What is wrong with repetitive prayer?

[BCRanger10]

Why should Christians, Catholics in particular (Catholics are Christians) NOT recite repeating and formulaic prayers? We're often cited Matthew 6.7, which says "... when you pray, do not babble like the pagans." But where is the babbling in repetition and ritualistic prayer? Where is the vanity?

Jesus taught us the Our Father. And in his agony in the garden, he said "Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but Thine be done", and he did so three times, two examples of repetition from Jesus himself. Was he wrong to do so? If you are a Bible-believing Christian, do you not recite any of the Psalms on a regular basis?

I'll wrap this one up with a quote from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, when he said that “repetition is a way of settling oneself into the rhythm of tranquility. It’s not so much a matter of consciously concentrating on the meaning of each single word, but allowing myself on the contrary to be carried away by the calm of repetition and of steady rhythm." He then goes on to say that repetition allows your to begin contemplating more deeply what you're praying for.

[sage2021]

I am a Born Again Christian ✝️ and former Catholic. I know you said that Catholic people ARE Christians, however, Christians aren't Catholics!

One thing I could never understand, even as a young girl is why does the Priest punish us with repetitive prayers when we go to confession. It's a rhetorical question ok?

But when I was at a Non-denominational church one Sunday as an adult, the pastor explained your question like this.

When we pray for something or someone, we only need 🙏 to pray for it once; and then thank Him (God) for answering that prayer.
If we keep praying in repetition for the same thing over and over, what's the use? We already asked GOD once to answer our prayer.

It's like if I ask you for $20, and you give me the $20, and I say thank you, but then I keep asking you over and over for $20! You see, you already gave me the $20 so I don't have to keep asking you repetitively for it. And when we keep asking God for the same thing over and over, the same prayer over and over, then it's like we don't believe he already knows what we asked of Him, no need to keep playing for it again anymore. God is not deaf! He heard your prayers and He is already working on the answers for you, but there you are... asking and asking again and again for the same thing and he already began answering your prayers the first time you asked Him to. Just thank Him after you've prayed one time for it.

[Lliam]

Do you only pray to ask for stuff? What about worship?

[sage2021]

@Lliam
Yes, I do pray. 🙏 🤲 I pray for things that I know are within the realm of Him answering my prayers.
In other words, I don't pray for a Tesla or a big new house or things of that nature.
I don't have all of the information to back up what I am about to say, but it has been proven that people who are sick and have been 🙏 prayed for and know they've been prayed for are more likely to get better than people who weren't prayed for.
I said this to out of faith and a tiny bit of trepidation because I know you well enough to want some kind of proof of what I just said. But I did write ✍️ a preface before writing it.
Yes, I worship God and thank Him after each prayer and throughout the day. And Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior.

And All The People Said AMEN❣️✝️❤️🫠

[Grond21]

In Luke 18: 1-8 Jesus tells a parable to explicitly teach us to repeatedly ask God for things. That directly contradicts your point to only ask once

[sage2021]

@@Grond21

Yes, but does it say to pray repeatedly for the exact same thing over and over again? Or does the Bible just say for us to pray repeatedly? Without ceasing for the the same thing? And if you keep repeating the same prayer repeatedly, then tell me, how do you know when to stop? The key word "repeatedly" could be interpreted in different ways.
I've read in the Bible years ago that we are not to pray in "repetition."

[sage2021]

@Gromd21
Besides, if you keep praying for the same thing over and over again, where is your faith that He will answer you? Ya gotta have faith after you pray. Faith is believing without seeing.

[Grond21]

Yes, he explicitly encourages us to ask the Father over and over for the same thing. You know when to stop when God has answered your prayer with a no, a yes, or that he has something better.

The verse you are looking for is Matthew 6.7, but Jesus does not condemn repetition. That's a common misunderstanding. He condemns vain repetition, which is entirely different.

[Grond21]

You keep praying over and over because you do have faith that he will answer you. It's a relationship, not a slot machine where you put in a prayer and then he is obliged to give you what you want at some later date. I don't see any contradiction between repeatedly asking for something and having faith. Instead, I see it like a child repeatedly asking their parent for something and having faith that their parent will take care of them.

