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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Vain Repetition

One of Candy's favorite accusations against the Catholic Church is that we are guilty of "vain repetition" through prayers such as the rosary. We have discussed the topic here on our blog, and I see that Barbara Curtis is having that discussion on her blog currently, in case anyone would like to join the discussion.

See, talking about differences can be helpful in understanding each other. Making declarations and not allowing a response is not.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never understood this concept that even saying the Lord's prayer would be vain repetition. (Although on teaching practice I did notice some children were reciting, "Our Father who's lost in heaven Howard be I name." which does kind of lose the meaning a bit.)

Anonymous said...

"The repetition of the "Hail Mary" prayer is supposed to keep one side of your brain busy, so that you can meditation on a Biblical "mystery" such as the crucifixion of Our Lord, without distraction. The repetition of the words is supposed to keep your mind from wandering, so that you can more fully meditate on the event from scripture."

What EXACTLY are you 'meditating' on? What are you thinking about as you say the same thing over and over and over? I do not understand how this could possibly work. Does it serve to put you in a trance?

Kelly said...

There are no trances involved. I don't mean meditate in the sense of Asian religions, but "to contemplate."

For the mystery of the crucifixion, I might think about the physical suffering that Christ endured. I might think about how humiliating it would be to die as a criminal, in a public way, and naked. I sometimes think of how Jesus must have wished that his mother didn't have to be there watching her son die, and how hard that must have been for her.

Or I think that Jesus knew who each and every person there was, what their life was like, and their sins, and he was aware that his death was for them, even those nailing him to the cross and taunting him.

There are so many things to contemplate for each scene of the rosary. It is usually easy to meditate for the space of time it takes to say ten prayers. The prayers are a way of marking the time, and keeping your mind from wandering.

Elena LaVictoire said...

In a nutshell, here are the mysteries of the rosary that Catholics use for praying the rosary

Unknown said...

Part of a comment Candy left on The Anna Matrix blog's post regarding the Twilight books. http://www.xanga.com/Anna/685342174/item.html )
Always the Catholics....

"Anyhoo, I wanted to put something out there regarding vampires. There really are vampires. Those in the highest degrees of Satanism - I mean real Satanism, not the games of the CoS - become vampires before they reach the highest level of Ipsismus. These vampires are given special herbs which have the side effect of making them ~very~ sensitive to light, but the herbs also make them feel very strong, agressive, and powerful. They start hungering for blood, and are require to become Old Order Roman Catholic Priests (I am NOT making this up!) and do Mass. Every time they do Mass, they are REALLY trying to turn the wine into blood, and not just delude themselves like Roman Catholics do. Some ex-Satanists claim that there were some times when they really did turn the wine into blood."

The rest of her comment is quite "interesting" too!

Kelly said...

Candy has mentioned that claim several times on her blog. I'd like to know exactly what an "Old Order Catholic" is. Sounds like she's thinking of the Amish to me!

Most people consider the book she references to be something of a joke, very similar to the Jack Chick conspiracy theories.

Milehimama @ Mama Says said...

There is a deviant sect called "Old Catholics". They separated in the 1850's, and currently claim their Apostolic lineage from some bishop in Brazil... I accidentally attended one of their masses once when I was visiting a new town.

But I really don't think that's what she means, could she possibly be talking about the Traditional Catholics?

She has personally called ME a vampire (and a witch) in comments and her Meez room.

Kelly said...

Milehi, I think she specified once that the "vampire" had to be ordained in the latin mass, so she probably means SSPX or something along those lines.

Wasn't Old Catholic what Sinead O'Conner was ordained as a priest in? I remember wondering how old they could be if they had priestesses.