Lord is certainly an action praised by Scripture (Ps. 77:12; St. Luke 1:49).
The sublimity of the first Joyful Mystery alone (the Incarnation) is a truth
so awesome that it goes to the heart of God’s own love for humanity.
Catholics have, for almost eight centuries, obtained many spiritual and
temporal benefits from the faithful recitation of the Holy Rosary and know
that, together with their baptism, faith in Christ and obeying the Ten
Commandments, it will help them get to heaven.
Third objection: “The Bible condemns repetitious prayer, so how can
repeating Hail Marys be right?”
This objection is usually raised by those Protestants who use the King
James Version of the Bible that incorrectly translates St. Matthew 6:7 as
follows: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for
they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
The critical Greek word in St. Matthew 6:7 is ‘battalogesete’. It literally
means to “babble.” The Revised Standard Version of the Bible more
appropriately renders this verse in these words: “And in praying do not
heap up empty phrases (babble) as the Gentiles do; for they think that they
will be heard for their many words…” Our Lord was not intending to
condemn repetitious prayers per se but rather the use of many empty
phrases. We know this also from the fact that Christ Himself repeated the
same prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane three times: “So, leaving them
again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words”
(St. Matt. 26:44).
Furthermore, it was the custom of the Jews to praise God singing the
Psalms in the Temple, in the synagogues and in Jewish homes. Christ
Himself would have often sung the Psalms in public and in private. St. Paul
in Colossians 3:16 exhorts Christians to continue in the singing of psalms.
Christ and the early Christians therefore would have often sung Psalm 136
(135), a wonderful example of a prayer that praises God with the words
“for his steadfast love endures forever” repeated twenty-six times!
Finally, Martin Luther had fond words for the Hail Mary, and certainly
recommended his followers to recite it:
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