thy name ,may your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

 

[4love2God]

The OP starts out with an False Assumption** : “I am sorry I have offended you. Forgive me.”**

You did NOT offend me at all.
I think your Post is silly.
I was laughing while I read it.
And I think you should be pitied for your Monstrous Ego.

The OP responds (or, actually does NOT respond) to my Questions : "What Prayers we should make are ones suitable to our needs, customized to the benefit of ourselves and others and neighbors, while praising God and giving him honor and glory and thanksgiving, and add using the Lord’s taught prayer as a guideline of perfection to creating our own prayers for the graces and blessings we need from God and using our Lord’s prayer as a guideline for that."

Uh huh. Is this a Quote from what the Holy Spirit revealed to you recently?
What you have described is difficult to see.
You have listed a LONG List of requirements for a person’s Prayer to be.
Yet, you ignored my request to actually make up a Prayer in the way that you (and the Holy Spirit) know that it should be given, in order that God might answer it for me.
So, please give us an example of such a Prayer (if not, you are NOT being Fair to us).

Then, the OP explains that he is actually Glad we say the Our Father : " I’m not bashing any of you, I love you as [much as] I love myself, and I am truly sorry it came off in that way. Christ taught how to pray; never would I bash his prayer, never in my wildest dreams; however, if you want your prayers answered for your specific need or request, you have to make an appropriate prayer for it."

Is this what the Holy Spirit revealed to you?
This surprises me. I thought that several (if not many) Catholics have had their Prayers answered over these last 2000 years.
And that many of those SAME Catholics Pray the Rosary, and say Our Fathers and Hail Marys in other times too.
Now, according to you, obviously these Catholics were all Lying about their Prayers being answered.
It is comforting, somehow, to know that all of my Rosary recitations have been in Vain.

And :** “[You need to] learn from the teaching of Christ, and pray for certain things in a similarly formulated way … [Because] to ask for these same things, and use this prayer [the Our Father] for someone in need of something specific, I don’t believe would suffice to get what you need answered.”
**
Is THIS what the Holy Spirit revealed to you?
Since you have been told by the Holy Spirit what all Catholics have been doing wrong, Please explain exactly what the Holy Spirit said to you.
Why are you so SHY about revealing what was revealed to you?

 

[Phalanx]

people do nothing except repeat the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer or other prayers etc with no inclusion of the requests the person made for themselves.

Well… There’s at least a 50/50 ratio of customized “tailored” prayers up in there, and they are usually pretty well written. And then of course there are the copy and pasters (like me).

But know that the point is not that; “oh I’ve made a post so I am done”, No…! When someone posts a copy and pasted response it serves like an indication that the person has literally been praying, is going to pray or is praying. If you see someone post a Hail Mary, chances are that the person most likely has done more than just a single prayer.

Here is the procedure from me as a “robotic and mindless” practitioner of prayer (as you elegantly put it)

1. Sign of the cross.
2. Personally asking and praying our lord to aid whoever the thread is about with whatever they are going through or need.
3. Praying the traditional prayers. (with the original intention still in mind)
4. Sign of the cross.

Even though i may have only posted a Hail Mary, an emoji or whatever, this is what goes down behind it. and that is what matters

 

[oldburkes]

You don’t believe Christ meant for us to just repeat His prayer all the time do you,

Why not? I’m pretty sure the Apostles did.

Phalanx said-

But know that the point is not that; “oh I’ve made a post so I am done”, No…! When someone posts a copy and pasted response it serves like an indication that the person has literally been praying, is going to pray or is praying. If you see someone post a Hail Mary, chances are that the person most likely has done more than just a single prayer.

I haven’t done this yet, but I see no reason not to. I was thinking about starting to do it sometimes.

Please understand, hakop, if you are going to convert, you need to be open to 2000 years of tradition. Your RCIA director should help you understand why we pray like we do.
Have you prayed the Rosary yet? That’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about.

 

[acacia12]

Well… There’s at least a 50/50 ratio of customized “tailored” prayers up in there, and they are usually pretty well written. And then of course there are the copy and pasters (like me).

But know that the point is not that; “oh I’ve made a post so I am done”, No…! When someone posts a copy and pasted response it serves like an indication that the person has literally been praying, is going to pray or is praying. If you see someone post a Hail Mary, chances are that the person most likely has done more than just a single prayer.

Here is the procedure from me as a “robotic and mindless” practitioner of prayer (as you elegantly put it)

1. Sign of the cross.
2. Personally asking and praying our lord to aid whoever the thread is about with whatever they are going through or need.
3. Praying the traditional prayers. (with the original intention still in mind)
4. Sign of the cross.

Even though i may have only posted a Hail Mary, an emoji or whatever, this is what goes down behind it. and that is what matters

When I copy and paste prayers, I then do numbers 1-4.

 

[oldburkes]

I once described structured Catholic prayers, to a nonCatholic friend, as the keys to our home, that we can use to open the door and get inside where we can be more comfortable, away from the outside world.