[sage2021]

@Grond21

So I guess what you said trumps what my pastor told him entire congregation was wrong.
🤔 Perhaps YOU should be the pastor?

[Grond21]

Haha, you are too kind. It's not what I said, but what Jesus said. His word always trumps any pastor, and almost all of them need correction occasionally.

I wouldn't make a good pastor, though. I do like theology, but I am not interested in leading a church. Most particularly, I am Catholic, so I would have to abandon my faith to do that.

[NoDecision]

God does not mind repetitive prayers. Sometimes he may be testing you. Consider the following:

Moses: God Spares Israel After Prayer (Exodus 32:9–14)
This one’s intense.

God tells Moses He’s ready to wipe out the Israelites after they make the golden calf.

He literally says, “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.” (Exodus 30:10).

But Moses doesn’t walk away.

He pleads with God.

He reminds God of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And he argues that destroying Israel would ruin God’s reputation among the nations, such as Egypt.

And then this happens:

“Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” (Exodus 32:14)

Prayer changed the outcome.

2. Abraham: Negotiating with God Over Sodom (Genesis 18:22–33)
Before Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, Abraham has this back-and-forth with God that sounds like a holy negotiation.

“Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23).

Then he keeps pressing:

What if there are 50 righteous people? 45? 40? 30? 20? 10?

And each time, God says, “Okay, I won’t destroy it if I find that many.”

Even though Sodom ends up destroyed, we see something huge here—God invites intercession.

He listens.

He adjusts based on Abraham’s appeal.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong. The prayers catholics say have meaning behind them, they aren't just empty words or babbling.

The rosary is a powerful tool for prayer meditation, discipline and to ward off evil. Many nights I spent in prayer in regards to my husband.

[strateguy632]

2 things are "wrong" repetitive means: you are just doing it to COUNT that many times. Like "you owe 12 hail mary's" instead say it ONCE SLOWLY.

Secondly jesus said "how to pray" so obey that. He never said "say the lord prayer ten times in case god cannot hear the first nine" instead catholics and muslims count a hundred repitition with BEADS to say the correct NUMBER, that is what is wrong, even if prayed to father in heaven, and worse if hail to mary.

[mysteriousNicholas]

@BCRanger10 hmm I'm not quite sure, I guess people can pray as much or pray as little as they like.

Both Protestants and Christians and Catholics (it's all under Christianity) have their own worship prayer books or ritual prayer instruction books. 📚

[mysteriousNicholas]

@BCRanger10 I'm a stickler (a control freak) for always wanting to follow by the book. Aka best to always consult your official worship book issued by your Denomination or consult your local ordained clergy member 👍😈

[AMS700CX4u2]

Sage2021 wrote a good response, Pray what is on your heart. Very few criteria or requirements. Address your God, Thank him for his blessings, reassure your faith, and tell him what is on your mind. Ask it in the name of his Son. And leave it to Him. Do not snatch it back and try to accomplish it yourself. Nothing tells Him that you do not trust Him more than repeating the prayer. It is almost like Moses smacking the Rock twice.

[sage2021]

@AMS700CX4u2
Thank you for understanding this in the way that I believe, and saying so here. 🙂✝️

[chrissykerdock]

did you ever do a rosary lots of repetiveness

[BCRanger10]

Yes, I pray the Rosary every single day.

[SixFootSexy]

https://tocatholicswithlove.org/2024/02/29/five-reasons-i-no-longer-prayer-the-rosary/

Well, it's interesting to learn about the origin story of praying the rosary.

[BCRanger10]

Okay man, come on. Most of the stuff in this article so astronomically absurd that it's barely worth replying to, or even thinking about. I'm sorry, but that's just the truth. But if I must, I must.

1) In addition to teaching the Our Father prayer (a formulaic, repeated prayer), Jesus also commanded the Apostles to "take and eat, this is my body, take and drink, this is my blood, do this in memory of me" at the Last Supper, clearly intending the words and actions to be repeated; there is no way around that. I'm sure I've mentioned that before, but with this said, you're not going to convince me that Jesus rejected ritual and repetition. The "why do it" reasoning in this point in the article isn't even flimsy. Tissue paper has a better chance against a housefire.

