Modifying prayers?

[DarkLight]

Is it wrong to modify prayers, such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet? I have been considering a version of the chaplet with the Hail Mary omitted, as something I could more easily share with non-Catholic friends. Is there anything wrong with this, or any particular reason to not do it?

 

[edward_george]

It’s a private devotion, so it’s not wrong to add to or take away from it. Some will probably say that since the Divine Mercy Chaplet was revealed by Jesus through St. Faustina that it’s wrong, but even that is private revelation which is not binding upon the faithful. So don’t sweat it.

That said, why remove the Hail Mary? Why not make it a teachable moment? The Hail Mary is completely scriptural–the first half derives straight from scripture, and the second half, the invocation of Mary’s intercession for us, follows from the ancient practice of doing so. I’d say leave it in there and if your friends have a problem or a question, explain why we pray how we pray!

-ACEGC

 

[thewanderer]

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with modifying private devotions such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

 

[R_C]

Is it wrong to modify prayers, such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet? I have been considering a version of the chaplet with the Hail Mary omitted, as something I could more easily share with non-Catholic friends. Is there anything wrong with this, or any particular reason to not do it?

Well, the origin of the Divine Mercy chaplet is a private revelation to St. Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament.

In this private revelation, Christ Himself instructed St. Faustina on how to pray the Chaplet.

Thus I guess we should try to keep it the way Jesus wanted it.

The intercession of the Blessed Virgin is something very special. It is very sad that other brothers in Christ reject her in a way or another, or refuse her intercession with Christ, her son. As members of the Catholic Church we know some things, so to speak, slightly better, thus it is, in a way, our duty to teach them to our brothers. If they reject them, it is not our fault. But if we teach them incorrect or incomplete things, are we really helping them?

 

[roveau]

The Divine Mercy chaplet was revealed through private revelation which means you are not obliged to believe it to be a revelation of Jesus. If you decide not to believe it, that means you are rejecting the whole revelation via St Mary Faustina. I’m just trying to say that it’s not just a simple take it or leave it situation… your decision to leave out the Hail Marys has consequences for that devotion (plus it’s not very nice for our Lady).

You are worried about the ‘Hail Mary’ on account of your Protestant friends, wait till they find out that the Divine Mercy chaplet was revealed by Jesus via a Catholic nun!

I think you would be better off designing your own chaplet - there is no Canon law against that. For the mysteries you could base it on the shorter bible based version of the Stations of the Cross (leaves out the St Veronica bit and the three falls) - they should like that.

 

[styrgwillidar]

A few thoughts based on the catechism:

2559 “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”

2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.

2562 Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.

Whether/how you choose to pray, the purpose is raising your heart and mind to God. You can pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet “perfectly” in terms of form and the words or the Rosary or any other prayer and it is pointless if your heart and mind are from from God. So, the motive for modifying a prayer would really determine whether your modifications are for the purpose of better raising your mind and heart to God in the group setting you describe.

Thinking that certain prayers have a particular power/authority/effectiveness out of the mere human words vice what is in your heart is bordering on superstition. Just my .02.

 

[DarkLight]

I’m in philosophy, so most of the protestants are actually relatively familiar with Catholic beliefs and expression. Explaining things isn’t going to be particularly helpful, and would probably just come off as “pushy.” They don’t have the kind of militant anti-catholicism that some evangelicals have, but they won’t accept a Hail Mary as a valid prayer.

 

[thewanderer]

I’m in philosophy, so most of the protestants are actually relatively familiar with Catholic beliefs and expression. Explaining things isn’t going to be particularly helpful, and would probably just come off as “pushy.” They don’t have the kind of militant anti-catholicism that some evangelicals have, but they won’t accept a Hail Mary as a valid prayer.

Then leave it out and don’t worry about it.

Unlike what was suggested earlier, leaving out the hail mary when encouraging your protestant friends to pray does not mean you have to reject the revelation of St. Faustina. (Which, of course, you have no obligation to believe in in the first place). All it means is that you are teaching your friends a wonderful prayer. Sure, they won’t be praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet exactly as it was revealed, but they will be much closer to praying it than they were before, so if the idea of rejecting the private revelation of St. Faustina gives you doubts, don’t worry about it, you can still believe that it is true and teach others a similar prayer.