Not trying to offend, but I was just thinking that if one repeats the same prayers over and over, they might lose some or all of their meaning or importance to the one who is reciting them to God.
I'm not intentionally being offensive. I am asking an honest question.
Anonymous
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No offence taken! Yes, some prayers may be repetitive or follow a formula.This happens not only in the Catholic Church but in all faiths, particularly in a service. It does not lose any meaning because of that and sometimes is more meaningful and important when thousands of people are saying the same prayers together.
We don't give up on praying, and other times we pray to God in our own words and listen to Him too.
God bless
Laurine97
Your question assumes that all Catholics always pray with formulas. This is entirely untrue.
The second problem with your question is that the focus is on the person praying, not on God who is hearing our prayers. Praying isn't about making sure we're not bored or that WE are getting something out of it. It's about praising, thanking, asking of, or apologizing to our Father in Heaven. God loves all sincere prayers, scripted or not. Only God sees the heart of the person praying.
We pray just as freely and spontaneously as any other Christian.
We also say prayers taken directly from scripture (the Hail Mary, the Our Father), and prayers handed down form our Christian ancestors (the Creeds, the Glory Be).
If you have a favorite verse of scripture you like to read, or have ever posted a relevant piece of poetry or a wise saying on, say, your bathroom mirror or office wall, you should be able to understand how it's possible to keep finding meaning and value in something you see, read, or say all the time.
When you love someone, do you tell them only one time?
Anonymous
No offense taken, but you're working on some assumptions that simply aren't true.
For one thing, the prayers of the Church (there are hundreds) offer a richness and depth of expression and are far from "formulaic". For another, availing ourselves of them is not the ONLY way in which we pray. They augment our own prayers, and also unite us in prayer with each other. We aren't "reciting them to God" -- we are making the words our own. We can, and should, and do, have spontaneous conversations with God. But how often do our poor words fail us? Those are the times when the prayers of the Church are especially precious.
The Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Fatima Prayer, the Memorare, the Angelus, all of these and more -- they can express what is in our hearts, often much better than we ourselves. And let's face it, there are times in life when we're too overwhelmed to compose ourselves enough to pray coherently. Sometimes all we can manage to choke out is the precious name of Jesus, over and over and over again. Do you think God gets tired of hearing the name of His Son prayed in such a manner? I don't think He tires of the angels singing "holy, holy, holy" without cease, either.
Sure, it's possible to just rattle off a memorized prayer over and over with no more thought behind it than reading a grocery list. But even in those cases it is better than no prayer at all -- the words do register, on some level, regardless. Christians in general, ourselves included, don't give God much to work with sometimes but He uses whatever we give.
With particular attention to the Rosary, which more often than not gets a response from non-Catholics that involves Matthew 6:7, the reason for the repeated prayers is a bit different. The purpose of the Rosary is to prayerfully meditate on the mysteries of the Gospel (events in Jesus' life). In repeating the prayers, the part of one's mind that would otherwise be easily distracted is occupied; in moving the beads through our fingers, we have a tangible reminder of what we're doing; and in the meditation on the mysteries, we enter fully into the life of Christ. There is also an element of time involved in repeating the prayers, which helps us to linger in each mystery.
There are many ways to pray, and since one's prayer life is a private matter between an individual believer and God, it's really not up to anyone else to critique it. If saying a Rosary, for example, isn't everyone's cup of tea, that's fine. But neither should those who do pray it with love and devotion be made to feel that they're not praying correctly. I know that wasn't your intention with this question, but it is rather common among those who really don't "get" why we use the words of others when we pray.
Veritas
Didn't Jesus tell us to pray the Our Father (Lord's Prayer)? Isn't that kind of "formulaic"? Don't Christians often repeat this prayer? I've been to Protestant services and I often hear the same prayers and verses repeated over and over again. Not that I mind.....just that I smell some hypocrisy here.
A lot of Catholic prayers are straight out of Scripture. I can't see anything wrong with repeating God's holy words.
And by the way, what's wrong with repeating things that are true over and over? If your children told you every single day "I love you, I love you!" would you scold them for being vain and repetitious? Of course not.
God loves the prayers of all Christians, and that includes the Catholics.
Peace be to you all+
Isabella
"Pray without ceasing"
Do you pray the Our Father? Do you repeat it over and over and lose the meaning?
I didn't think so.
And neither do we.
It is not the repetition that is the issue. It's the vanity. God looks into our heart, not solely at our words.
Paul commands us to pray constantly. Good repetition is different than vain repetition.
Rev. 4:8 - the angels pray day and night without cessation the same words "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." This is repetitious prayer that is pleasing to God.