Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I wanted to share with you an exurb that I found very interesting in my reading of “The Usual Suspects” authored by Dr. Karl Keating published by Ignatius press San Francisco. In this passage Kr. Keating gives a really good explanation on the topic of Rosary. I have taken this exurb straight from the book, without changing the text as written by the author. I would think that after reading this passage, it will help our Catholic brothers and sisters to defend this practice of the Church and help non-Catholics to understand “Why Catholic’s pray on the beads”? or pray to our Lady for her intercession.
“The usual complaint about the rosary is that it violates Matthew 6:7, which reads this way in the King James Version: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” “See”, say non-Catholics, “you Catholics repeat prayers, and Jesus told us not to do that!” Did he really? Then how does one account for what happened in the garden of Gethsemane? There Jesus prayed the same prayer three times-that is, he repeated the prayer. Did he violate his own injunction? Was he a hypocrite? No, that is impossible, which means non Catholics are wrong when they claim Jesus condemned repeated prayers. Read Matthew 6:7 again. The operative world is not “repetitions”. It is “vain”. Jesus condemned vain prayers, such as those to nonexistent pagan gods. (Dr. Keating)
The rosary is an intensely biblical prayer. It contains not only the Our Father, which Jesus himself taught us, but also the Hail Mary, which is built of verses lifted from the Bible:
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28) and “blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). The meditations associated with each decade-Catholics usually call them “mysteries”-are also straight out of the Bible, but most non Catholics do not realize this. They think Catholics rattle off Hail Marys without giving a thought to what they are doing. Not so, when we pray the rosary we mediate on incidents in salvation history, such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection”. (Dr. Keating)
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28) and “blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). The meditations associated with each decade-Catholics usually call them “mysteries”-are also straight out of the Bible, but most non Catholics do not realize this. They think Catholics rattle off Hail Marys without giving a thought to what they are doing. Not so, when we pray the rosary we mediate on incidents in salvation history, such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection”. (Dr. Keating)
The rosary is an intensely biblical prayer. It contains not only the Our Father, which Jesus himself taught us, but also the Hail Mary, which is built of verses lifted from the Bible:
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28) and “blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). The meditations associated with each decade-Catholics usually call them “mysteries”-are also straight out of the Bible, but most non Catholics do not realize this. They think Catholics rattle off Hail Marys without giving a thought to what they are doing. Not so, when we pray the rosary we mediate on incidents in salvation history, such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection”.
Also, I would like to add that if we go by the non Catholics notion of prayers should not be repeated then, the prayer that Jesus taught “Our Father” should only be prayed once in the your lifetime. Because no where in the scriptures did Jesus say to only say the Our Father once in your life time and never repeat it again. In the similar manner then the Angels (Seven Spirits) that stand before his throne should stop repeating “Holy of Holy’s” to the might Father. But, in reality Our Father likes repetitiveness. So, pick up your rosary and you will see how much power it possesses, meditate on the mysteries and call out to our Lady for her help, she will come to your rescue. “Guaranteed”
I hope dear friends this article will not only help you to defend this personal devotional practice, but will assist non Catholics to see that praying the rosary is remembering the mysteries, asking for the intercession of our Lady to take our prayers to her son Christ Jesus.
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28) and “blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). The meditations associated with each decade-Catholics usually call them “mysteries”-are also straight out of the Bible, but most non Catholics do not realize this. They think Catholics rattle off Hail Marys without giving a thought to what they are doing. Not so, when we pray the rosary we mediate on incidents in salvation history, such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection”.
Also, I would like to add that if we go by the non Catholics notion of prayers should not be repeated then, the prayer that Jesus taught “Our Father” should only be prayed once in the your lifetime. Because no where in the scriptures did Jesus say to only say the Our Father once in your life time and never repeat it again. In the similar manner then the Angels (Seven Spirits) that stand before his throne should stop repeating “Holy of Holy’s” to the might Father. But, in reality Our Father likes repetitiveness. So, pick up your rosary and you will see how much power it possesses, meditate on the mysteries and call out to our Lady for her help, she will come to your rescue. “Guaranteed”
I hope dear friends this article will not only help you to defend this personal devotional practice, but will assist non Catholics to see that praying the rosary is remembering the mysteries, asking for the intercession of our Lady to take our prayers to her son Christ Jesus.
Reference: The Usual Suspects by Dr. Karl Keating; published by Ignatius press
