Protestants often claim the Catholic practice of praying the rosary is condemned by Jesus when he teaches against “vain repetitions” in Matthew 6:7. But is this true? Karlo Broussard gives the reason why the answer is no, and explains what Jesus meant by these words.
Transcript:
Does Jesus condemn praying the rosary in Matthew 6:7 when he says, as the King James renders it, “Use not vain repetitions as the heathens do”? Protestants think so.
What’s the Catholic response?
First, Jesus is not condemning repetitious prayer per se. If he were, then he would be condemning himself since, according to Mark 14:39, he prayed multiple times “Father…remove this cup…not what I will, but what you will.” But that’s absurd!
Furthermore, right after Jesus condemns the “vain repetitions” of the Gentiles he commands the apostles, “Pray like this…Our Father who art in Heaven….” Does Jesus intend for us to only say it once? Are we forbidden to repeat the Our Father? Of course not!
Finally, if we accept the objector’s interpretation of Matthew 6:7, then we would have to condemn the four angels of Revelation 4:8 singing day and night without ceasing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty…” Of course we don’t want to do that!
So, what was Jesus condemning? He was condemning Gentile prayers, which were meaningless or mindless repetitious prayers, as the Greek word battalogesete suggests. The Gentiles recited prayers only to appease their gods. They were, as the RSV translates it, “empty phrases,” having nothing to do with expressing one’s love for and trust in God. They would simply say the words and that’s it—they could go on their merry way and live their lives like they wanted. That’s what Jesus is condemning, not repetitious prayer like we find in the rosary.
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For Catholic Answers, I’m Karlo Broussard. Thanks for watching.