Vain and Repetitious Prayer

Have you ever heard a non-Catholic tell you that repeating a prayer is unpleasing to God?  They will tell you that the Bible speaks against this practice and will usually point to the following passage: “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matt. 6:7).  As Catholics, aren’t we violating the word of God with such devotions as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet?  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite what our non-Catholic friends may say, the Scriptures do not speak out against repetitious prayers to God.  What they fail to understand is that when Jesus made this statement in Matt. 6:7, he was speaking about the nonsensical babbling of pagans to their gods – not the sincere prayers of the faithful. We read about them in 1 Kings 18:26-29, where the pagan prophets on Mount Carmel tried to invoke Baal all day long, repeatedly calling on his name and performing ritual dances

In Matt. 26:44, our Lord himself prayed the exact same prayer three times in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper.  In the Parable of the Determined Widow in Luke 18:-87, Jesus emphatically states that God hears those who keep petitioning him in sincere faith:  “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” In Luke 18:13, the tax collector kept beating his breast and praying, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”  This was pleasing to God. 

We see in Rev. 4:8 that the angels pray the same prayer day and night without ceasing in the presence of almighty God, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.”  Psalm 136 goes on for 26 verses in a row, repeating the exact same prayer, “God's love endures forever”.  Similarly, in Dan. 3:56-88 we read the exact same prayer for 32 verses, which is “bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.”  This is far more repetitious than a decade of the Rosary.

Could any of these examples be considered the vain repetitions that Jesus spoke against?  Of course not.   When reading the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus himself recited these prayers in repetition. Rom. 1:9, Rom. 12:12 and 1 Thess. 5:17 all command us to pray without ceasing. Whether they are prayers of adoration, repentance, contrition or petition - God loves us immensely and never tires of hearing our prayers.