Editor’s note: This week we bring to you a three-part mini-retreat devoted to reflecting on our individual and communal prayer. The retreat was written by Joe Paprocki, D.Min., author of 2027: A Book of Grace-Filled Days.
Family Heirlooms
I was born in 1959, right before the Second Vatican Council, so I remember slightly the Latin Mass and the beginnings of my religious formation with the Baltimore Catechism. Of course, the approach employed with the Baltimore Catechism included a fair amount of rote learning, or memorization. Following the Second Vatican Council, the religious formation I received was very different in nature and involved little rote learning. (While that resulted in a “deficiency” in my formation that I’m going to address, I am not one to bash the catechesis that took place after Vatican II; many wonderful things came out of that period.)
The result was that, like many of my generation, I grew up without the ability to recall things from memory that my older siblings and my parents were capable of recalling. Most of them could rattle off traditional prayers and doctrinal formulas, such as the Mysteries of the Rosary, the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, the virtues, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, with no trouble. Not me.
This became quite evident in the late 1990s, when as a catechetical consultant for the Office for Catechesis of the Archdiocese of Chicago, I visited a parish where a group of 50 or 60 senior citizens was undertaking a study of the newly published Catechism of the Catholic Church. After I introduced myself and told them that I was there to support them and act as a resource, the facilitator thanked me and asked everyone to stand and begin by praying the Memorare.
I couldn’t get off the stage in time. I stood there, lip-synching a prayer I had never been taught to take to heart, or memorize. I felt like less of a Catholic than the rest. I know many people my age and younger who feel the same way.
Traditional prayers are like family heirlooms passed on from one generation to the next. They permit us to join our voices together to pray communally, which is a distinctively Catholic notion. They also provide us with words when we sometimes cannot find words of our own to pray.
Is catechesis all about memorizing? No. However, there is a place for taking to heart certain prayers, Scripture passages, and doctrinal formulas so that we can carry with us, in our hearts and minds, the words of our Catholic faith.
Reflection Questions
Choose one of the following questions, and share your thoughts with your fellow retreatants by adding your comments below this post.
- What is your favorite traditional Catholic prayer? Why?
- If you memorized prayers and doctrinal formulas as a child, who was responsible for that? Parents? Teachers? Catechists?
- What traditional prayer do you not know by heart that you would like to learn?
- What traditional prayers are you intent on passing on to the next generation?
Prayer
Pray the Memorare or the Anima Christi.
CCC References: Appendix of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechist Joe Paprocki has offered us yet another meaningful spiritual exercise. Thank you Sir.
In moments of temporary victory-like or temporary defeat-like situations, I find the Suscipe prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola very uplifting and soothing.
Even for other fellow pilgrims on journey, such a prayer can be comforting:
“Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”
My parents taught us the traditional prayers of Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Guardian Angel Prayer, and the Catholic Grace before meals prayer.
I think I learned The Rosary in Religious Education? I remember that I did enjoy learning from the Baltimore Catechism.
I taught my children the same prayers my parents taught me.
I wish I had more prayers memorized. I, too, move my lips out of embarrassment and pretend to know the words when a prayer that I don’t know is prayed in Church.
My favorite prayer is the Magnificat. Although I’m thankful for Vatican II, I appreciate my having grown up prior to it and having to memorize the Baltimore Catechism and so many other prayers and Scripture texts. At the time they may have been rote learning but now they are comforting friends I can call on for solace and peace. Through the years I have memorized other verses from the Bible, Psalms like, Psalm 23, the Anima Christi, the Suscipe and many other prayers and texts. That early relying on memorizing has helped me through the years.
I value the prayers learned by heart and the concepts drilled into us. Not sure where folks can acquire that these days. Maybe by their own initiative. But the openness to a personal and dynamic relationship with God and Jesus is of great benefit and a revelation for many lifelong Catholics. Centering Prayer has been an enormous blessing as has the availabiltiy of Ignatian spirituality, the practices and the Spritual Excercises. My work with an Ignatian Spiritualtiy Center allows me to witness people blossom in new ways in their relationship to God.
At times I mourn the loss of the “old classic” songs we used to sing. I do identify with Joe Paprocki’s account of not knowing the words to prayers, but for me it’s all the prayers added to the rosary! I mumble my way through them when praying the rosary in a communal setting.
Thanks for your articles and the mini-retreat!
I love the phrase “take to heart”– it speaks of more than simple memorization. I grew up around the same time– I was in second grade preparing for First Communion the year of Vatican II and experienced a similar change in our religion textbooks. But I also remember standing up at noon every day in sixth grade to pray the Angelus. My favorite of these prayers is the Magnificat.
This prayer may or may not be Catholic. It was passed down from my grandfather to my Dad and now to me, all of us cradle Catholics.
“Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, pity me a little child. Fill my heart with heavenly grace until I greet your heavenly face.”
Hi Joe…For most all of my adult life, the Nicene Creed was a prayer that I didn’t understand, seemed boring and droned every time it was said at mass and couldn’t wait to “get it over with”. Like Wednesdays are called “hump day”, I would feel like mass was on the downhill side of being over. My faith journey significantly changed after retiring as a contracts attorney. As you could imagine, attorneys are highly focused on how words impact any agreement and relationship. I felt called to memorize the Nicene Creed because there were so many words loaded with rich meaning. As I began to unpack the words and phrases, I realized what made this prayer such a beautiful gift. The Nicene Creed captures a beautiful, yet succinct description of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and the belief of our Catholic Faith Tradition all in one prayer. I find The Creed comforting as it brings me Peace and reinforces my understanding of what Catholic our faith stands for.