Whether the Litany of the Saints is the kind of “many words” prayer Christ condemns when he says, “Do not babble like the pagans”? (Matthew 6:7)
I prayed Lauds under a winter sky that looks like it was painted with a palette knife. Then Matthew 6:7 poked me in the ribs. Here’s the question that fell out of that.
In the style of St. Thomas Aquinas
FIRST OBJECTION: It seems that the Litany of the Saints is that “many words” prayer which Christ condemns, when he says: “In praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the pagans do, for they think they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7). For in the litany many invocations are repeated, and the same response is often resumed, namely, “pray for us.” Therefore it seems that such a prayer is condemned.
SECOND OBJECTION: Moreover, the pagans thought they would be heard because of their many words. But in the litany one asks again and again, “pray for us,” and thus it seems that confidence is placed in repetition rather than in God who knows what we need before we ask.
THIRD OBJECTION: Moreover, the pagans recited many names, hoping that by such enumeration they would force a response from the deity. But the litany also sets forth a long series of names. Therefore it seems to differ only in names, not in kind.
ON THE CONTRARY, our Lord in the garden repeated the same prayer (see Matthew 26:44), and the Psalms frequently repeat the same refrains. Therefore repetition of words is not of itself blameworthy.
I ANSWER THAT, Christ does not condemn prayer because it has many words simply, but because it is empty and vain, when a man thinks he will be heard by the mere multitude of words, as though God were moved by quantity, or as though divine help could be obtained by formula, enumeration, or verbal force. This proceeds from a false imagination of the divine, as if God were ignorant and needed informing, or reluctant and needed wearing down, or changeable and could be compelled.
But the Litany of the Saints, according to the intention of the Church, is not ordered to controlling God, but to communion in Christ. The saints are not invoked as alternative deities, nor as powers competing with God, but as friends of God and members of the Body of Christ, that their prayers may be joined to ours. And repetition, when it is attentive and faithful, is not empty. It gathers the mind, trains desire, and signifies perseverance. Therefore the litany is not the “many words” Christ condemns, unless someone prays it with a pagan interior logic, placing confidence in the number of invocations rather than in the Father who already knows what we need.
REPLY TO THE FIRST OBJECTION: Not every multiplication of words is forbidden, but that which is vain and empty. But the litany, when said devoutly and attentively, is not empty.
REPLY TO THE SECOND OBJECTION: If someone thinks he is heard by repetition itself, this is a defect and savors of superstition. But this is not the Church’s intention, which places confidence in God and asks the saints’ intercession as help, not as a technique.
REPLY TO THE THIRD OBJECTION: A list of names can be used in two ways. In one way, superstitiously, as if names compel a response. In another way, religiously, to honor God in his saints and to ask their intercession. And the litany uses names in this second way.
LATIN
Utrum Litania Sanctorum sit illud multiloquium quod Christus reprobat (Matth. 6:7)
Ad primum sic proceditur. Videtur quod Litania Sanctorum sit illud multiloquium quod Christus reprobat, cum dicit: “Orantes nolite multum loqui sicut ethnici; putant enim quod in multiloquio suo exaudiantur” (Matth. 6:7). In litania enim multae invocationes repetuntur, et eadem responsio frequenter resumitur, scilicet: “Ora pro nobis.” Ergo videtur quod talis oratio sit reprobandа.
Praeterea, ethnici putabant se exaudiri propter multitudinem verborum. Sed in litania iterum atque iterum dicitur: “Ora pro nobis,” et sic videtur quod fiducia ponatur in repetitione potius quam in Deo, qui novit quid nobis opus sit antequam petamus.
Praeterea, ethnici multa nomina recitabant, sperantes quod per talem enumerationem responsionem a numine extorquerent. Sed litania etiam longum seriem nominum proponit. Ergo videtur quod non differat nisi in nominibus, non autem in genere.
Sed contra est quod Dominus in horto eandem orationem iteravit (cf. Matth. 26:44), et in Psalmis frequenter repetuntur eadem refranes. Ergo repetitio verborum non est per se vitiosa.
Respondeo dicendum quod Christus non reprobat orationem propter multitudinem verborum simpliciter, sed propter vanitatem et inanitatem, quando scilicet homo existimat se exaudiri ex sola multitudine verborum, quasi Deus quantitate moveatur, vel quasi per formulam, enumerationem, aut vim verborum auxilium divinum obtineatur. Hoc autem procedit ex falsa imaginatione de Deo, quasi sit ignarus qui instruendus est, vel reluctans qui fatigandus est, vel mutabilis qui compellendus est.
Litania autem Sanctorum, secundum intentionem Ecclesiae, non ordinatur ad Deum cogendum, sed ad communionem in
Christo. Non invocantur sancti quasi dii alternatives, neque quasi potestates Deo concurrentes, sed sicut amici Dei et membra corporis Christi, ut preces suas nostris adiungant. Et repetitio, si cum attentione et fide fiat, non est inanis, sed mentem colligit, desiderium exercet, et perseverantiam significat. Unde litania non est illud multiloquium quod Christus reprobat, nisi aliquis eam ore pagano, ponens fiduciam in numero invocationum potius quam in Patre qui iam novit quid nobis opus sit.
Ad primum ergo dicendum quod non omnis multiplicatio verborum prohibetur, sed quae est vana et inanis. Litania autem, cum devote et attente dicitur, non est inanis.
Ad secundum dicendum quod si quis existimet se exaudiri ex ipsa repetitione, hoc est defectus et sapit superstitionem. Sed hoc non est intentio Ecclesiae, quae fiduciam ponit in Deo et sanctorum intercessionem petit ut adiutorium, non ut artem.
Ad tertium dicendum quod catalogus nominum dupliciter adhiberi potest. Uno modo, superstitiose, quasi per nomina responsio cogatur. Alio modo, religiose, ad honorandum Deum in sanctis suis et ad petendam eorum intercessionem. Et hoc modo litania nomina profert.