Prayer in Catholicism

[matthewm]

As a relatively new Catholic, one thing that has struck me is how repetitive and formulaic many Catholic prayers can be. I always say the Our Father when I pray since it was given to us by Christ, and the Haily Mary, but the vast bulk of my prayer is “freestyle” I guess. I usually don’t like the formulaic prayers because they seem to lose their meaning when memorized and recited.

But is there special power in these traditional prayers? In other words, would the Hail Mary be any less of a prayer if I added/changed a few words when praying it?

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

The Angelic Salutation, or Hail Mary is from the gospel of Luke:
Luke 1:26 Hail [Mary] full of grace! the lord is with you.Luke 1:42 …Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb [Jesus]. (Though the title “Mother of God” is not a direct quote, it still is found in Luke 1:43 “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my lord should come to me?”) the last and final part, is the petition for her to pray for us now, and at the hour of our death, this is added by the church.

Most prayers you can have your own version of, so long as they cover the basic commitments and petitions of the official version.
the exceptions are: The Lords prayer, the Angelic Salutation(or hail Mary), the Apostles Creed, the Nicaean Creed, and prayers using sacramentals (such as the rosary).

P.S. If someone sees a point on which i am misinformed please post my error along with the correction.

 

[Tietjen]

P.S. If someone sees a point on which i am misinformed please post my error along with the correction.

I would think that if you are changing the words of an established Catholic prayer that perhaps you make your version of the prayer a private prayer rather than reciting your version while everyone else is praying using the traditional prayer.

 

[Deo_Volente]

Grace & Peace!

I would say that the power in these traditional prayers is twofold:

1–Lex Orandi Lex Credendi: the Law of Praying is the Law of Believing. That is, what we pray and how we pray it informs our faith. Our faith is a reflection of our prayer–moreover, our prayer gives us the faith by grace which we in our sinfulness may lack. If our prayer is a reflection of our faith, then we have closed the loop of grace and our belief merely self-reflexive. This isn’t an argument against “freeform” prayer. But an argument for freeform prayer informed by tradition. We learn to pray and to believe by praying the prayers of the church, the greatest of which is the Eucharist.

2–In praying these traditional prayers, one unites oneself with the Communion of Saints–we pray with the church, we make the church’s mind our mind. One does not merely follow tradition, but lives the tradition by praying the prayers which reflect the mind of the church at prayer. One truly engages with the reality of the 8th day of creation, the renewal of which the Church is the living symbol and reality.

The power of the traditional prayers is not magical in the sense in which the word magical is commonly understood–they are not magic words which must be perfectly recited in the original Latin in order to have the proper effect–prayer is not an act of works righteousness which is done apart from grace. But it is possible to see these prayers as sacred formulae, tried and true, for accessing the sacred, doorways to the sacred realities of grace which by grace have a real effect on the disposition of the soul to grace. So why not endeavor to use these doors to the palaces of holiness which have been given to us through the Church by the Spirit of Holiness himself?

Under the Mercy,
Mark

Deo Gratias!

 

[latinmasslover]

I would think that if you are changing the words of an established Catholic prayer that perhaps you make your version of the prayer a private prayer rather than reciting your version while everyone else is praying using the traditional prayer.

I agree there. I change prayers slightly at times:

…Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for the repose of Jason’s soul, now, and until he is in heaven with you. Amen.

…and help us to forgive those who have trespassed against us.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend Mitch and Bernadette against the devil and_____…

I keep it private soas not to confuse others, but it sort of personalizes it for me when it’s just me and the Lord.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

As a relatively new Catholic, one thing that has struck me is how repetitive and formulaic many Catholic prayers can be. I always say the Our Father when I pray since it was given to us by Christ, and the Haily Mary, but the vast bulk of my prayer is “freestyle” I guess. I usually don’t like the formulaic prayers because they seem to lose their meaning when memorized and recited.

But is there special power in these traditional prayers? In other words, would the Hail Mary be any less of a prayer if I added/changed a few words when praying it?

the more repetitive ones are used by some to meditate. The memorized and repeted cadence allows the mind to fix more specificially on some one event,person, part of the Trinity with more perfect concentration. Some use such repetitive prayers in a more completely meditative discipline. Doing any prayer by rote with the mind wandering at will is of little use I would think.