Just One Of The Many Benefits Of Those Rote Prayers
One of the attitudes I frequently bump up against in my discussions with Protestants is that those written down prayers that are used by many Catholics aren’t “heartfelt.” They aren’t “real.” Sometimes I have even heard that they were “wrong” to use and sometimes even sinfully so.
May I just pause here a moment and reflect on the idea that someone (and I do know this does not apply to all Protestants) who embraces sola scriptura would tell me that reciting scripture such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Magnificant, The Canticle of Simeon, The De Profundis, and many others is even a little bit wrong (just in case you didn’t know all of those prayers are just passages of Sacred Scripture)…..You know that just really hurts my brain.
When I was a Protestant (and for many years after) my prayer life…well….was a source of great shame for me. I would hear people say that they prayed for hours. Hours? I had trouble making it five minutes. I knew all of the acronyms and helps. I knew the ACTS model. I knew the little finger cues. I had books on prayer. I kept lists. I kept journals. And nothing helped. My prayers were flat and ironically, repetitious. But I studiously stayed far far away from those written down, rote prayers. I wanted my prayer life to be heartfelt and meaningful and I knew that those written down prayers would never get me there. Have I mentioned the appalling lack of humilty in my life?
In the end, I finally got to the point where I cried out to the Lord (Took me long enough.) and He said “It’s about time you asked. You know that rosary you told me you’d never use? Go get that.”
“Huh? No Lord, (that’s right up there with ‘but Lord’ for getting slapped around) you misunderstood me. I want a real and heartfelt prayer life. You can’t do that with the rosary.”
“I’m sorry RNW, but weren’t you the one asking for my help? How would you know that praying the rosary can’t be the beginning of a real and heartfelt prayer life? Have you tried?….now. go. get. the. rosary.”
I got the rosary. And as with so many other things I had scorned and scoffed at, it was indeed a source of great grace in my life and the beginning of my real and heartfelt prayer life. (Which, I should hasten to add, is far from as real and heartfelt as it should be lest you think I am any less arrogant than I was when I started this whole process.) In addition to the rosary, I have discovered that those Catholic prayer books that I had belittled had some real serious food for the soul in them….like so many other things Catholic that I denied myself, those written down prayers are a window into the prayer lives of spiritual giants and you know what? I have learned that I need to be humble enough to learn from them. They have written down prayers for things I NEVER would have thought to pray for on my own because I am just not charitable enough or humble enough or knowledgeable enough to even think such holy, charitable or humble things. Maybe rote prayers are crutches. I certainly admire those who have a rich and deep extemporaneous prayer life. I tried for years to develop one of those and I can confidently say that without the use of those crutches I’d have never gotten off the ground. Ironically, now that I use the rosary and pre-written prayers, my extemporaneous prayer life is also quite rich and healthy. Go figure.
All of this to say this. I have become quite fond of Catholic prayer books. I am always looking for new insights for my prayer life. I recently found an old copy of Blessed Be God (the link will take you to the reprinted verison which I didn’t know existed until I got my hands on the old one) and have really enjoyed it. Just the other day I happened on an idea that never occurred to me before the the whole purpose of this blog entry is to share that idea. I found it in the “Prayers for Mass” at the “Memento for the Dead”
I offer Thee again, O Lord, this holy Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Thine only Son, in behalf of the faithful departed, and in particular for the souls of [here name who you chiefly purpose to pray for], my parents [if dead], relatives, benefactors, neighbors, etc. Likewise of such as I have in any way injured, or been the occasion of their sin; of such as have injured me, and been my enemies; of such as die in war, or have none to pray for them. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and peace.
Now I am sure that many, if not most, of my readers are charitable souls that would have thought to pray for that part I put in bold type, but I tell you truthfully that until I picked up that prayer book and read, it never tripped even lightly across my mind to pray for those I had injured or those who I might have inadvertantly led into sin. Frankly, I had (ok, ok…HAVE) probably only the slightest notion of the injury that I have caused others and if I am being truthful the idea that I might have been an occasion of sin for someone else had NEVER occurred to me…..MUCH LESS to pray for these people. And I knew instantly that these people should have been on my prayer list from forever!! It took someone else’s thoughtfulness and kindness and holiness to spur me on. How many more years would it have taken me to develop the spiritual maturity to think these holy things ON MY OWN!? Personally I’m thinking forever wouldn’t be long enough for me to develop that kind of thoughfulness.
So it may be that those pre-written prayers are crutches. I salute those of you who are humble enough, holy enough, kind enough, etc. not to need them, but I need those crutches thankyouverymuch. I couldn’t even get off the floor, much less walk without them. So please, dear reader, if you happen to be one of those people who think that my prayer life would be better without them, I will concede that you may be right. If I was better and holier and more charitable I wouldn’t need these rote memorized prayers. Nevertheless, I will thank you very much to not attempt to kick my crutches out from under me.
