On ‘praying in a long and repetitive manner is nonsense.’ When a person is in love, the name, face, or the existence of the person they love is always in their mind. They always keep thinking of their loved ones. It is the same in prayer. When one is in love with God, he or she will surely always want to pray, as prayer is a form of communication with God. Praying the Rosary is like saying “I love you” to a lover while solemnly remembering their love story and appreciating its value. In this case, we are diving deeper into the greatest Love, which is not nonsense but full of meaning after all. It is also written in the book of Revelation (7:15): “For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship Him day and night. The One Who sits on the throne will shelter them.” This is an act of love of God by the people whom God saved. If prayer is making yourself aware that God is Omnipresent and you are communicating with the very best Person(s), then why don’t you want to stay and communicate with them a little bit longer? Furthermore, the prayers of the Rosary that we are praying are biblically and traditionally reasonable.
What Happens When We Pray the Rosary?
When we pray the Rosary, we are professing our faith by reciting the Creed. We are communicating and praising God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit by reciting the Doxology or Glory Be. We are praying the prayer that Jesus Christ Himself has taught us by reciting the Our Father. We are communicating, honoring, and thanking Mary, the Mother of Christ, for participating in the salvation that God has planned by reciting Hail Mary. We are venerating her like the veneration of Saint Gabriel the Archangel and her cousin Saint Elizabeth. We also acknowledge God’s wisdom and action He has done through Mary by reciting the Salve Regina or Hail, Holy Queen. We are also begging Christ as our Savior by reciting the Fatima Prayer. By meditating on the mysteries of Christ's life with Mary for the salvation of humanity while praying is a great task that needs focus, attention, and concentration.
Meditation and Transformation Through Prayer
The Holy Rosary requires us to meditate while praying or reciting its Scripture-based prayers. In these moments, God reveals to us the story of humanity’s salvation through His Life. At the same time, we are growing in our knowledge of God’s Mercy, Love, and Compassion. This reveals the truth that loving requires knowing the one you love. Praying is indeed a way for us to know God, and also to know ourselves, so that we can love God the way He deserves. At least the very best we can. How can one love someone whom he or she doesn’t know?
Communion with the Saints and Angels
The good thing about being a Roman Catholic is that we can communicate with God with His holy people, the saints, and His angels. Asking the prayers of His holy people, especially His Mother, and our Mother Mary too, is also a sign of humility and recognizing God’s magnificent wisdom and sovereignty. This Church founded by Christ Himself is rich and filled with heavenly treasures. As the Gospel according to Saint John (21:25) says, "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written." He is a God Who is Truth Himself and the One Who speaks Truth. When He founded His Church, He sustains and cares for it with lots of surprises that we can only recognize if we really know Him, even just a glimpse.
Praying with Heart and Presence
Praying the Rosary is very good as it helps us to focus, appreciate, and inspires us to value more God’s gift of eternal life. Since prayer is a form of communication, by praying we are making ourselves aware of the presence of God. We are presenting ourselves to God and His holy angels and saints. By praying, prayer is for us also; by thanking God, our soul and spirit get recharged and filled with joy, faith, hope, and love. Prayer makes us, it transforms us, it moves us to get closer to God, it dips and soaks us in the depths of God’s wisdom and relationship with Him. The Rosary is a rich form of prayer, “filled with Theological and Biblical Wisdom” as Saint Pope John Paul II says.
When Prayer Becomes Poison
Since prayer is a form of communication, a kind of communication with those at the highest and very best Person(s), our being is transparent and clear in Their sights. As prayers are communication with God, with His Mother, or with His saints, it should always be recited with great honor and attention. Prayer is very good as it inspires life, but be careful as it is also a poison that kills.
A Warning from the Blessed Virgin
In the case of the Holy Rosary, allow me to put this passage from the “41st Secret of the Rosary” of the book The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis De Montfort. It says, “The learned Cardinal Hugues says: ‘One should really be as pure as an angel to approach the Blessed Virgin and to say the Angelic Salutation.’ One day Our Lady appeared to an immoral man who used to always say his Rosary every day. She showed him a bowl of beautiful fruit, but the bowl itself was covered with filth. The man was horrified to see this, and Our Lady said: ‘This is the way you are honoring me! You are giving me beautiful roses in a filthy bowl. Do you think I can accept presents of this kind?’” Prayer is useless then if we do not let ourselves be transformed, if our wills are not united to the prayers that we utter. Christ also says in the Gospel according to Matthew (15:8), “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” God wants us to be honest and sincere as He already knows us.
The Danger of Empty Prayer
Prayer shouldn’t be just recited for the sake of just praying or just completing a prayer. It should be said with the heart and from the heart. Prayer should be a life, a living action of being. Furthermore, St. Louis De Montfort says in the 42nd Secret of the Rosary, “How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect Him to be pleased if, while in the presence of His tremendous Majesty, we give in to distractions just as children run after butterflies? People who do this forfeit Almighty God’s blessings, which are then changed into curses because they have been praying disrespectfully. ‘Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully.’” If prayers come from the heart and are said with a heart, one will surely become attentive while reciting it until it becomes part of self, like the heartbeat and breathing.
Is It Better Not to Pray?
If prayer is a poison, then is it better not to pray at all? This is the challenge for us now. St. Louis De Montfort says in the 48th Secret of the Rosary, “These crowns are not for timid souls who are afraid of the world’s taunts and threats, neither are they for the lazy and indolent who only say their Rosary carelessly, or hastily, just for the sake of getting it over with. The same applies to people who say it intermittently, as the spirit moves them. These crowns are not for cowards who lose heart and down their arms as soon as they see hell let loose against the Holy Rosary.” Isn’t it applicable also here when Christ says, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13–14). Instead of just letting ourselves give in to the temptation of justifying and convincing ourselves that it is better not to pray at all, may we ask ourselves, “To Whom shall we go?” In addition, let us remember what Christ also says, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17). All of us are sinners though. Thus, we all need the healing of Christ that cleanses us from these sins.
Real Prayer Requires Conversion
Another question now arises here: if Christ comes for the sinners, why did the story of St. Louis De Montfort where Mary didn’t accept his filthy bowl happen? Well, what happened there is the danger of no repentance for the sins committed. Prayer becomes dangerous and poisonous if it is treated like a medicine that we can take anytime, which is also true, but after taking such medicine, we go back again eating cautious and killer foods and lifestyle for us. Prayer becomes poisonous if it is just a recitation of words without the intention to unite our hearts to God and/or His holy ones. Prayer isn’t just a ritual or an activity. We are communicating. We are talking with/to God, the Highest One. We are talking with His triumphant and holy people. We are talking with His holy Mother. We are talking with the intellects Who are beyond us, aware, and looking at us so clearly in their sights. We are communicating with them, and their communication is through the heart.
The Heart of Prayer
Prayer is a communication that may express adoration, honor, confession, begging, thanksgiving, supplication, appreciation, and others. All of it requires the heart, as it is a communication and expression of the heart after all. What is special with the heart? It is the center of being where inspiration, desperation, and even the “neither hot nor cold” ones spring up and flow first before it makes them as they are. What are the things that flow in our hearts? To which or whom is it united with? Moreover, prayers are not just words uttered by the mouth. Prayers are meant to blend into our whole being and daily lives or activities.
Pray with Your Whole Being
Now some knowledge is presented, it’s time to experience the wisdom of God by praying and living the gifts and graces of prayers and devotions. Just remember and don’t forget to pray it attentively with your whole heart and being! May we all strive in God’s grace!