Repetition Of Divine Mercy

[blessedstar]

But I don’t think the types of prayer are mutually exclusive - most of what I’ve read about Lectio Divina,
.

This is why I say vocal prayer is the foundation of all prayer.

Say you are praying the Rosary and are saying the Sorrowful Mysteries and your heart burns within you and you are drawn to think of your Jesus battered and bruised and some light of faith comes to you and your heart is filled with love and peace, you are moved to sorrow and compassion and console the Sacred Heart of Jesus and praise and thank Him; well then you would stop vocal prayer to be drawn into this prayer that the Holy Spirit is leading you into.

You would not ignore this infused contemplation in favour of getting all of your Hail Marys said because our Blessed Mother has won this great grace for you which will deepen your faith and your prayer life in Jesus, which of course is not static and will effect a change in you transforming you to the likeness of Christ Jesus and therefore your Living Prayer will flow out of you to others.

And only if you completed half of the Rosary and spent the rest of your time in this deeper prayer of contemplation you would have completed a perfect Rosary because the Prayer of the Holy Spirit is never at fault.

I would even go so far as to say that if vocal prayer does not eventually lead into contemplation then we have impeded it by not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us this way as God does desire this for all souls and souls that are open to it progress all the more quickly and even the very young people may experience this because they have not formed ‘set ideas’ of what prayer should be. They enter into prayer waiting on the Holy Spirit, whereas other souls can be restricted by patterns formed in their ‘prayer’ learning early on in life and are even afraid to step into this contemplative prayer because it does indeed take courage as the soul will be painfully purged and illuminated in preparation for union to Jesus. For many reasons souls can cling to vocal prayer and remain here and do not experience the great gifts God longs to give them of Himself.

I may be misunderstood that I am against vocal prayer and God help me to explain that I am in no way against vocal prayer and point out that it would be a heresay to be so. I say vocal prayer is the foundation of all prayer, there is a natural inclination in our souls to verbalise to God our love and this is right and proper for all of our speech should be love, love of God and love of neighbour. But the words of the mouth are a reflection of the soul and though the mouth may speak, the words must penetrate and alter the soul. The word must be internalised greater than it is ever spoken thus causing what is spoken to be spoken with ‘love from within’.

This is why I say do not cling to vocal prayer as though it is the summit because it is the foundation and not the summit. Use vocal prayer to worship communally and to move closer to God by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you in His ways of contemplation.

When I think of our Blessed Mother we only ever hear once a vocal prayer she said and it was the Magnificat. However in the Magnificat we hear that she speaks more of her soul and the love of God within her soul. She does not say, ‘I said many prayers day and night.’ She speaks of her state of soul and the prayer it raises to God. Our Blessed Mother lived the Jewish faith perfectly, she knew and prayed the psalms, she offered all of the feasts, she prayed, but it did not stop here, she did not cling to this in favour of ‘Storing all these things up in her heart and pondered them’.

Also we must not forget Who the Spouse is of the Blessed Mother. She was completely over shadowed by the Holy Spirit, perfect union with and contemplation of God. She says little and listens a great deal. God Himself is silent, His works are silent without fanfare, He slipped into the world in silence, even the signs of His coming were silent, the silent Blessed Star. He brings in the morning silently, the sun, a massive orb, silently rises, spring rises to new life in complete silence, He causes the world to turn silently. I am sure you can think of many other examples.

The progression of prayer is to come to a constant ‘silent knowing of God’ and ‘an hidden silent transformation of soul to Jesus’. We must seek this silence where we will find, experience and contemplate God. We do not always have to be saying something, we can silently place ourself in God’s Presence because we are so busy and noisy we tend to forget He is constantly present to us. Vocal prayer is the foundation to which we enter this silence, but we do not always have to fill the silence with words. Eventually not a single word is needed to lift and recollect the heart to God, a simple loving glance of the heart suffices

God looks at the love of the heart and the movement of the soul.

 

[mommyof4]

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!

Well, then we should only say the Our Father ONCE, and then that’s it, because we don’t want to offend God? Or only give thanks ONCE, because God might get offended if we reapeatedly give Him thanks? Or we should only ask for his forgiveness and mercy ONCE because we might get reptetitive in our request for mercy? Hmmm…

 

[blessedstar]

But I don’t think the types of prayer are mutually exclusive - most of what I’ve read about Lectio Divina,
.

This is why I say vocal prayer is the foundation of all prayer.

Say you are praying the Rosary and are saying the Sorrowful Mysteries and your heart burns within you and you are drawn to think of your Jesus battered and bruised and some light of faith comes to you and your heart is filled with love and peace, you are moved to sorrow and compassion and console the Sacred Heart of Jesus and praise and thank Him; well then you would stop vocal prayer to be drawn into this prayer that the Holy Spirit is leading you into.

You would not ignore this infused contemplation in favour of getting all of your Hail Marys said because our Blessed Mother has won this great grace for you which will deepen your faith and your prayer life in Jesus, which of course is not static and will effect a change in you transforming you to the likeness of Christ Jesus and therefore your Living Prayer will flow out of you to others.

