Marian Rosary and Vain Repetition

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I have been praying the marian rosary with the mysteries and I can understand how the prayer to the rosary points one to Jesus, however the repetition of the hail mary has been plaguing me a bit.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6.7)

My understanding is that repetition in prayers is fine if it isn’t vain, but what constitutes the lines of vain repetition and if there is a danger of doing so while praying the rosary?

Cheers.
 
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Well it’s not vain repetition because you aren’t say ing something without meaning, you are speaking to Mary, our mother. You aren’t just saying a daft rhyme or something…you are calling on Our Lady for her intercession and asking for her help with each prayer. Nothing vain about that, it’s very powerful
 
It’s been once explained to me that Rosary is something akin to Mantra, or background music. While you repeat your prayers externally, internally you should contemplate mysteries of the Rosary. Rosary should ideally bring you to state of contemplation- or even better, enjoying God’s presence while not having actual conversation with Him.
 
You can sin with your intention. So if you intend to say the Rosary to impress others or to look good, or to be better than others,or something vain, then you sin. This goes for any type of prayer. I’m guessing the pagans and idol worshippers in Jesus time prayed vainly but their praying was not to the one True God.
 
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I’ve heard that vain repetition of the heathens was like magical spells, that if they get the words EXACTLY right, their god will answer them, if you mess up one thing, then the prayer is useless. That is not what we believe. It’s not important to say the Aves exactly or that if you say a hundred decades rather than 5 you will be heard “better”…
 
gohjedrek said:
I have been praying the marian rosary with the mysteries and I can understand how the prayer to the rosary points one to Jesus, however the repetition of the hail mary has been plaguing me a bit.
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"One Hail Mary, well said, gives us more graces than a great many badly said.”
 
In Google, if you type “Matthew 6:7 interlinear” and click on the biblehub website link, you will see the original Greek text alongside the English. The word for vain repetitions is battalogesete which means “to chatter, be long-winded, utter empty words, stammer, repeat.”
I think Jesus was talking about some kind of Jewish praying that doesn’t apply to the rosary. If you don’t like to pray the rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet because of the repetitions, then use free-form prayer. Many converts ask your question because at the root of it, they don’t understand Marian intercession so the repetitious prayer is irritating.
 
LittleFlower378 said:
You can sin with your intention. So if you intend to say the Rosary to impress others or to look good, or to be better than others,or something vain, then you sin. This goes for any type of prayer. I’m guessing the pagans and idol worshippers in Jesus time prayed vainly but their praying was not to the one True God.
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Yes, this was also mentioned earlier in the gospel of Matthew, that it was better to pray in silence to avoid appearing to look good in front of others (this part I understood) and I was thinking as you mentioned, that it was targeted against pagan prayer.at the time.
Stephen_says said:
I’ve heard that vain repetition of the heathens was like magical spells, that if they get the words EXACTLY right, their god will answer them, if you mess up one thing, then the prayer is useless. That is not what we believe. It’s not important to say the Aves exactly or that if you say a hundred decades rather than 5 you will be heard “better”…
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I personally felt that as I reached the third decade out of the five decades, I feel “forced” in the prayer after thirty hail mary. I understand the monks pray numerous rounds of the marian rosary, but would that then be along the lines of praying for merit at some point or simply praying out of obedience/faith?
Sursumcorda1 said:
The word for vain repetitions is battalogesete which means “to chatter, be long-winded, utter empty words, stammer, repeat.”
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I understand vain repetitions to be prayer without the heart intention, just to do it for the sake of being told to do so, correct me if I wrong.
 
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I would say vain repetition, or vain prayer of any type, is that which is done without even thinking of God but just to “do it” or “get it done.” The whole idea of the Rosary is to meditate on the mysteries of the Gospel even as you are praying the prayers. Sometimes the words of the prayer come to the fore; sometimes the mystery. We are invoking the Blessed Mother to give us her heart as she contemplates Jesus’ life.
 
It shouldn’t plague you since popes and saints have all prayed and recommended praying it and is a prayer given by our Lady to St. Dominic.

