Is there anything wrong with repetitive prayer like the rosary? A Catholic church official answers

A Catholic church official recently said there is nothing wrong with repetitious prayer like the rosary.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan explained that each time people pray the rosary, they are saying “I love you” to Mary and to Jesus.

“It is not redundant to say I love you to someone dear. It is never repetitious to say I love you,” Villegas said in a news report released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“And so it is with the Hail Mary. It is never redundant, it is never repetitious, it is never too much to repeat the Hail Mary,” he added.

Villegas issued the statement to address misconceptions of some religious groups in praying the prayers of the rosary repetitiously.

Some religious groups claimed that Jesus did mentioned in the bible that His people should not repeat the same prayer over and over as though God did not hear His people.

However, Villegas stressed that it is “never too much” to repeat the prayer in the rosary “because every Hail Mary is a rose of love to the Virgin Mary and to Jesus her son.”

He also said that the rosary “is the word of God or the life of Jesus on beads.”

“So when we reflect on the mysteries of the rosary, we are actually reflecting on Jesus himself, on the life of Jesus and we want that life to be ours,” the archbishop noted.

The holy rosary is a string of beads used for keeping count on prayers as they are recited.

The prayers that comprise the rosary are arranged in sets of 10 Hail Marys, called decades.

Each decade is preceded by one “Our Father” and followed by a “Glory Be.”

During recitation of each set, thought is given to one of the “Mysteries of the Rosary,” which recall events in the lives of Jesus and Mary.

On why the Church honors the Blessed Mother, Villegas said God himself honored Mary, by finding her worthy to be the mother of His only son.

“So the first to honor Mary was not a mortal like you and me, the first to honor Mary was God Himself,” the archbishop said.

“And in honoring Mary, we imitate God Himself,” he added.

The archbishop invited the faithful to pray the rosary, saying that its power lies in the hands of the people.

“And if all of us can turn to Our Lady, through the rosary, we can see changes in our lives we can see wishes fulfilled, we can see peace achieved,” Villegas concluded.

The Catholic church marks October as the month of the holy rosary.