Prayer

[emjay]

Can you give an example - even if it's made up - of what you mean by a meditative prayer? And also, aren't most Catholic prayers basically scripted... all these affirmations you have to do... which seem basically like constant oaths of allegiance?

Any prayer can and should be "meditative". By meditative I mean that it gives us some quiet time to reflect and gather our thoughts. I think that's always a good thing to do, regardless of whether it's through meditation or prayer. There are scripted prayers for those who prefer it, but we are just as much encouraged to do our own. 

The scripted prayers you refer to, such as the Hail Mary and the Our Father can be that way as well. There's a difference between just repeating them mindlessly in your head, and really thinking about the words being said. The Hail Mary prayer is about asking her to pray for us (we fill in what we want her to pray for), and the Our Father asks for forgiveness for anything we may have done wrong (which we then reflect on), it asks for the grace to forgive others for having wronged us (again, reflect on that), and then asks for the strength to avoid whatever temptations we might have to act wrongly. Both also have what I suppose you would call an "oath of allegiance" in the beginning.

Fair enough, that sounds pretty cool... certainly not what I was referring to when I was describing prayer. Still externally directed... but then that will always be the case if someone believes in a god... but reflective as well. Imo, reflection is the most important thing so if you get some of that it's all good And in the case of the scripted prayers, it sounds like it could be likened to a meditative mantra, which is also good for reflection and cementing as it were, positive ideas.

PS What I meant by 'oath of allegiance' was what I read in the 'Catholicism for Dummies' book a while ago. I can't remember the details but it was basically reciting, ritually on a regular basis, the beliefs that all Catholics are supposed to believe. And that's why I likened it to an oath of allegiance.