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Karin
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I am a bi confused about the title of your thread “**Why You Must Pray The Rosary” **since you actually do not have to pray the Rosary.
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stefany379
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Because Protestants did not compose The rosary. There is no substitution. the Rosary is what it is, in praise of the Blessed Mother. To pray it is to be closer to her Son.
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stefany379
Guest
noone said that praying The Rosary is a commandment. the Blessed Mother has given us this chance, the weapon against Satan. To pray The Rosary is to get closer to Jesus.
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Karin
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This is not the "only"way to get closer to Jesus…and by titleing oyur thread “Why You must pray the Rosary” you make it sound like you have to pray it
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Mr.Ex_Nihilo
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Then why did the Isarealites repeat themselves so much?
Christ said do not use vain repetitions. But he did not ever say to never repeat a petition before the Lord (ie., re-petition before God for something over and over again just like Daniel did).
In fact, if repetition were such a bad thing, one would have to wonder why the Jewish sacrificial system (including prayers) were ‘repeated’ in the same way each and every year with notable exceptions for hundreds of years at a time.
The distinction between the Israelite’s repetition and the pagan’s repetition is that the Israelite’s repetition was not in vain whereas the pagan nation’s repetitions was.
Repetion, in a Godly sense, is educational and draws us closer to God. And even educational institutions understand the value of this repetition: we learn by repetition. So to with the rosary.
The rosary is not a vain repetition. The rosary is valid re-petition that God himself has revealed for our benefit. And the purpose of the rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them in the process.
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stefany379
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Thank you.
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Mr.Ex_Nihilo
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Thank you too.
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rr1213
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Well, unless I posted it incorrectly, the line goes as follows:
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.
It seems to me that Mother is referenced to Mercy and that “our sweetness and our hope” modifies Holy Queen (Mary) not Mercy (presumably Christ). So, it would be saying that Mary is “our sweetness and our hope”. Thus, the objection as noted. As to substituting other prayers, that was another poster. I see nothing wrong with saying the rosary per se or anything wrong of Steffany showing Protestants how its done. My objections, for what they are worth, are just to some of the prayers that are used which seem to my Protestant eyes to be emphasising Mary rather than Christ.
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jmcrae
Guest
It turns out that you are right, and I have been mishearing it all this time.
The actual line is Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope, which obviously is referring to Mary.
Perhaps this is a reference to her role as Archetype of the Church? This is worth some investigating.
Thanks for bringing it up!
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jmcrae
Guest
In ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE Pope John Paul II pointed out that when we pray the Rosary, we are, in fact “Proclaiming Christ with Mary.” In the Rosary, we are standing beside Mary, and looking with her and through her eyes at the events of Christ’s incarnation, public ministry, death and resurrection.
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Zooey
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This particular Protestant says the rosary, as written. Clearly, I have no trouble with the prayers…
Still, I have to say, IMO, the title of this thread is unfortunate…I mean, there is nothing anywhere saying that Catholics–much less non-Catholics–“must say the rosary”.
I don’t think that’s probably how it was meant, but it sounds that way…
Still, I have to say, IMO, the title of this thread is unfortunate…I mean, there is nothing anywhere saying that Catholics–much less non-Catholics–“must say the rosary”.
I don’t think that’s probably how it was meant, but it sounds that way…
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flameburns623
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Was this directed at me? The Jesus Prayer is an Eastern Orthodox prayer if it belongs to any particular denomination at all.
I think I swiped the ‘Holy God’ portion of the Jesus Prayer from a Catholic liturgy somewhere; it gave the prayer approximately the same # of syllables as the Hail Mary.
The “Prayer of St. Francis” probably pre-dates St. Francis by several hundred years and surely is in the’public domain’ by this time.
Yeah I’ve heard the Divine Mercy recited, chanted and sung on EWTN in several different versions. I have joshed a bit that one of the ‘sung’ versions would make a spooky Hallowe’en theme: it’s sung in plainsong, I guess, and is very eerie-sounding. (Probably not to Catholics, but that’s just a cultural divide). My wife, who is wholly unfamiliar with anything liturgical, nearly jumped through the roof of our car one day when I turned on the radio and EWTN had this version playing. At that time I didn’t know what it was and could only shrug and change frequencies when ‘wifey’ objected to listening.
