Many have heard mention of the Rosary (both here and elsewhere), and may wonder what it is... it is many hundreds of years old, and is not just for catholics.
It consists of the following scriptural prayers:
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The Apostoles Creed https://billygraham.org/answer/what-is-the-apostles-creed/
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The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) https://www.praywithme.com/the-lords-prayer.html
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Hail Mary (Luke 1:28, Luke 1:42, +petitioning Mary to pray for us, both now and while we are dying)
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Glory Be (Doxology/Praising of the Triune God) Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, in now and will be forever, amen.
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Fatima Prayer (optional) Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.
The above is the "Body" of the Rosary.
The "Soul" of the Rosary is, during prayer, meditating upon a set of 5 scriptural stories. These are grouped into 4 sets, with focus on Jesus' infancy and childhood, his public ministry, his passion, and his glory. Scriptural Meditation is not easy, but consists of bringing yourself into the scene being meditated on. What is little realized, is Jesus, being God, is aware of every one visiting him in this way -- even at the time of the original event (!)
The rosary is a most powerful prayer against the devil and all enemies of God. Two historical examples (there are others) where the tide was turned by praying the rosary:
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The 1571 Battle of Lepanto - where Christian forces, greatly outnumbered by Muslim naval forces, turned to the spiritual weapon of the rosary, and a powerful wind and storm caused the Muslim ships to be defeated. This staved off Muslim expansion into Europe, keeping Europe Christian, and lasting (arguably), until recent times and the current loss of Christian faith there. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/how-the-1571-battle-of-lepanto-saved-europe.html
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Austria Saved from Communist Rule - in the early 1950's, Austria was occupied, by communist forces, and every indication was they would suffer the same fate as other iron curtain countries. A priest, recalling the Lepanto victory, roused up Austrians -- at least 10% of them, to pray the rosary for deliverance, and on May 13th, 1955, the Russians packed up and left Austria, without a shot being fired. https://choosing-him.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-rosary-frees-austria-from-communist.html
Another non- Biblical practice being promoted!
Matthew 6:7 JESUS SAID ...when ye pray, use not vain repetitions!
Um... who mentioned vain? And repetitions... Have you prayed the Lord's prayer (Our Father) more than once in your life? If a thing is worth doing, it may be worth repeating -- but not vainly. :)
No, what you are doing is filling your mind (at multiple levels) as well as multiple of your senses (especially using beads and vocal prayer), with loving contemplation of Jesus and his plan for us. Nothing more; nothing less.
It was an example of how we should pray, there is nothing about it being repeated parrot fashion - which is what catholics do. Prayer by rote, not real contact / conversation.
I’d like to add that petitioning Mary to pray on one’s behalf is not scriptural- she is gone from this world and not risen as Jesus is, yet prayer to Him according to this rosary post is “optional”. Mary has as much to do with this world and your well being as praying to a deceased ancestor.
Referencing the New Testament makes no claim that Mary is anything other than blessed (true), and no reference to petitioning anyone other than Jesus (who intercedes on our behalf to the Lord).
When the Apostles asked Jesus how to pray, his response in the Our Father was guidance. If the Rosary were needed, Jesus would have said so.
King James’ Bible, for reference. Much different than Holy Bible (Catholic teachings) but that is another discussion.
I will leave the following. Petition the Lord through prayer directly, in Jesus’ name. No intercession required.
It’s interesting that Catholics put an emphasis on women (Mother Mary) & Protestant don’t. I find it interesting that denying women a roll model in their church has been the downfall of our society - if Catholicism was aloud to flourish in the US, it might remind women not to be such whores.
Perhaps our civilizations could benefit from giving women a roll model & to chase after chasity.
Its praying to the dead - another satanic non-biblical practice. Also, Mary Queen of Heaven is Astarte. Catholicism is completely pagan, anti-Christ and satanic.
We wonder how people fail to see that the pandemic is fake, yet here we are seeing fake non-Christian practices being promoted and its being lapped up. How can people be so blind, specially when so much has been revealed about the Vatican and the poop?
There are none so blind...
Well, if there are Catholics praying in parrot fashion, I'm sorry. I can say though that even rote (or remembered) prayers, like repeating psalm 23, can have a very calming and focusing effect on us, towards God. But I agree that all prayer should include making real contact with God, and not be mindless.
This site, as I'm sure you're aware, is a good one for helping jar us out of assumptions and stereotypes. In all things, let us extract what is good and noble, and virtuous, and discard what is not.
God bless you.
Meditating on the words of scripture through repetition is learning and studying the word;
Praying through earnestness is how we cultivate our relationship with God. Prayer through repetition is fine as words and ideas often repeat, but a strict doctrine of the order of repetitious petition is not necessary.
The rosary is a man-made symbol, throw it away. You will not have a rosary in your pocket when you die, so let us present ourselves to the Lord as he has made us and as Jesus has instructed.
Have you read the Bible? Try this: http://www.mtc.org/rc_bible.html
I have read the entire bible (and by entire, I mean all 73 books), cover to cover, as well as thematically and by sections. As well, all Catholics hear 3 (during the week) or 4 (Sundays) scripture readings at every mass, as well as many other scripture references throughout. And the selection of readings covers all of the psalms every 6 weeks or so, and a great percentage of the entire bible every 3 to 4 years). In my experience, any practicing Catholic is far more exposed to far more of the bible than most protestants. For this reason, Catholics tend to quote scripture as did the scripture writers "... somewhere it says..." as they may not recall chapter and verse, but do recall the gist or content.
Thank you for the link, which I did read through. There are a number of fallacies and misunderstandings in it, unfortunately. If you were interested in a sincere dialogue on a single point at a time, I'd be opened to that. Create a new GAW post, and point me to it.
As a general principle, if you want to know what a group believes, start out by asking them.
A useful research tool, if you actually want to know accurately what Catholics do believe, and why, can be found here: https://www.catholic.com
The Lord's Prayer was simply a guideline on HOW to pray, a template, if you will.
Prayer is supposed to be a genuine conversation.
If your boss gave you a template for a business project, and you turned in the template on its due date, without making any changes to it, how do you think that would be received?
Not sure I follow... I get what you're saying about the conversation part, but not so much on the analogy. Are you saying God is offended if we use Jesus' words verbatim, praying the Lords prayer how he taught it? That somehow all our prayers should be ad-libbed/using our own words, to avoid using some 'template'?
I'll throw out something else, which you just reminded me of... and you may know this, but some may not... Which is that not all prayers even require words -- or can be expressed in human language. Many words could be spent on this (ironically), but by way of a short example... there was an old man who came into church every day, and sat quietly, often for hours. One day, someone asked him what he was praying about, and he just said, "I look at Jesus, and he looks back at me". This in fact is a type of conversation, of love, but not of words.
Well I knew somebody would be along soon to tell us what Jesus really would want us to do if he only had your wisdom. Carry on.
And that man was Yashua, who also happens to be the Son of God and the Messiah who died for all of our sins. Read His words for yourself.