And only if you completed half of the Rosary and spent the rest of your time in this deeper prayer of contemplation you would have completed a perfect Rosary because the Prayer of the Holy Spirit is never at fault.

I would even go so far as to say that if vocal prayer does not eventually lead into contemplation then we have impeded it by not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us this way as God does desire this for all souls and souls that are open to it progress all the more quickly and even the very young people may experience this because they have not formed ‘set ideas’ of what prayer should be. They enter into prayer waiting on the Holy Spirit, whereas other souls can be restricted by patterns formed in their ‘prayer’ learning early on in life and are even afraid to step into this contemplative prayer because it does indeed take courage as the soul will be painfully purged and illuminated in preparation for union to Jesus. For many reasons souls can cling to vocal prayer and remain here and do not experience the great gifts God longs to give them of Himself.

I may be misunderstood that I am against vocal prayer and God help me to explain that I am in no way against vocal prayer and point out that it would be a heresay to be so. I say vocal prayer is the foundation of all prayer, there is a natural inclination in our souls to verbalise to God our love and this is right and proper for all of our speech should be love, love of God and love of neighbour. But the words of the mouth are a reflection of the soul and though the mouth may speak, the words must penetrate and alter the soul. The word must be internalised greater than it is ever spoken thus causing what is spoken to be spoken with ‘love from within’.

This is why I say do not cling to vocal prayer as though it is the summit because it is the foundation and not the summit. Use vocal prayer to worship communally and to move closer to God by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you in His ways of contemplation.

When I think of our Blessed Mother we only ever hear once a vocal prayer she said and it was the Magnificat. However in the Magnificat we hear that she speaks more of her soul and the love of God within her soul. She does not say, ‘I said many prayers day and night.’ She speaks of her state of soul and the prayer it raises to God. Our Blessed Mother lived the Jewish faith perfectly, she knew and prayed the psalms, she offered all of the feasts, she prayed, but it did not stop here, she did not cling to this in favour of ‘Storing all these things up in her heart and pondered them’.

Also we must not forget Who the Spouse is of the Blessed Mother. She was completely over shadowed by the Holy Spirit, perfect union with and contemplation of God. She says little and listens a great deal. God Himself is silent, His works are silent without fanfare, He slipped into the world in silence, even the signs of His coming were silent, the silent Blessed Star. He brings in the morning silently, the sun, a massive orb, silently rises, spring rises to new life in complete silence, He causes the world to turn silently. I am sure you can think of many other examples.

The progression of prayer is to come to a constant ‘silent knowing of God’ and ‘an hidden silent transformation of soul to Jesus’. We must seek this silence where we will find, experience and contemplate God. We do not always have to be saying something, we can silently place ourself in God’s Presence because we are so busy and noisy we tend to forget He is constantly present to us. Vocal prayer is the foundation to which we enter this silence, but we do not always have to fill the silence with words. Eventually not a single word is needed to lift and recollect the heart to God, a simple loving glance of the heart suffices

God looks at the love of the heart and the movement of the soul.

 

[Eireann]

What is the criteria for a prayer to become repetitive ? 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, next day, next week, next year, ok sorry I’m sure you get the point.

And week after week, there we are again in our respective Churches, praying the same old…

 

[blessedstar]

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.

This is very true. Perhaps then those who complain about repetition of prayer are bored with praying. If that is the case then they are only scratching the surface of prayer. One line of Sacred Scripture holds a world of meaning and can be prayed upon for the rest of our lives if we wish to do that and God will always show us new and beautiful insights. I could pray the Our Father a million times and still not reach the depths of it. The opening words ‘Our Father’ are astounding to repeat and repeat and marvel at continuously.

I too enjoy the repetition of life, I never tire of my daughter putting her arms around me and telling me she loves me, the way she runs across the playground in joy of seeing me, even the fact that my dog never fails to go crazy with excitement whenever I come home. I never tire of telling my daughter I love her, never tire in preparing food for her to eat. It’s exactly the same with God, I never tire of telling Him I love Him which is the axis of all prayer.

To tire or become bored of all these things is to tire of Love and God is Love.

I would love to repeat love in word and deed until I die and only to ever repeat love and nothing else.

 

[Flos_Campi]

Catholics do not just repeat the same prayer over and over again when they pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a progression of many prayers, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Gloria, the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina, and these prayers are accompanied by many holy meditations. As the Rosary progresses, Catholics meditate on the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the life of Christ and His Mother. True, the Hail Mary is repeated many times during the course of the Rosary, and some of the other prayers are repeated several times, but this is not “vain” repetition, certainly not the vain repetition condemned by Our Lord. The vain repetition He condemned is that of people who pray standing "in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.

No prayer is vain, no matter how often repeated, if it is sincere, for Christ Himself engaged in repetitious prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane ("…he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word—Matt. 26:39, 42, 44), and we are informed in the Apocalypse (Revelations) 4:8 that the angels in Heaven never cease repeating, night and day, the canticle: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” The publican humbly repeated the prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and he went away justified; where the pharisee went home unjustified after his long-winded extemporaneous prayer. (Lk. 18:9-14). God was likewise pleased with the repetitious prayer of the three young men in the fiery furnace, whom He preserved miraculously untouched by the flames. (Dan. 3:52-90).