Later on though, I heard a really nice sung version set to contemporary music. And for some reason, EWTN had a week dedicated to this particular devotion and I was able to learn a bit about it. Anyhow, thanks for the information!
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Jaypeeto3
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I have only recently re- taken up the practice of the daily Rosary.
I am very glad that I did, because praying the Rosary is very helpful to me spiritually. I also pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, a powerful prayer.
Jaypeeto3 (aka Jaypeeto4)
I am very glad that I did, because praying the Rosary is very helpful to me spiritually. I also pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, a powerful prayer.
Jaypeeto3 (aka Jaypeeto4)
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jim1130
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Unfortunately, you have misinterpreted what is being said. The key word in the verse you’ve quoted is not ‘repetitions,’ but ‘vain’ and ‘as the heathen do.’ Reference here is for those who are praying to false gods (lowercase “g”).
The use (or rather misuse) of Matthew 6:7-8 by non-Catholics is nothing more than a common scare tactic used by non-Catholics who want to showcase their mastery of Biblical verses, but only show their complete absence of accurate interpretation instead.
Let us see examples of repetitive prayer:
Matthew 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.
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?
41. Watch ye: and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
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.
43. And he cometh again and findeth them sleeping: for their eyes were heavy.
44. And leaving them, he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word.
Does this mean that Christ is guilty of “vain repetitions” of prayer in the Garden since he repeated the same prayer 3 times?
Or Revelations 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Is this another example of vain repetitious prayer?
Or what about Psalm 136: Out of 26 verses, the phrase “God’s love endures forever” occurs 26 times. Is this vain and repetitious, or is it just repetitious? No doubt Jesus read Psalm 136 many MANY times.
Or Luke 18:13 - But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ - the tax collector kept beating his breast and praying “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Was the tax collector’s repetitive prayer not pleasing to God?
If I am guilty of repetitious prayer than I am in VERY good company.
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Cat
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- There are “ecumenical” rosaries available. Do a google search. Several years ago, while we were still Protestant, my husband discovered one of the ecumenical rosaries and started praying it. I won’t go into the whole testimony now, but we’re Catholic! I agree that the Rosary is just what it is and that prayers can’t be substituted. But using beads while praying is ancient, and many other prayers can be prayed using the beads of the regular rosary. The string of beads itself is not sacred, it is the prayers that are said.
- As for vain repetitions, I have always wondered why, in a typical Praise and Worship service in a Protestant church, especially a Pentecostal church, are the chorsuses sung over and over and over and OVER again? We once counted 46 repeats of a simple chorus (I think it was "I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice, etc.). Hmmm…
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Abira
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Hiya everyone,
I suppose this is relevent here… I was brought up protestant, and the whole ‘Mary’ thing has meant that I’ve felt very uncomfortable with Catholicism all my life… about five or six years ago, I don’t really know when, I seemed to get a bit lost and I never realised until lately. I had this massive urge to pray wih a rosary even though I’d never seen one and didn’t know how and since that time I feel, not as though I have found faith again, but that I feel comfortable searching for it again.
for me as I am now, the rosary allows me to pray because otherwise I feel as though I don’t know what to say to God yet… this is just a personal thing though. So I agree that anyone can benefit from The Rosary.
I do however alter the line to ‘Son of Mary, Son of the living God, have mercy on us now and at the hour of our death’.
I suppose this is relevent here… I was brought up protestant, and the whole ‘Mary’ thing has meant that I’ve felt very uncomfortable with Catholicism all my life… about five or six years ago, I don’t really know when, I seemed to get a bit lost and I never realised until lately. I had this massive urge to pray wih a rosary even though I’d never seen one and didn’t know how and since that time I feel, not as though I have found faith again, but that I feel comfortable searching for it again.
for me as I am now, the rosary allows me to pray because otherwise I feel as though I don’t know what to say to God yet… this is just a personal thing though. So I agree that anyone can benefit from The Rosary.
I do however alter the line to ‘Son of Mary, Son of the living God, have mercy on us now and at the hour of our death’.
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