2) The "logistics" of the Rosary? Come on, this is grasping at straws at best. Is this person seriously trying to argue that someone who is in Heaven (you'd agree with that at least, right?) is still somehow subject to the same limitations and restrictions that those of us here below are?

3) I don't really even understand what they're getting at with this point.

4) I'm sorry, is meditating on the life of Christ in light of the person who knew and love him best somehow... wrong? And I will refer you back to the point I made in another question about Mary, a point about the office of the "queen-mother", a point to which you made no response.

And 5) well, you're going to have another problem because the Bible as we know it was not defined until long after the life of Christ. And yeah, most Catholics know that the Rosary, as we know it today, didn't exist until St. Dominic. But some of us, like myself, also know that it has roots in the "tzitzit", a Jewish ritual garment mentioned in both the Old AND New Testaments; that's a real thing, look it up.

[SixFootSexy]

The Catholics like to say that they canonized the Bible but it was Ethiopians that did it first; but only if you're not counting the oral history of the Bible.
You made a good point about the tzitzit, when I was growing up I went to a 'Messianic Judaism' church and a few people there wanted to throw out the book of Hebrews and start their own cult. Some did fully commit to becoming 'religious Jews' and disowning Christ and some went further and ultimately abandoned all religion.
I think the article makes a very good point that unless you're God, you cannot possibly respond, react, transfer etc all the incoming prayers to a saint or Mary. Now one could argue that your celestial, mental throughput goes from a x8600 to something akin to a quantum computer.
However, if we were meant to interact with any of the saints in the afterlife, Jesus would've modeled and said something about praying to Moses or other patriarchs, without a doubt. But there is zero evidence of that in the texts that happened.

Saint Peter in fact tried to do something similar here: www.gotquestions.org/three-tabernacles.html

[Sal_Monella]

If I use the Lord's Prayer, It is not repetitive babbling. I believe it every time I say it. That is also true for the Psalms that I have memorized.

[BCRanger10]

Right... and that's exactly my point. Protestants just kinda... I dunno, skip over that.

[LiamJHayden]

The danger with repetitive prayers is that they can easily become rote and thoughtless, thus meaningless. If one is saying the "Our Father" and contemplating what is being said, that is not an issue. Even the formulaic ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method of prayer can just as easily become thoughtless repetition.

[Wodens_Apprentice]

Ironic because Christianity insults pagans as babbling yet due to their weak turn the other cheek values all Christians donis babble with no actions behind their words.

My ancestors used to make boasts at a meadhall & their spirituality demanded that they at least try to live up to their word otherwise they are a "Warloga" (warlock, oathbreaker) just like the devil himself Locka (Loki).

[NoDecision]

There IS a difference between Christians and Catholics.

[DryGermanGuy]

Catholics are the largest group within Christendom. So you could say, there is a difference between Catholics. Protestants and Apostolics.

[NoDecision]

@DryGermanGuy Catholics, by their theology, are not considered Christian by mainstream Christian churches. For instance, you don't confess your sins to a Priest, as he can't forgive them. Only Christ can do that.

[DryGermanGuy]

Sorry, but that's "at best" a US-American misinterpretation, no one else says that.

en.wikipedia.org/.../Christianity

[NoDecision]

@DryGermanGuy And Catholics fostered the Inquisition, burned people at the stake for being witches, murdered Indian children who wouldn't accept their religion, and excommunicates others. There have been thousands of babies killed too who were born to nuns and fathered by priests. Does that sound Christian to you?

[Wodens_Apprentice]

As much as I dislike Christianity you've been brainwashed by anti white propaganda.

[AngryCarl2]

@DryGermanGuy No, all Protestants believe that. That's why they're Protestants.

[DryGermanGuy]

@AngryCarl2
My whole family, in fact most of the home village is protestant. I have never heard anyone saying that Christians are different from Catholics. Everybody here understands Christians as the superordinate term for both Catholics and Protestants.

