Is it a sin to pray the Hail Mary in the shower?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sdegutis
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Go ahead and pray naked if you want to. God can see you all the time anyway.
 
Thanks everyone for your concern. I have to say I’m a little insulted that everyone thinks I have scrupulosity. But thanks again.
Don’t worry, people are just concerned because excessive scrupulousity can be a barrier in the spiritual life. But lots of times people have a lot of questions!

WRT your first question, St Augustine used to pray Psalms, loudly, in the outhouse, so I would not worry about it 🙂
 
Dont be insulted…I have scrupulosity. And this is one thing that I have aften srupulize over. And no you pray wherever, whenever, pray without ceasing.:signofcross:
Hi sdegutis,

and MaeganFlinchum: thanks for your above comment –

I … Oh NOooooo! I just CEASED praying. :bigyikes:

And … what if I’m praying Hail Marys … out LOUD … at 3AM … and my adjoining walls are thin?

I was trying to imagine a Purgatory Sentence for a person whose worst sin was scrupulosity.

“You shall fully enter heaven after a brief stay in Purgatory. I told you to " … be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!” But YOU – you took things WAY too far!" 😃

On a serious note: Saying Hail Marys = Good. Taking Showers = Usually Good too.

Doing both at once: Good time management.

Asking that question: "AWAY with you, Scrupulizer!" :sad_bye:

180 degree turn to thoughtfulness from mirth now …

I think you (the original poster of this thread) prefer to be perfectly reverent when praying. VERY good! And it can be a tougher call than we think maybe (not to confuse you). Doing a good thing sloppily is recommended against even in scripture.

The man at the wedding feast without a proper garment is thrown out.

The foolish virgins who didn’t have the oil for their lamps on time are locked out (even after they tried to make things right and ran about GETTING some oil - but TOO LATE).

On the other hand - Peter repents of his denials, Thomas of his doubt, so we must not be discouraged. Or see the Lord as more justice than mercy.

So “is it a sin to pray the Hail Mary in the shower?” Easy answer no. Not that it COULDN’T be … with other circumstances added in.

If your conscience convicts you as not being very reverent or something: You don’t have to do it. 🙂 If you are worried that the Blessed Virgin is being summoned into your naked presence against her will - well, I don’t have a theology degree; but I doubt this happens.

If it did the Satanists would be taking a lot of long showers to keep her from foiling their boss’ plans (they have such enmity!). :whistle:

I pray while driving (on a GOOD day). And I have read scripture in “the ***smallest room” ***of my house while … multitasking. Since I think “the enemy” would not want us to pray Hail Mary’s or read scripture AT ALL – him saying "you can’t do THAT … not now … not here … " might be expected.

Scrupulosity aside < (and that might be the trickiest sin in the book, though not close to being the most evil) your wanting to do the right thing is almost always … a HOLY thing! :clapping:

Thanks for topic - it was more thought provoking than I thought (in my damnable pride) at first.
 
I don’t just mean in the shower, but also if you’re changing, or basically any time it would be inappropriate for your to be in her presence. I’ve thought about this both ways. For one thing, you’re invoking her assistance and attention, which you should only be doing in modesty and decency. On the other hand, her soul is in a spiritual realm, so she’s not so much looking at your body as much as your soul. But I’m torn between these two.
Hello again sdegutis,

I read the above more carefully (instead of just the attention-getting headline).

Being thoughtful about spiritual matters is prudent. 🙂

I didn’t think you were troubled by scrupulosity by the way.

I’m a self-absorbed person and rarely think of others. < (cynical bragging or humble confession)? 🤷

On a serious note, your post will possibly cause me to be less sloppy and more thoughtful in my prayer. Hopefully it won’t cut down on my prayer time.
 
Go ahead and pray naked if you want to. God can see you all the time anyway.
If cults spring up all over California based on this quote - you’ve got some 'splaining to do!

:bowdown: < uh oh! 😉
 
:newidea: OP, just leave your clothes on when you’re in the shower and problem solved!
 
I am reminded of the dying moments of an old man’s life. For ease of nursing his dentures were in a tumbler on his hospital locker.When one of the nursing nuns asked is there was anything we could do for him, as he would soon meet God, he said, “Yes! You can put my teeth in! I’m not going before my Maker not looking respectable!”
 
WRT your first question, St Augustine used to pray Psalms, loudly, in the outhouse, so I would not worry about it 🙂
😃 that is very interesting, never heard that before. i got a laugh out of that one!
 
Just think of it this way: How could praying (AKA being in communion with God) ever be a sin (AKA something that weakens or breaks communion with God)? It would be a contradiction.

But I do understand your concern. We certainly do not want to be disrespectful. But I don’t think you have to worry about this one.
 
There was a sect who practiced “holy nudism” - Adamites

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamites

Ancient Adamites

The obscure sect, dating probably from the 2nd century, professed to have regained Adam’s primeval innocence. Various accounts are given of their origin. Some have thought them to have been an offshoot of the Carpocratian Gnostics, who professed a sensual mysticism and a complete emancipation from the moral law. Theodoret (Haer. Fab., I, 6) held this view of them, and identified them with the licentious sects whose practices are described by Clement of Alexandria. Others, on the contrary, consider them to have been misguided ascetics, who strove to extirpate carnal desires by a return to simpler manners, and by the abolition of marriage.

St. Epiphanius and Augustine of Hippo mention the Adamites by name, and describe their practices. They called their church “Paradise”, claiming that its members were re-established in Adam and Eve’s state of original innocence. Accordingly, they practiced “holy nudism”, rejected the form of marriage as foreign to Eden, saying it would never have existed but for sin, lived in absolute lawlessness, holding that, whatever they did, their actions could be neither good nor bad and stripped themselves naked while engaged in common worship.
 
I pray anywhere, everywhere and any time. It just simply does not matter what my body is doing. I just pray. It’s about using my mind and directing my soul. I may not look very pretty nor be very well disposed when I am dying - but - that will not stop me from praying. Why should it stop me now?
 
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