Repetition Of Divine Mercy

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Thnknprblm

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Protestants tell me it’s sinful to recite prayers of repetition, which I don’t believe to be true, but how do I answer them using the Bible?
Also, I have been saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet during Holy week and have wondered why we say the same thing over and over. Am I praying this for myself and the souls of others and in what way does God find this pleasing?
Thanks!
 
Thnknprblm said:
Protestants tell me it’s sinful to recite prayers of repetition, which I don’t believe to be true, but how do I answer them using the Bible?
Also, I have been saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet during Holy week and have wondered why we say the same thing over and over. Am I praying this for myself and the souls of others and in what way does God find this pleasing?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Ask them to explain this…

**Luke 6:12 **And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.

Jesus spent an awful long time in prayer, surely He must have repeated one, or knew an awful lot of prayers.
 
Thnknprblm said:
Protestants tell me it’s sinful to recite prayers of repetition, which I don’t believe to be true, but how do I answer them using the Bible?
Also, I have been saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet during Holy week and have wondered why we say the same thing over and over. Am I praying this for myself and the souls of others and in what way does God find this pleasing?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
If it is a sin the Good Lord would probably get pretty annoyed with those angels singing “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty (Rev 4:8)” all day and night.
 
the repetition of a prayer without feeling, understanding and meaning the words is wrong and Jesus pointed this out to people. However, HE also gave us the prayer that we are supposed to pray which is the “Our Father”…

HE does not mean that we do not say it all the time… Just say it from the heart
 
It is purely Biblical to repeat the same words in our prayer.

Please refer to Psalm 136.
“God’s love endures forever;” repeated 24 times.
This is a good example of how the Psalmist prayed.

As long as we pray what we mean, there is nothing wrong with repeated words. It simply shows our earnest emotion. The Protestants want Bible proof, then give them this Bible proof.
 
Thnknprblm said:
Protestants tell me it’s sinful to recite prayers of repetition, which I don’t believe to be true, but how do I answer them using the Bible?
Also, I have been saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet during Holy week and have wondered why we say the same thing over and over. Am I praying this for myself and the souls of others and in what way does God find this pleasing?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Jesus was referring to those who prayed in public, for no other reason then to be seen praying in public. Prayer meant to impress others is its own reward.
 
Not to mention that Our Lord himself repeated the same prayer three times ‘in the same words’ as the Gospels say, in Gethsemane. And he told the story of the sinful publican who repeatedly prayed ‘Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner’ and was forgiven.

And St Paul saying ‘pray without ceasing’. A little difficult to do this without occasionally being repetitive! So, it’s entirely biblical I’d say.

As for the Divine Mercy - we do indeed pray, as the words suggest, for mercy for ourselves and for the whole world. It is meant to be a meditative prayer similar to the Rosary, in that we are meditating on the Passion of Christ while praying it. And yes, it’s pleasing to God - directly revealed by Christ to St Faustina, so it could hardly be otherwise.
 
“sigh” it’s the same 'ol stuff year after year, perhaps tell them to stay away from psalm 136 they may be sinning if they read it!!

I think anything done without love and done for selfish reasons is not pleasing to God whether it’s the rosary or a worship service. The soul of the rosary is the deep meditation on the mystery, the meditation on the mysteries brings us deeper into Christs minstry on earth, His passion death and His rising from the dead.

The Divine Mercy recited before the image of Jesus is a powerful prayer as we contemplate how the blood and water that flow from Christ like rays of mercy bringing us into the very depths of His mercy and love.

As an ex-protestant I use to read alot of the same scripture passages over and over sometimes chewing on a passage for a long time, was I sinning and simply reading the same passage over and over? Alot of this stuff they throw at you is done mindlessly without much research, it’s just passed around in really cheesy books trying to debunk the church and many of these folks who write this anti-catholic trash have become extremely wealthy with their books and seminars ripping at the very body of Christ His church. Pray the divine mercy for them this week.
 
When you only repeat the words and do not pay attention to what you are saying it is called inattentiveness not sin. Sometimes when I do this I am forced to realize I need to pray all the harder and spend more time with God.

