“Why do we repeat the same thing over and over again?”
If we are honest with ourselves, we’ve all had similar thoughts about the rosary at one time or another. It is, after all, seemingly so unproductive. But if we try to see each moment of recited prayer as day-forming and soul-forming, the humble act of regular vocal prayer may become more appealing.
In speaking the words of the prayers, we are claiming the territory of our day for God. We are submitting to the shaping of our day and our souls by God’s hand.
“We create words but they are also our mothers, and to some extent they shape us. The words of a prayer get us safely through a dark valley, lead us towards green pastures rich in water, and enable us to feast in the presence of an enemy,” Pope Francis said in 2021. “Words are born from feelings, but there is also the reverse path, whereby words shape feelings.”
Left to our own devices, it is easy for us to slip out of the practice of prayer and end up in no man’s land without rote prayers to guide us. We believe ourselves to be praying but in the place of the praise and thanksgiving that is God’s due, we find ourselves making to-do lists and planning our next big project.
Anyone who has tried to cultivate a daily habit of prayer knows it is not always a time of peace and eagerness. As we read in the Catechism, “prayer is a battle.”
“Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort… prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. We pray as we live, because we live as we pray.”
Often once we’ve committed ourselves to a particular time of prayer, opportunities to skip out quickly begin to surface along with restlessness and excuses. There is a reason why the Bible refers to God desiring the “sacrifice of praise.” The psalmist refers to praise as effort as well. When we set out to praise, we set out to work.
To love well requires effort. To give a good gift requires effort. Prayer likewise requires effort and good will.
In an unassuming little booklet from the ‘90s called Miracle Hour, author Linda Schubert lays out a simple method of prayer that she touts will “change your life.” Given that there are more than one million copies of the booklet in print, there must be something to the claim. There is nothing groundbreaking in the way Schubert describes prayer—she breaks the hour into 12 sections ranging from praise to thanksgiving—but the attractive features of the book are the prayer guides for each section. The success of the little booklet is the way it organizes and gives the reader (or pray-er) the time and space to read prayers and reflect.
We don’t all need to run out and buy Miracle Hour. But perhaps we all need to commit to a basic framework for those grey days when our soul feels tired, apathetic, or sorrowful. We need an arsenal of memorized prayers and “ol’ faithfuls” to which we can return again and again.
“The prayer of the lips that is whispered or recited together is always accessible and is as necessary as manual labour,” Pope Francis said.
“The words we speak take us by the hand; at times they restore flavour, they awaken even the sleepiest of hearts; they reawaken feelings we had forgotten. And they lead us by the hand towards the experience of God,” the Pope said.
“Jesus did not leave us in a fog. He told us: ‘when you pray, say this.’ And he taught the Lord’s Prayer.”
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