It’s hard to escape repetition. It’s part of everyday life – in our work, our study, our recreation, our home lives, our social life and our prayer life.
In the gym, we do many exercises repeatedly because they are good for the body. We know them well and can execute them with a good result. Repetition allows us to challenge ourselves to improve.
I’ve probably done thousands of squats during my lifetime and will probably do thousands more, God willing. I never tire of the challenge and the benefits that many common exercises provide to the body.
The familiarity of repetitive activities can give us peace and joy. But can repetition turn into boredom? Most certainly. Perseverance and fortitude help us do the same thing over and over to produce predictable, yet beneficial, results.
In turning to our prayer lives, we can also reflect on the role of repetition. I pray the rosary daily and the Divine Mercy Chaplet as well – and I never tire of either. I believe, in this case, God’s grace flows through these beautiful prayers to lift and move my heart to Him. The Hail Mary prayer unites me to Jesus through Mary, and a sublime calmness and grace come with meditating on the beautiful mysteries of the life of Jesus.
Repetition and constancy provide freedom to let Jesus carry, teach and free me from things of the world – if only momentarily. In Colossians 3:2, St. Paul says, “Set your mind on things above, not earthly things.” I believe this longing lives in every human heart.
It is a gift to pray the rosary and chaplet while walking, using SoulCore prayer and movement, praying aloud with others or nestling in my lounger with a dog on my lap. For me, the repetition is salve on a wound. It is healing, restful and life-giving.
The rosary connects me to Jesus through Mary in a deep and personal way, and I believe it’s the repetitive nature of the prayers that cracks open my heart, little by little, to let more of Jesus in.
Pope Paul VI said, “By its nature the recitation of the rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are unfolded.”
The lingering, the pondering, the meditation, the quiet rhythm of prayer lead us to gentle places where, we hope, lies a deeper connection with the Holy Trinity.
I’ve never thought the word “monotony” describes the prayers of the rosary as it seems like a negative word. St. Josemaria Escriva, however, used it: “Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Marys which purifies the monotony of your sins!”
Don’t we often repeat and confess the same sins over and over – and I’ve never made a correlation between repetitive prayer and repetitive sins. Praise God for the wisdom of the saints.
And just as we pray repetitively and confess repetitively, we see Jesus pouring out His mercy to us repetitively as his mercy endures forever.
From Psalm 136:1-4: “Praise the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the God of gods; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the Lord of lords; for his mercy endures forever; Who alone has done great wonders, for his mercy endures forever.”
I pray that we have eyes to see and ears to hear the glory and the gift of repetition in its many forms, in every aspect of our lives, but most especially in our spiritual lives.