I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because thou art all good and cans’t neither deceive nor be deceived.
 
What Cajun said, spot on. 👍

I mean if you are just blurting it out like a robot then I would say it could be repetitious. However, as you are saying, it, concentrate on the words of the Hail Marys. I mean if the Our Father (Arr Father if your a Pirate) isn’t vain repetition then why would the Hail Mary be?
 
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gohjedrek said:
I personally felt that as I reached the third decade out of the five decades, I feel “forced” in the prayer after thirty hail mary. I understand the monks pray numerous rounds of the marian rosary, but would that then be along the lines of praying for merit at some point or simply praying out of obedience/faith?
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I think it’s human nature to feel forced to finish something that you started, lol, but if you said 30 Aves well and you stopped right there, that would be ok. I can’t speak for the dispositions of the monks you are speaking about, but you know St. Paul did say to “pray without ceasing”, so if they are in a constant state of prayer with their whole mind and heart, that matters more than the words they choose to use.
 
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I tell my husband “Love you” many times every day.

We say “please” and “thank you” in our home many times every day.

The focus is on “vain” not “repetitions” because words of love when repeated are a beautiful thing.
 
I wonder if this is a different form of prayer that we may not be very good at, at first. Perhaps it’s a form of prayer that we need to grow in. As a revert, I’m so used to praying directly to God spontaneously, where my mind is very focused on what words I am saying. I suppose one potential weakness of my usual form of prayer is focusing too much on myself, on what I think and on what words I’m choosing, only to perhaps end up missing the point of enjoying his presence.

When I’m at mass, because I know the responses so well, I do find myself communing with God as I respond, because since I know the responses so well, on another level I am actively enjoying the Lord’s presence. So perhaps this is a nice place we can get to, where we are saying good words and meaning them, but since they are well known words, enough of our mind is freed up so that we can just have most of our attention turn to him.

JP2 it is said spent many hours a day in prayer. This fact is a rather confrontational thought to me. I can’t imagine spending many hours in prayer each day, it would seem exhausting having to come up with that many different words and thoughts. But maybe it is possible with different forms of prayer that I’m not yet fully mature in. It’s intriguing.
 
This may be a little off topic. Try putting on Mary’s crown of twelve stars when praying the rosary. It has an uplifting effect. She has often told us, through apparition messages, that we need to be covered by her mantle.
The words take on a more grounding meaning.
 
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Imagine how many gods were called upon back in those days. If a person were calling on Zeus! Come help me! Zeus! Come to my aid! Since there is no god named Zeus, it would be a vain repetition.

This is not the case when we pray to our God, the angels and saints. Think of prayer as a curtain that we pull back and we are in sunlight. You know, when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was glowing with light, so much that the people asked him to put on a veil.
 
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For me, I felt spending time at adoration, works better. I guess GOD has His Way to get to us, sometimes in shower, sometimes in worship, and sometimes while writing blog or sharing Gospel with friends.
 
I think God knows our hearts and knows when we are praying sincerely and when we are just going through the motions. As a protestant, I don’t fully understand the Marion devotions, but I respect and admire them as a means of bringing one’s cares and concerns to God, and I would never disparage anyone’s method of sincerely reaching toward God. So long as our thoughts are brought to God with a sense of humility, respect, and reverence, I believe that repetition is fine. It is only vain if we say (or think) words that are not truly in our heart but are done merely because someone told us to say them.

The Lord’s Prayer is said in every church and by probably every Christian denomination, but how many people ever really think about what they are saying when it is read aloud during a service? I confess that I am guilty of being on autopilot sometimes in church, and some parts of the liturgy I know so well that it is easy to run through them without having my heart in it. Thank you for your post. I will try to be a better Christian.
 
Stephen_says said:
I think it’s human nature to feel forced to finish something that you started
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Right, it is human nature to try and push through, and finish the Rosary, because there so many Hail Marys. I find it hard to meditate on the mysteries,so I say them at the beginning and end of every decade.
 
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