Three years ago, during a catechesis on prayer, Francis said: "Please, let us not fall into the pride of despising vocal prayer. It is the prayer of the simple, the prayer that Jesus taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven...".
Scope
When we ask ourselves what is meant by a vocal prayer, it is not difficult for the mind to go at first to the Our Fatherto the Hail Mary and that splendid pairing of both sentences which, together with the Gloria to the Trinity, constitutes the Holy Rosary.
Then perhaps we realize that they also fall into the category from the sign and salute, the My Lord Jesus Christthe Hail or the Angelus to so many other prayer formulas, whether they are shorter, such as ejaculatories and litanies, or longer.
These include the Divine Office and the entire Mass, with its I confessthe Gloria, the Credo, the consecration of the Eucharistic species and everything else.
In short, vocal prayer is the elevation of the soul to God expressed in words, whether they are words of adoration, praise, gratitude, repentance, relief, lament, complaint, submission, supplication or any other verbal expression of filial dealings or relationship with Him.
And there is still more, as stated in n. 2700 of the Catechism of the Catholic ChurchThe words encompass both spoken and mental words.
All of which is equivalent to saying that vocal prayer includes personal and group prayer; the most popular and the less notorious, whether public or private, exterior or interior; the read and the spontaneous; that of one's own authorship and that composed or formulated by others; the prayed, psalmized or sung and, of course, the liturgical.
We thus discover a very broad and rich spiritual panorama - how could we pretend to despise it!
Native tradition
The Christian tradition of vocal prayer has clear antecedents in the Jewish psalms. In the Gospel of the infancy it is evident in the successive canticles of Mary (Lc 1,46-55)Zechariah (Lc 1,68-79) and Simeon (Lc 2,29-32).
Christ promoted this tradition. If supplication or supplication is one of the first and most classic manifestations of vocal prayer, the Gospel narrates that Jesus repeatedly urged his disciples to turn with promptness, reiteration and firm hope to their heavenly Father in the face of any need: "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." (Mt 7,7).
In addition, the Gospels collect living, practical and masterful examples from Jesus himself, illustrating different modes of vocal prayer. Here is a sample.
Of course, the Our FatherHe taught his immediate and future followers to first give glory to God, and then to ask him with complete confidence for useful and daily things, forgiveness of offenses and strength in the face of sin, as well as hope in the face of physical and moral adversity.
There are also frequent personal prayers of praise and thanksgiving to Christ, such as this one: "....I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to the simple." (Mt 11,25).
Or his filial acceptance of the crude divine will: "My Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me, not as I wish, but as You wish." (Mt 26,39).
Or his pitiful complaint pending on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27,46), which the bystanders heard and some interpreted in their own way. In that mortal tessitura, it undoubtedly constitutes a true prayer, probably emitted at a choppy rhythm of suffocation, which coincides with the initial phrase of the long Psalm 22, which -let us not forget- culminates with the recognition of the wise greatness of God's action, sometimes incomprehensible to men.
Deceptive image of the Rosary
Years ago, a college student confided in me:
–I didn't understand the Rosary before. Until I started praying it.
And from what he told me next the matter had to do with me, because apparently, some time ago, I had said something like:
–Cut the crap, Juan, and start praying at least one mystery.
I did not remember it. But he had caught the wave (of the Holy Spirit), he began to pray it and happy, very happy to understand and enjoy it, he was gradually expanding it. So much so that after a few months, he was already shelling out five mysteries.
El Rosario integrates various prayerful planes, all of them of great meditative and contemplative value, the most evident of which is the repetition of Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glories.
In view of this, there are those who emphasize the difficulty of maintaining attention. They are right. But this does not justify not praying it either, because things only work out when all the factors are harmonized.
And, if not, where is the intention, the ruminating on the mysteries, the time invested and stolen from other tasks, the very fact of praying it, the history of 98 percent of the saints canonized since the Middle Ages or the wisdom of Mary Most Holy in asking for it from then until today?
In the end, the Rosary is affection, affection for Her as a way to God. And to grasp this, it is necessary to pray it, as my friend Juan discovered.
In this sense, nothing could be further from the reality of a meditative and/or contemplative man or woman than to disdain vocal prayer. Among other reasons, because he or she uses it numerous times a day as an excellent resource for cultivating his or her interior life, either when celebrating or attending Mass, praying the Rosary and many other prayers, or as a fuel unequivocal of filial dealings with God.
Simplicity
Pope Francis affirms that the vowel "is the prayer of the simple".
Being simple is not the same as being simple, dull, insubstantial. Simplicity is one of the most endearing virtues. It does not denote unconsciousness or childishness, but a lack of duplicity, deceit and artifice. It is what Jesus praises in Nathanael when they meet on the banks of the Jordan (Jn 1,47). The simple person is honest and trustworthy. Hence, in turn, he trusts in God and prays to him with hope and perseverance. As a child, when he was a child, and later, with the appropriate maturity for each occasion.
One begins to pray with vocal prayers in childhood and, if there are no major crises, continues with them throughout one's life, while growing in an effective way in one's personal dealings and dialogue with God.
Thus it was pointed out St. JosemaríaWe begin with vocal prayers, which many of us have repeated as children: they are ardent and simple phrases, addressed to God and to his Mother, who is our Mother.
Still, in the mornings and afternoons, not one day, usually, I renew that offer that my parents taught me: O my Lady, O my Mother, I offer myself entirely to you. And, in proof of my filial affection, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart.... Is this not - in a way - a principle of contemplation, an evident demonstration of confident abandonment?" (Friends of God, 296)
In adulthood, there are those who begin or begin again with such prayers, depending on the type of conversion to God. ex novo to the Church, or to the faith abandoned since youth.
In such a case, we confessors have ample experience of penitents who come to be reconciled after five, ten or more years and who, when asked if they have prayed something during that period, however little, they say yes, that when faced with a difficulty or moved by a sudden impulse, they have sometimes found themselves praying one or more of the following prayers Hail Marys. To which it comes out spontaneous to gloss:-.You see, it is because of that prayer to the Virgin that you are here today.
