RESPONSE TO "ANONYMOUS"

ParishWorld.net Theology Editor responds to the recent comment of "Anonymous."


"You say you are asking Him to forgive when u are actually praising mary;"  We write Mary
Right you are.  By praising Mary in God’s presence, we are letting Him know that we are sorry for our sins and that we trust that by showing Him our deep reverence for His Mother that He will be generous with His merciful forgiveness of our trespasses.  What better way to show some atonement for our sins than to show Him that we are glad to talk to His mother in prayer.  We can praise her night and day if we want.  It is God that we adore, not her.  Do you adore God, or do you worship him?  Do you know the difference?
"the bible says not to pray repetitiously" The Bible?  Notice upper case “B” Are you afraid to quote the person who is credited in the Bible with that instruction?  Are you afraid to say that it is in the Gospel of Matthew?  We Catholics know our Bible too.  We Catholics also know that the instructions that are present in the Bible have a personal source.  We know that the personal source of the instruction is God Himself, and in the case of the instruction you mention about prayer, it is Jesus Himself, God Incarnate.  Yes, we Catholics believe that Jesus is God.  Do you?
You don’t quote Jesus but just say “the bible” because for you the Bible is a weapon that you use to sustain your hatred against Catholics.
Jesus, remember Him? told His disciples not to pray like the Pagans by repeating and using many vain sounds [that’s from the Greek, by the way].  This is the way of praying of the Pagans…the mantra.  This comes from the spiritualities of the Middle and the Far East and Jesus and His disciples knew this.  It’s a shame that you don’t.  So we pray by repeating the same prayer over and over again, but it is a prayer and it keeps rolling the spiritual thoughts through our consciousness.  We do not multiply sounds in the hope that the sounds themselves will have a spiritual effect.  That would be superstition.
"many other cults have prayer beads too" Thanks for the insult, Anonymous. But look at it this way.  Catholicism is a cult.  Catholicism and Orthodoxy are the first Christian “cults”.  The Bible that you so proudly refer to comes from Catholicism and Orthodoxy.  So you too, Mr/Ms Protestant must be a member of a cult.  Oh, maybe not.  I forgot Martin Luther, that Catholic Augustinian Monk upgraded your Protestantism to the level of an honest to goodness Religion.  Too bad I forgot about that.  Jesus must be very glad that Luther got Him that upgrade.
"..its not a new thing or a catholic thing...it is pagan...outright pagan:  Do you think for a single instant that we Catholics do not know where prayer beads come from?  Why do you Protestants constantly, in season and out of season throw that at us?  Do you think we are stupid?  Oh yeah, I forgot that too, yes, you do.  I do know that you don’t know that the Rosary is a meditation prayer dedicated to the 20 great historically important moments of Jesus’ life.  While we are praising Mary, we are thinking of Her Son who is going through life on His mission to save us.  Did you know that, Anonymous?  So while we are praising her, we are adoring Him.  Pretty neat trick.  Right?
It is also important to straighten out the definition of Pagan.  Notice I used the upper case there.  I have noticed that your computer doesn’t seem to have a shift key on it.  You have all the important words in your comment starting with a lower case letter.  So, do you know the definition of Pagan?  Really.  The Muslims use prayer beads.  Are they Pagans?  For all you know, you are a Pagan too.  Consider the Bible that you so proudly flaunt around.  Have you read it through, from page 1 through to the final Amen in the book of Revelation?  Do you know that the Bible is the source of God’s pedagogy to reveal himself to us?  If you use the Bible to win arguments against Catholics, you are the Pagan.  Think about that.  I mean it.
"Hail Mary..." how is that asking Jesus to forgive you?" I explained that to you above.  By the way, you do know that “Hail Mary”…is from the Bible, right?
"the Lords Prayer" is not a prayer but a model or outline on how to pray..but u all have to say it over and over again like robots  Ah, yes.  We’re back there again.  Plus, “The Lord’s Prayer” is not a prayer.  Well, in that case, Anonymous, call it “the Lord’s Plan for Prayer.”  You have to be consistent in your thought process.  You’re reaching here, I know you are.  You hate us “cultists” so badly that you’ll say anything to get us riled up.  You’re an interesting person.  Here’s why I think so.
You don’t pray the “Hail Mary;” you don’t pray the “Lord’s Prayer” because it is not a prayer to begin with. So you probably don’t pray too much.  Do you pray when you awaken in the morning?  Do you pray before meals?  Do you pray in the evening before retiring?  Do you pray during the day?  Do you pray for the people you love?  Do you pray for your enemies?  Do you pray the Bible?  Do you pray Hannah’s prayer?  Do you pray Solomon’s prayer?  Do you pray Moses’ prayer?  Do you pray Samson’s prayer?  How about the prayer of Abraham when he is bargaining with God about the people to be saved from Sodom and Gomorrah?  Do you pray Zechariah's prayer?  Do you pray Mary's "Magnificat"? Do you pray the Psalms?  That’s a lot of prayer.  Do you do any of it?  I doubt it, and here’s why:  I repeat, you don’t have enough respect for the Bible to write it with an upper case “B”.  That, Anonymous, is Paganism.