Reader Question: Just Words?

A reader writes:

As a life-long Catholic, I have often prayed the rosary but lately have wondered how this prayer form complies with the guidance that says to avoid repetitive, wordy prayers. In my readings, I have seen references from time to time to this type of false prayer. In Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict states: "The other false form of prayer the Lord warns us against is the chatter, the verbiage, that smothers the spirit."

Praying the rosary is at times difficult for me as the repetition seems to be more of a penance than communion with the Lord. And of course the rosary seems to have disappeared in our new modern parishes. Is this why?

There are at least three separate questions here. We'll look at each in turn.

First, is structured prayer what Christ warns against in Matthew 6:7-8, when He tells us not to be like the heathen, who multiply words in the hope of being heard? Clearly not, because those verses introduce the only structured prayer that Christ Himself gave to His followers: the Our Father (which, coincidentally, is one of the cornerstones of the rosary). What, then, is He warning against?

Scholars and spiritual writers have debated, and continue to debate, this point, but the Catholic consensus is clear: Christ is warning against a prayer life that is focused exclusively on us talking at God incessantly, rather than holding a conversation with Him. Catholics are often accused of relying primarily on rote (repetitive) prayer, and, for good and ill, there is something to this criticism.

Rote prayer is an important part of any prayer life. The Church recommends certain prayers, such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary, for a reason. They focus our minds and help us to understand how to pray. Rote prayer is a good way to begin our prayers, and a good way to end them. It's what we do in the middle, however, that makes all the difference.

When praying, we should pass out of rote prayer into prayer in our own words--while keeping in mind Christ's warning not to multiply those words unnecessarily. (In fact, rote prayer has the opposite effect: We don't ramble on and on while reciting prayers from memory, because those prayers have a definite beginning, middle, and end, unlike ones we're making up on the fly.) But we shouldn't stop there, either: The final stage of prayer is listening. "Speak Lord, for your servant heareth." If we don't take the time to listen to God, we'll never come to understand what He wants us to do.

Second, what should we do if a particular form of prayer begins to seem burdensome? That's a tough question. We first should consider why this particular form of prayer is leaving us spiritually dry. Is it because we're not praying properly? Are we simply rushing through the rosary, without hearing (as well as speaking) the words that we are praying and meditating on the mysteries attached to each decade?

Or is the spiritual dryness a form of temptation? Could the devil be at work, trying to convince us to abandon a form of prayer that we have found spiritually fruitful in the past?

The best way to proceed, then, is to try to refocus our thoughts and attention on the prayers we're saying. If you do so and still find this particular form of prayer to be something other than what you need right now, then we should find another form of prayer. (That's assuming, of course, that you have not adopted a particular religious discipline that requires you to say the rosary.)

And third, why is the rosary no longer publicly prayed in most parishes? There are many factors at work here, including the tendency of Catholics to try to restrict their time at Mass to exactly one hour. Part of the reason, though, is undoubtedly because many Catholics have quit praying the rosary altogether, whether in public or in private. They may attempt to justify that decision by appealing to Christ's words in Matthew 6:7-8, but as we've seen, those words don't really apply.

If you have a question that you would like to have featured in our Friday "Reader Questions" series, send me an e-mail at catholicism.guide@about.com. Be sure to put "QUESTION" in the subject line, and please note whether you'd like me to address it privately or on the Catholicism blog.