[Georgia001]

I think the key isn't the repetition itself, but the heart of the prayer. If it's just spoken, it's truly empty; but if each repetition is born of faith and focus, it becomes a spiritual exercise.

[mysteriousNicholas]

Sometimes I think back to Scary Movie 2 or The actual Exorcist movies "... the power of Christ compels you..." (repeatedly said) 🙏

[Lliam]

I can understand what Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger meant. Repetitive prayer is like meditation combined with sincere, humble worship. It empties the mind to focus on connecting with the Creator.

[Tamera952]

Wow, …the things you waste your time thinking about. Meanwhile, the whole country is going down the tube….

[FunkyMonkee]

First off, it doesn't work because there's nothing to pray to. Secondly, it's a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s a bad thing but I prefer for my prayers to be more spontaneous and personal

[mysteriousNicholas]

Sometimes I think back to Scary Movie 2 or The actual Exorcist movies "... the power of Christ compels you..." (repeatedly said) 🙏

[Opinion Owner]

@mysteriousNicholas that’s Catholic ritual. I’m Methodist now (used to be Catholic).

[mysteriousNicholas]

In my next reincarnation I'll be what you (said broadly, no rudeness intended) folk may call an Episcoaplian - where the boss's wear a Mitre - hat - 🤠 🎓 men, women, a Bishop is not restricted to only men allowed only. That's a cool thing - Catholics, male bishops only - Episcopalians, female and male bishops allowed.

[mysteriousNicholas]

Oh and also priests, deacons, - not restricted to men only jobs. Women can, - it looks like Rome will never in my lifetime allow "women clergy, excludes nun's "

[mysteriousNicholas]

That said, I don't mind being Catholic because "I'm a realist that, regardless of my personal views, I insist on a Catholic funeral, because in this lifetime, it's clearly been intended that I'm a Catholic 😈👌" and will remain one ; the next life reincarnation, who knows

[Opinion Owner]

@mysteriousNicholas I agree. Women should be allowed to be in the clergy. That’s one of the reasons I’m not Catholic anymore.

[mysteriousNicholas]

Okay dokey - how's the Methodist church? I have a distant distant relative who was

[Opinion Owner]

@mysteriousNicholas very laid back and chill lol. At least the branch I belong to is.

[AngryCarl2]

It's a question of whether God likes to hear people droning on and on about nothing? My guess is he doesn't.

[Anonymous]

I'm not religious, so it's all the same to me.

[slatyb]

It's a waste of time.

[Agape93]

Nothing. Do as thou wilt.

[Grond21]

Well said. The rosary is very biblical

[strateguy632]

I call "bs" , but that prayer that he lied was repeated , was ONCE in luke 22, the fact that 3 witnesses each had the same story, does not mean jesus did it "three times" as askker wrote.
So no, it's not "biblical" and catholics ARE catholic, not christian.
Instead, a precise name would be "marian" because emphasized mary and pope more than emphasized christ.

[Grond21]

I was confused about that too.

For 1500 years Catholic and Christian meant the same thing. It wasn't till recently the Protestants split off and separated them. New-fangled ideas don't weigh as much as the teachings of the Apostles.

That is what you would call a strawman. You cannot show that to be true from the Catholic sources, in fact it is the opposite

[strateguy632]

Huh? The new testament is not a a"catholic source"? It should be... so no pope there nor a council of archbishops or cardinals to appointed a pope nor any of this mary emphasis.

[strateguy632]

Also the origin was called CHRISTIAN in acts 26 , never catholic

[Grond21]

Well, if you are considering the New Testament a Catholic source, I can accept that. And then in response, I would just say you are misunderstanding our source and you need our help to understand it.

[Grond21]

It was called Christian. Yes. But you added in the never Catholic part. That's not biblical.

[mysteriousNicholas]

Folks - 😎😅 - Sometimes I think back to Scary Movie 2 or The actual Exorcist movies "... the power of Christ compels you..." (repeatedly said) 🙏 With or without exclamation ‼️

[stayorgo]

Nothing yet

[MeAndYouRightHere]

Nothing wrong