"Through His Word, God speaks
to man. By words, mental or vocal, our prayer takes flesh. Yet it is
most important that the heart should be present to Him to whom we are
speaking in prayer: 'Whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on
the number of words, but on the fervor of our souls.' (St. John
Chrysostom, Ecloga de oratione 2: PG 63, 585.)" CCC 2700
I will deal briefly here with the assertion that
praying the Rosary constitutes vain repetition, since that was an issue
with me when I first began considering Catholicism. The Reverends Rumble
and Carty give an excellent rebuttal to such objections, and I will quote
it in its entirety here:
"Christ said 'Use not vain repetitions as
do the heathen, who think in their much speaking to be heard.' Vain
repetition in the manner of heathens is forbidden, but not useful
repetition, which is not in the manner of the heathens. Vain
repetition relies mechanically upon the mere number of prayers or
formulas uttered. But Catholics do not rely on the mere repetition of
prayers, nor upon their multiplication, but on the intrinsic worth of
each prayer and upon the fervor and earnestness with which each prayer
is said. [Any prayer that is devoid of sincerity is indeed,
vain.] Two prayers said well, one immediately after the other, are as
good as the same two prayers said well with twenty-four hours between
them. Time is nothing to God, in whose sight 1000 years are but as a
day. He does not mind whether there be two seconds between our prayers
or two years; the prayers themselves are just as pleasing to Him. If you
take the principle [behind the objections to the Rosary] and push it to
its full conclusion, you could say the Our Father but once in your life.
If you said it once a year, it would be repetition. How often may you
say it? Once a month? Once a week? Once a day? If daily, what would be
wrong with saying it hourly? If you have just concluded one Our Father,
why may you not begin it again at once? Does it suddenly become an evil
prayer?"
If the objections against the Rosary
are to prevail, then these questions beg to be answered. It is not
repetition that Jesus condemns, but vain repetition. Would the
unceasing praises of the angels, singing "Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come," be considered vain
repetition?