What is the point of repetitive prayers?

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The point of repetitive prayer is the same as all prayer- bring us closer to God. Others have given you a good answer on how repeating the same prayer can assist in opening your heart to God, the rosary isn’t about the repetitive prayers it’s about contemplating the mysteries and through that, bringing our hearts and minds closer to God.

If repetitive prayer isn’t achieving the goal for you, use something else. It’s not a magical incantation, it as a tool for a goal.

2559 “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”

2562 Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain

2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.
 
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary are repetitive prayers that cannot be repeated enough … you are praying to the Lord and our Blessed Mother … what can be more important or beautiful than that? I’m not saying one should not also pray to our Lord as in a conversation … speaking to our Lord is important … but praying a prayer that He gave to us is also very important … the same with our Lady.
 
How do you make it not feel tedious or like a ritual?
By treating it with respect – ritual is GOOD.

Had you thought of lighting a candle before you say the Rosary? Our RCIA leader urged us to do this when we prayed, or sat down to read the Bible, and I found it helpful.

I have a prayer corner in my bedroom where I say all my prayers, sometimes I even burn a little incense.

The repetition HAS a purpose – it quiets the mind and soothes it, eventually opening the soul to welcome the Holy Spirit within.

If you think of prayer as a chore, it WILL be tedious.
 
The repetition of prayers like the Hail Mary’s are not the main focus of the Rosary, but the mediation on the mysteries of the Rosary.

The same is true of all prayer that is recited over again.

We meditate on the one we are praying to, or the mystery associated with the one we are praying to.

The Hail Mary’s are merely tools to keep us focused and help us to return to the meditation when we become aware that we have drifted away from the meditation.

Jim
 
The repetition of prayers like the Hail Mary’s are not the main focus of the Rosary, but the mediation on the mysteries of the Rosary.

The same is true of all prayer that is recited over again.

We meditate on the one we are praying to, or the mystery associated with the one we are praying to.

The Hail Mary’s are merely tools to keep us focused and help us to return to the meditation when we become aware that we have drifted away from the meditation.

Jim
Exactly … when I say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy I meditate on how our Lord gave His life for us, and pain He went through and and how much love that took.
 
Exactly … when I say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy I meditate on how our Lord gave His life for us, and pain He went through and and how much love that took.
You could also just meditated on being in His presence, which is the beginning of contemplative prayer. 😉
Jim
 
False comparison. Who says the Hail Mary throughout the day, every 5 minutes, except perhaps some advanced contemplatives or hermits? Why not engage with what Fulton Sheen said, and what the Rosary actually is, instead of knocking down a strawman? 😉
I was just asking a question.😦
 
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