The Lord's Prayer - Clarification

[Homerun40968]

I can’t remember which book in the New Testament, but somewhere Jesus says “Don’t be like the men who tell God what they need, for God already knows. When you pray, pray like this, ‘The Lords Prayer’.”

Certainly this shouldn’t be taken literally. If taken literally, then I should only recite the Lord’s Prayer always. No specific requests, thanks, or praise?

 

[Alma]

The exact quote says:

“In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:
Our Father…” (Mt 6, 7ss)



Alma

 

[Verbum]

Hi Homerun,

Obviously the Lord’s Prayer has been given to us as a model of how we should pray, but Jesus Himself at the Last Supper and the Garden of Olives prayed differently.

Verbum

 

[Joel_Tunnah]

It’s a troubling quote, in a way. Think about how verbose the prayer of the Mass is.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Joel,

Pagans typically believe in prayer as “magic” formulas, where you cannot change one word and where repetition is lilely to be more effective.

Jesus teaches us not to bank on formulas, but to address God as children to a Father.

If one is not careful, the Rosary can become like a pagan’s prayer. A true prayer is the elevation oif the mind and heart to God. Meditating on the Mysteries of our Faith is one way of keeping our mind on God.

Verbum

 

[juliamajor]

Hi Joel,

Pagans typically believe in prayer as “magic” formulas, where you cannot change one word and where repetition is lilely to be more effective.

Jesus teaches us not to bank on formulas, but to address God as children to a Father.

If one is not careful, the Rosary can become like a pagan’s prayer. A true prayer is the elevation oif the mind and heart to God. Meditating on the Mysteries of our Faith is one way of keeping our mind on God.

Verbum

Ancient Roman Pagan rituals were so old that nobody knew the language or even why they did certain things. And if they made a mistake in the ‘liturgy’ they would have to stop what they were doing and start all over again! So sometimes that had to go over and over again repeating something that made no sense. This was not atypical of ancient paganism. So there is nothing at all in common with Mt6 and our prayers.Your correct because in our religion if the mind and spirit are not there in prayer the prayer is useless- unlike pagans who thought words were power.