Protestants also engage in repetitious prayer: the same prayers at mealtime grace, the same prayers at Benediction, etc. The time laps is no factor; it is still repetitious. :extrahappy: :extrahappy:

Our dear separate brethern, do yourselves a favour, wake up and smell the coffee!

,:coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread:

,

 

[St_Gabriel]

Jesus repeated the same prayer 3 times during His Agony in the Garden.

 

[Joysong]

I feel moved to share a moment many years ago that brought Divine Mercy to a suffering woman, solely because she used repetitive prayer.

She was my closest friend in my old neighborhood and had epilepsy. One day she fell down a flight of stairs leading to the basement and was rushed to the hospital with head injuries. Her husband came to my door telling me about her and asking if I would pray, since she did not know him and was incoherent.

Doris was a very prayerful lady and we often went to daily mass together. When I came to see her in the hospital, she was “out of it” and did not know anyone was in her room. I just sat quietly asking God to help her.

Suddenly, she began to speak out loud, “Lord Jesus help me” and loudly prayed it over and over again. Her constancy tugged at my spirit and I was groaning in prayer wondering how to help her. I realized that Jesus lived in me and His power was present to aid her. But I was afraid to use it. Her cries became more insistent, until I finally trusted with faith and spoke in Jesus’s name to be healed. She grew quiet, so I left, thinking nothing of it.

The next day, Frank told me she was ok and he brought her home. Coincidence? I will never know this side of heaven, but I like to think her ceaseless prayer and my response to it, had a blessed effect from the Lord of Mercy, who delights in answering our prayers.

 

[nkmeck]

I feel moved to share a moment many years ago that brought Divine Mercy to a suffering woman, solely because she used repetitive prayer.

She was my closest friend in my old neighborhood and had epilepsy. One day she fell down a flight of stairs leading to the basement and was rushed to the hospital with head injuries. Her husband came to my door telling me about her and asking if I would pray, since she did not know him and was incoherent.

Doris was a very prayerful lady and we often went to daily mass together. When I came to see her in the hospital, she was “out of it” and did not know anyone was in her room. I just sat quietly asking God to help her.

Suddenly, she began to speak out loud, “Lord Jesus help me” and loudly prayed it over and over again. Her constancy tugged at my spirit and I was groaning in prayer wondering how to help her. I realized that Jesus lived in me and His power was present to aid her. But I was afraid to use it. Her cries became more insistent, until I finally trusted with faith and spoke in Jesus’s name to be healed. She grew quiet, so I left, thinking nothing of it.

The next day, Frank told me she was ok and he brought her home. Coincidence? I will never know this side of heaven, but I like to think her ceaseless prayer and my response to it, had a blessed effect from the Lord of Mercy, who delights in answering our prayers.

That’s HOT FIRE stuff right there!!! To God be the glory!

 

[Flos_Campi]

Catholics do not just repeat the same prayer over and over again when they pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a progression of many prayers, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Gloria, the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina, and these prayers are accompanied by many holy meditations. As the Rosary progresses, Catholics meditate on the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the life of Christ and His Mother. True, the Hail Mary is repeated many times during the course of the Rosary, and some of the other prayers are repeated several times, but this is not “vain” repetition, certainly not the vain repetition condemned by Our Lord. The vain repetition He condemned is that of people who pray standing "in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.

No prayer is vain, no matter how often repeated, if it is sincere, for Christ Himself engaged in repetitious prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane ("…he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word—Matt. 26:39, 42, 44), and we are informed in the Apocalypse (Revelations) 4:8 that the angels in Heaven never cease repeating, night and day, the canticle: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” The publican humbly repeated the prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and he went away justified; where the pharisee went home unjustified after his long-winded extemporaneous prayer. (Lk. 18:9-14). God was likewise pleased with the repetitious prayer of the three young men in the fiery furnace, whom He preserved miraculously untouched by the flames. (Dan. 3:52-90).

Protestants also engage in repetitious prayer: the same prayers at mealtime grace, the same prayers at Benediction, etc. The time laps is no factor; it is still repetitious.

Our dear separate brethern, do yourselves a favour, wake up and smell the coffee!

,:coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread:

,

 

[St_Gabriel]

Jesus repeated the same prayer 3 times during His Agony in the Garden.

Here is the passage:

Matthew 26:39:44

26:39. And going a little further, he fell upon his face, praying and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt.
26:40. And he cometh to his disciples and findeth them asleep. And he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?

26:41. Watch ye: and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

26:42. Again the second time, he went and prayed, saying: **My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, thy will be done. **
26:43. And he cometh again and findeth them sleeping: for their eyes were heavy.

26:44. And leaving them, he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word.

 

[sailorvet]

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!

 

[sailorvet]

The rosary certainly is repetition over and over. However, consider a young man who loves a young woman. He constantly tells her so and that delights her and him too. That certainly is no sin.
Some Protestants amaze me with remarks like that. Some would ban dancing, coffee drinking, and much more. ::