by Giuseppe Monno
Matthew 6:7–8
“In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will be heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Starting from this Gospel passage, some Protestant circles claim that repetitive prayers—such as the Rosary or litanies—are not pleasing to God. But is this really so? Absolutely not.
In fact, nowhere in Scripture is repetition in prayer condemned as such. What Jesus criticizes is rather the empty, mechanical, and faithless use of words—not their repetition when it is animated by sincere devotion.
The expression “do not babble” refers to a superficial way of praying, based on the illusion that the sheer quantity of words can somehow “force” God to listen. It is this mentality that is rejected, not persevering, trusting prayer—even when it is repeated.
Moreover, Scripture itself offers numerous examples in which repetitive prayer is not only present but also pleasing to God.
Psalm 136 (135 in the Greek-Latin numbering) repeats twenty-six times the refrain: “for his faithful love endures for ever” (vv. 1–26), transforming repetition into an act of steadfast praise.
Psalm 150, which concludes the Psalter, is structured as a series of urgent calls to praise the Lord (vv. 1–6), as if inviting all creation into a single chorus.
The Prayer of the Three Young Men in the furnace (Daniel 3:52–90) contains over forty repetitions of the formula: “Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,” forming a cosmic litany of blessing.
Jesus himself, in teaching how to pray, gives the disciples a formula meant to be repeated: “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9–13), which the Church has received as the model of all prayer.
And again, in Gethsemane, he prays by repeating the same words three times: “My Father, if this cup cannot pass me by without my drinking it, your will be done!” (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44), showing that repetition can express trusting surrender and perseverance.
Finally, in Revelation (4:8), the four living creatures around God’s throne never cease day and night to proclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; he was, he is and he is to come!”—an unceasing, deeply repetitive praise, yet perfectly pleasing to God.
All these examples clearly show that repetitive prayer, when animated by faith, is not only permissible but also pleasing to God.
In Matthew 6, Jesus does not condemn repetition in itself, but rather the pagan attitude of those who think they can obtain something from God by multiplying long and empty formulas, devoid of genuine inner involvement. Pagans believed they could persuade or even “compel” the deity through magical practices or mechanical rites.
Jesus, on the contrary, teaches us that God is a Father who already knows our needs before we express them. For this reason, prayer is not a means to bend God’s will, but an act of trust, relationship, and surrender to him.
Catholics, in their prayer, do not rely on the quantity of words, but pray with love, faith, and hope, just as Scripture teaches. The repetitions in the Rosary or in litanies are not empty formulas, but expressions of a love that is continually renewed—just as happens between two people in love who never tire of saying “I love you.”
And if human beings do not tire of hearing words of affection from those they love, how much more does God—who is infinite Love—delight in the sincere words of his children. Like the angels, who ceaselessly praise God with the same invocation, so too can we repeat our prayers with a pure heart—and God receives them with joy.