Prayer on Paper

[aj830]

Is it okay to look on to a piece of paper and read the prayer as you say it? I’m not talking like long unknown prayers but prayers like the Hail Mary and Our Father. I find I can really focus on what I’m saying if my eyes are reading it at the same time. Just wondering if this helps anybody and if it is a good or bad habit to get into.

 

[edward_george]

If that helps you to offer your prayers up, there shouldn’t be any problem with it. Sometimes I pray in Latin because that helps me to think more deeply about what it is that I’m praying (I don’t speak Latin and sort of translate in my head from the memorized prayers).

We do have prayer cards for a reason…

Pax tecum
-ACEGC

 

[puzzleannie]

aj830:

Is it okay to look on to a piece of paper and read the prayer as you say it? I’m not talking like long unknown prayers but prayers like the Hail Mary and Our Father. I find I can really focus on what I’m saying if my eyes are reading it at the same time. Just wondering if this helps anybody and if it is a good or bad habit to get into.

when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours we must read or recite it (unless you’re a monk who has memorized the psalms by daily recitation over several years).
Anytime you pray with scripture you are reading.
we read the Mass prayers from the missal.
Of course it is okay to read the prayers.

the common prayers, including the prayers of the Mass, should be committed to memory over time so that you can pray when no written copy is available, but it is fine to read if it helps you.
the danger with always reading the rosary prayers is that it may inhibit you from moving from the repetition of the words of the prayer to true meditation on the mysteries.
at some point we have to move beyond spoken prayer into mental prayer.