Prayers from the Heart

Non-Catholic Christian Criticism on memorized Catholic Prayers One of the members of our Rosary group brought up a comment of a member of the Couples for Christ criticizing the way Catholics pray –

Let me explain.

How we learned how to pray
I can only speak for myself on how I learned my prayers, but I’m almost sure you can relate to some of it.

The Catholic Mass where I grew up was said in Latin – not in vernacular, not even in English. The officiating priest, resplendent in shimmering white or gold, enveloped in bellowing incense muttered "secret" prayers during the entire Mass, usually with his back turned towards us. There was so much mystery. We even go to confession in that dark box in utmost silence.

Although there were English prayers available, for us to join the "in" crowd of acolytes, we were required to memorize all the prayers for the Mass in Latin. That was not my thing. I did not understand one bit of Latin – so I never got in. I believed then what I believe now: What I don’t understand I don’t get involved in.

I learned my prayers strictly through memorization. I drilled and practiced that I used to rattle off incantations with little or no prodding. I knew my prayers. Unfortunately, I never understood what they really meant. Nor did I take them to heart.

Why even bother? When I go to any church to hear Mass, I see everyone with the same distant and bored look, secretly glancing at their watches, making sure the priest did not go past the hour the Mass was supposed to end. And after that, everyone rushed home or wherever else they would have preferred to be. Our hour with God was done for the week. Prayers were investments – just in case indeed there was a God. Learning stopped.

Fast forward so many years and I finally realized what it meant to be a Catholic – loved it and here I am. The website and this newsletter was my way of sharing what I have learned in my journey of rediscovery.

Now, we ask why non-Catholics see us as dazed robots mumbling memorized prayers that do not work.

And why won’t they conclude so? They pray loud. They sing loud. They raise their voices to God. They sway. They clap. They raise their arms. They close their eyes tightly. They shout "Amen!" throughout the sermons. They are involved. They "share." They extemporize. They are SO visibly praying. They even dress to pray!

And maybe that is the problem.
 

We do not ask God loudly to provide us financial relief. That would be too revealing of our wrong decisions.

We do not ask God loudly to heal our aches and pains. That would be too revealing of our fragility.

We do not ask God loudly to heal others. That would be too revealing of our judgments.

To non-Catholic Christians not being able to extemporize to God loudly makes us incapable of talking to God from the heart. They probably also think that we are ashamed of how we pray, after all, we keep that to ourselves.

These presumptions do not bother me. If I wanted to be seen praying loudly, I’ll join their church. I do not believe image is everything.

Reciting traditional prayers by memory works as well as any prayers so long as we embrace each word, said in silence alone or aloud in Rosary groups, until it hurts.

I am confident God hears me - even if only my heart whispers my memorized prayers. I know this because I’m always given what I need.

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