Jul 6 Mon
Does it make sense to use vocal prayers?
Vocal prayer is a channel for our conversation with God.
Provided we do it with love, any kind of prayer, whether mental or vocal, puts us straight in contact with our God and makes us know him better and love him more.
We speak to God aloud, in words, to render him homage with our whole selves, our whole being, which is both soul and body, spirit and matter.
Only in the context of that personal, one-to-one relationship does vocal prayer take on its true meaning. Our vocal prayer must be an overflowing of love, adoration expressed externally.
When we pray aloud, our minds and senses come together. Words and phrases sing the glory of our God. Words of praise and supplication rise up to the throne of the Most High.
Since all Christians are one in the unity of Christ's Mystical Body, “your prayer should be liturgical. - I would like to see you growing fond of reciting the psalms and prayers from the missal, rather than private or special prayers."
What better prayers could we find to address to God than those He himself taught us? That is the reason why prayer should accompany the reading of sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man.
And among these prayers, the best vocal prayer of all is the one Jesus Christ himself taught us.
Our vocal prayer must never be something purely external. “Slowly. - Consider what you are saying, who is saying it, and to whom. - For that hurried talk, without time for reflection, is just noise, the clatter of tin cans."
Attention is the most important part of our struggle to say our vocal prayers well. Ten, the little details: pronouncing the words clearly, without rushing them, and avoiding routine even in our tone of voice. There has to be time for consideration, so that our words are accompanied by mental prayer and are the expression of interior acts, arousing thoughts and affections in us.
If ever our conversation with God starts to seem arid, our vocal prayers will be strong enough to carry our hearts with them.
“We start with vocal prayers, which many of us have been saying since we were children. They are made up of simple, ardent phrases addressed to God and to his Mother, who is our Mother as well.”
“First one brief aspiration, then another, and another… till our fervor seems insufficient, because words are too poor…: then this gives way to intimacy with God, looking at God without needing rest or feeling tired."
“The Rosary is like a handshake or a greeting. The warmth of the handshake depends on how much we like the other person." The external gesture, the words we say, are always the same, and have their own importance, but what counts is our love.
Thus, it is not a question of making superhuman efforts to avoid distractions, but of fighting to cut them short and pray with greater love every day.