But, Jesus himself told us to pray a prayer that is considered repetitious. The Our Father is the best known prayer in Protestant churches and it is repeated world over. You can remind them of this when the topic comes up.
 
I’ve always assumed that repititious prayer, such as the rosary, is designed to clear our minds and help us focus on the prayer itself, communicating with God, and putting us into a meditative state. I know I often find myself distracted while praying or speaking with God. When I pray the rosary or repititious prayers, it helps me to focus and get into a clearer mind. A meditative state. And because I fear just saying the prayer in repetition, I find I focus on the words more.
 
So they only say a prayer once in their life and move on…?

Or was there a time limit of some kind placed on within which the sinful repetition would take place?

Ok, i am being a bit of a wise-guy.🙂
 
Thanks to each and every one of you. I have been praying the Divine Mercy just as I say the rosary…difficult at times, but does bring me closer to God and helps me to focus just on Him.
The sad thing is most Catholics I know don’t have a clue how to say the rosary or the the Divine Mercy. (The last time I went to confession the priest asked me if I knew how to say the rosary:eek:)
In a majority protestant area I feel like a sheep amongst wolfs most of the time.
I’m so thankful for this forum.
God Bless You All!! and thanks again!
 
Thnknprblm said:
Thanks to each and every one of you. I have been praying the Divine Mercy just as I say the rosary…difficult at times, but does bring me closer to God and helps me to focus just on Him.
The sad thing is most Catholics I know don’t have a clue how to say the rosary or the the Divine Mercy. (The last time I went to confession the priest asked me if I knew how to say the rosary:eek:)
In a majority protestant area I feel like a sheep amongst wolfs most of the time.
I’m so thankful for this forum.
God Bless You All!! and thanks again!
Click to expand...
I think the key with saying the Rosary is to not rush it, the goal is not to finish but to enter more fully into Christ, to know Him in a more intimate may by meditating upon the various stages of his minstry. It’s hard to do at times and even still I have trouble really locking into some of the mysteries, if I cannot lock into a certain mystery say the proclamtion of the kingdom of God, Christs passion has always be easy for me to meditate on. There are times when I will also visualize whatever person comes to mind and offer that paticular bead for thier conversion, healing and so on. Of all our Lady’s promises concerning the Rosary the one I have found most powerful and prevailing is the promise of purity, when I begin the day with a really focused rosary it really is a weapon against all sorts ot temptations.
 
Would you ever tire of someone saying ‘I love you’? Prayers are an expression of love of God and if the prayer is repeated over and over this is only a repetition of love and to love is never wrong.

Personally I would like to see people grow in their prayer lives and not cling to vocal prayers, I don’t mean abandon vocal prayer because it is the foundation of all prayer, but I would like to see people grow in their prayer lives to mental prayer and through this grow ever deeper in prayer with God. God the Holy Spirit leads them instead of clinging to ‘I have always done this’. I would love to see all people become a Living Prayer.

I don’t think Jesus spent all those hours in prayer praying with words. I think He prayed in union to God the Father and that is a very different prayer entirely from vocal prayer.

In my prayers
 
Thnknprblm said:
Protestants tell me it’s sinful to recite prayers of repetition, which I don’t believe to be true, but how do I answer them using the Bible?
Click to expand...
Actually, you can say that Catholics believe the same thing. Pope Paul VI stated that reciting the rosary without meditation could be vain repetition that the Gospel warns against. Pope John Paul II thought this was so important that he made a point to repeat it when he discussed the Rosary.
 
blessedstar said:
Would you ever tire of someone saying ‘I love you’? Prayers are an expression of love of God and if the prayer is repeated over and over this is only a repetition of love and to love is never wrong.

Personally I would like to see people grow in their prayer lives and not cling to vocal prayers, I don’t mean abandon vocal prayer because it is the foundation of all prayer, but I would like to see people grow in their prayer lives to mental prayer and through this grow ever deeper in prayer with God. God the Holy Spirit leads them instead of clinging to ‘I have always done this’. I would love to see all people become a Living Prayer.

