Prayers that contain lies

[crash1]

Greetings all. Last night, I was praying the Divine Mercy litany by Saint Faustina.

I came across the line “ Divine Mercy, greatest attribute of God, I trust in You.” Although I was unsure wether Gods mercy is really His greatest attribute, or wether it even makes sense to talk about God having a greatest attribute.

Nonetheless, after being unsure wether it would be sinful to say it, I just went ahead and said it. I can’t remember my exact reasoning, it could have been thinking I was being over the top, trusting the prayer was correct in some sense, or maybe not caring (although I doubt this). It all happened in a quite short period of time.

Another example is from this prayer to St Joseph I found “ O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thine arms.”. I remember when saying it thinking that wasn’t true in my case, as I don’t recall really ever putting serious contemplation into this. Although in this case I don’t think the idea of sin really entered my mind.

So I was wondering wether any of this could have entered into grave sin territory.

 

[Marianne_Ph]

In my experience, there are many traditional prayers in our faith tradition. Some of them are simply sweet folklore-type prayers and meditations. (There is one said to release souls from purgatory - to St. Gertrude?.) I’m in a Catholic prayer group with older women who pass these prayers around. Some of these are indeed “accepted” by the Church, as is the Divine Mercy prayer you mentioned. We celebrate a Divine Mercy Sunday in the liturgical calendar. I don’t have a copy of that prayer in front of me to see the wording you are referring to. Ask a priest! I’m not an expert!

 

[Gorgias]

So I was wondering wether any of this could have entered into grave sin territory.

No.

The language of prayer is the language of love. It’s the language of poetry. Are your beloved’s eyes really limpid pools? Do they really sparkle like emeralds? Is he (or she) really the moon and the stars to you?

Of course not. But, are you lying when you say these things? No, of course not! You’re really simply expressing the surging abundance of love from your heart!

So… let Jesus know you love God’s mercy. Let St Joseph know that it’s pretty cool that he cared for the baby Jesus. It’s all good…

 

[crash1]

Thank you for your reply.

I just have one follow up. Does the fact that I acted whilst doubtful put me at risk of mortal sin? As in, could such a case be a grave matter? I wouldn’t be confident in making any claim as to my intentions. There seems to be times where I’ll think to myself “no, this can’t be sinful, I’m overthinking it” and then I’ll do the action, and then immediately worry I’ve sinned afterward.

 

[kapp19]

You need to relax. Consider the irony of your predicament…

Now, as to the original question, not only is mercy the greatest attribute of God (considered at least in a certain way), but also realize “aspirational speech” or “participatory speech” is certainly fine in prayer… Otherwise, you should probably give up praying the Psalms, too.

 

[Gorgias]

I just have one follow up. Does the fact that I acted whilst doubtful put me at risk of mortal sin? As in, could such a case be a grave matter?

Grave matter isn’t always mortal sin. You have to have full knowledge that it is grave matter and you have to fully intend the sin. If these don’t apply, then it’s a venial sin, not mortal.

In your case, IMHO, there are neither of these, so there’s no way it’s mortal, even if it is grave (and again, IMHO, I don’t think there’s grave matter there).

Be at peace!

 

[EmilyAlexandra]

The coronation of every English and British monarch since the coronation of Edgar at Bath in 973 has included the antiphon Unxerunt Salomonem, now better known as Zadok the Priest. It includes the words, “May the king live forever”. Obviously nobody actually believes that the king (or queen) will literally live forever.

I think what you are talking about is literary language. These are modes of expression that are not intended to be subjected to literal interpretation or logical analysis. People also say this sort of thing when they are in love: “I could look into your eyes forever without even blinking”, “I want to be with you every moment of every day for the rest of our lives”. These statements are not strictly true, but they are also not lies. I assume it’s the same when talking to God.