Prayers and promises

[dornita]

I recently heard, on Catholic radio, a reference to the Pieta prayers so I looked them up online. I found the prayers of St. Bridget with a long list of promises said to be from our Lord to St. Bridget. How can we know if things like this are legitimate? If they are, the promises are beautiful. If they are not then they are nothing but a lot of superstition and I would not want to have anything to do with them.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I recently heard, on Catholic radio, a reference to the Pieta prayers so I looked them up online. I found the prayers of St. Bridget with a long list of promises said to be from our Lord to St. Bridget. How can we know if things like this are legitimate? If they are, the promises are beautiful. If they are not then they are nothing but a lot of superstition and I would not want to have anything to do with them.

The White Queen and Alice have a talk about belief.

Alice says she can’t believe in impossible things. The Queen replies, “I dare say you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

I don’t think any catholic must say/do these devotional prayers, just as you are free to not accept any approved apparitions. Beautiful promises are not any more valid than Ugly and awkward sounding promises. Don’t let beauty confuse you in this way. Wasn’t Lucifer the angel of light? I don’t think there is a way for you to test their legitimacy, if I understand what it is you mean by that word.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Regarding the prayers: don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If the prayers bring you closer to God, then by all means pray them, contemplate their meaning, and meditate on the Lord. The prayers are just fine, but the Church has spoken regarding the promises and that is how we know if they are legitimate or not. Keep in mind that ALL revelations after the death of the last apostle are considered private revelation-- including well known apparitions like Fatima or Lourdes. The Church faithful are not required to believe in any private revelation (including the aforementioned ones) but the Church does investigate to see if there is anything that contradicts the teaching of the Church and if it really appears as if the revelation was authentically supernatural. That being said, the Church was not able to confirm that the promises of St. Brigid were supernatural and therefore cannot “endorse” the promises. According to my research, the Church has no problem with the actual prayers, but the alleged promises are problematic. Thus, in 1954, the Church asked bishops to avoid giving permission to publish the booklet which gave the promises along with the prayers. Here is a link with more info.

Hope this helps