I don’t think Jesus spent all those hours in prayer praying with words. I think He prayed in union to God the Father and that is a very different prayer entirely from vocal prayer.

In my prayers
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But I don’t think the types of prayer are mutually exclusive - most of what I’ve read about Lectio Divina, for instance, indicates that one uses the scripture passage as a launching pad.

From the chosen scripture passage the different types of prayer - vocal (repeating the scripture passage to oneself), meditative (‘chewing on’ it), and contemplative (‘resting in’ it) - will follow, though not necessarily in that order!

I think the Rosary and Divine Mercy can be similar - one reaches stages where the actual words of the prayers and the visual or other mental imagery of the meditation recede into the background and one does enter into a much more contemplative (or at least contemplative-like) state.
 
When Moses was leading the Hebrew nation from Egypt, they had a very repetitive diet – manna. They had a very repetitive sign to guide them by day and another one by night.

And those 10 commandments. They weren’t just for this month and next month they’d get a different set. The 10 commandments continue to be important every day. Isn’t that repetitive as well?

Our Lady of Fatima wants us to pray the Rosary every day (at least five decades). That is repetitive too.

I prefer the repetitive prayers of the Rosary and going to Church every Lord’s day (which is also repetitive). I hope not to go to hell (which reportedly has repetitive and eternal 1punishment).

Life itself is repetitive. We must breath always, regardless of its being repetitive. We have many other repetitive human needs. Our hearts beat. Even on the microscopic level, life is repetitive. Genetic information must continually be used to produce proteins and enzymes. Hormone cycles. Etc., etc., etc. Although we can study biology under a microscope and learn some things, it is still mostly a very grand mystery.

Those who think prayer should not be repetitive – why should so much of life be repetitive and then prayer never be repetitive? As a human, I know I enjoy some predictable repetitive routines. I would be much less comfortable if every day of my life were very, very different. Instead, I come home to my family every day. It is repetitive to greet my wife and kids every day, but this is what I’d really prefer. Doesn’t it make sense that we should also have routines in our relationship with God? He prefers that I am comfortable when I come to Him in prayer, in Eucharistic Adoration or at Mass. There is variance with the Church calendar and special days that remain special because they are only once a year. Yet there is a lot of repetitive – and Divine Mercy is perhaps one of the most comforting things to know. The repetitiveness is reassuring that His Mercy endures forever and that it is for me too. If it was not repetitive I might suppose that it isn’t always available. Or that perhaps it was not applicable to me as well.

Even though the Rosary (and Divine Mercy) words seem repetitive, I am certain that no two times that I am at prayer are exactly alike. My needs are different each time. My thoughts are different. I may meditate on different aspects of the Rosary Mysteries. I may be more focused or more distracted.

Protestants agree that the Gospel Story of Jesus Christ is very important. I know – I only finished RCIA two years ago. Since the Gospel Story of Jesus is so important, why is it wrong to daily pray a prayer that focuses so much on the highlights – such as the Rosary.

Many Catholics don’t understand the richness of the Rosary. And many Protestants (if they ever hear a saying of the Rosary) are likely to think it is merely a repetition of the “Hail Mary”. It is so much more and it is so misunderstood. It actually cannot be understood very much. Who can understand the Gospel Story when it is so full of mysteries? Rather both the Gospel Story and the Rosary it is best experienced first hand and the best response is to believe, receive and love.

Praying the prayer of Divine Mercy at the hour of Divine Mercy is similarly something that is not fully known about. There is so much of God’s love and mercy in this. And certainly it is beyond understanding.
 
Thnknprblm said:
Thanks to each and every one of you. I have been praying the Divine Mercy just as I say the rosary…difficult at times, but does bring me closer to God and helps me to focus just on Him.
The sad thing is most Catholics I know don’t have a clue how to say the rosary or the the Divine Mercy.[SIGN] (The last time I went to confession the priest asked me if I knew how to say the rosary[/SIGN]:eek:)
In a majority protestant area I feel like a sheep amongst wolfs most of the time.
I’m so thankful for this forum.
God Bless You All!! and thanks again!
Click to expand...
Funny, the last time I went to confession, the priest asked me the same thing.
 
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