No, the Rosary is not “vain repetition”; here’s why

From my “Ora Pro Nobis” column at The Catholic Answer

How often do we think of Christmas in April? In praying a daily Rosary, one will ponder the Nativity of the Lord, and the whole great mystery of His incarnation, twice a week, throughout the year. The entirety of the Gospel is therefore alive for us at all times, and the insights and consolations that arise from our contemplation, or the intentions of those whose names enter into our awareness, render the prayer continually changed, bead by bead, prayer by prayer, within each fleeting moment.

Finally, those fleeting moments are the key to why there is nothing either vain nor truly repetitious to these prayers.

When monastics pray the Divine Office in all of its solemnity, they are praying seven times a day, and each time they begin by intoning the words, “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.” The same might open each hour, but they are praying in a new moment; it is a new prayer. They may have prayed only two hours earlier, but everything is different than it was: the sun, the weather, even their energy. If you are praying a new prayer in a new moment, then, really, there is nothing repetitious about it!

We pray, and the mind, the intention, the awareness, all become rooted in that moment. Then the moment is gone; it will never return. Our fingers move to the next bead and we are literally in a “new” moment; our prayer in that moment becomes “new,” too.

Read the rest, here