To Pray and to Pray:
two words, one single Christian soul
1. Starting point: a
pious confusion
In ordinary Spanish speech, “rezar” and “orar” are used as synonyms.
We say “Vou rezar (rezar) o rosário”, “we pray (rezamos) for the
sick ou, num registo mais solene, “let us pray (oremos)” at the beginning
of the liturgy. The Academia Real Espanhola recordes that
closeness: it defines “rezar” as “to address to God, or to a divine
or holy person, the prayers of a set text”, e “orar” como
“orar a Deus, vocal ou mentalmente”. The boundary,
apparently minor, is exactly the one that interests us: rezar
tends toward a fixed text; orar embraces every raising of the soul to God,
with or without words.
In uso litúrgico the clue is even clearer. The
priest never says “recemos” antes da coleta; ele diz
Vamos rezar.. And immediately afterward there is silence: because
praying (orar) includes interior silence, while praying (rezar) calls for a text.
When, on the other hand, we together lead an Our Father, we say
naturally “vamos rezar por ela (rezarlo)”. Language, wisely, has
preserved the difference that theology specifies.
2. Etimologia: de agendamento para
rezar
Ambas as palavras vêm do latim, mas por caminhos diferentes.
- Orar vem diretamente do verbo Latim
agendamento, o que significa to speak solemnly, to ask,
to beseech. A mesma raiz dá orátio (Fala, Oração)
orador (Aquele que fala em público) e oris (mouth).
Originally agendamento was the verbal act of one who addresses
with authority or with entreaty someone superior. The Christian tradition
applied it to dialogue with God. - Rezar vem do latim recitando
(recitar, ler em voz alta, repetir de memória), composto por:
re- (de novo) e citando (to call, to summon,
to pronounce). In the Romance evolution: recitare > rezar
(Castelhano) rezar/rezar (Português), recitando in
Italian is preserved as such while the devotional sense passes to
rezar. A raiz semântica do “rezar” carrega, portanto,
inscreved in it the idea of a text that is repeated, cited,
pronounced.
Essa diferença etimológica não é incidental: explica por que
rezar aponta mais naturalmente para vogal prayer with a
formula, e agendamento à interior act of raising oneself to
God em qualquer das suas formas.
3. To pray
according to the Catholic tradition: vocal prayer
O Catecismo dedica números 2700-2704 to vocal
prayer, which is the proper sphere of “rezar” in the strict
sentem-se.
“Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul
in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the
heart, following Christ’s example of praying to his Father and teaching the
Our Father to his disciples. ” (CCC 2722,
verify wording)
A oração católica (rezar) tem três características:
- Um texto fixo: the Our Father taught by Christ
(Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:2-4), the Hail Mary composed of the angelic salutation
and that of Elizabeth, the Apostles’ Creed, the Psalms, the Liturgy of the Hours, the
litanies, the Angelus, the Rosary. - Uma dimensão comunitária e eclesial: the words are not
mine, a Igreja ou o próprio Cristo dá-mos. That
is why the one who prays is never alone: he is inserted into the prayer of the whole
Mystical Body. - Repetição e memória do corpo: the lips, the
breath, the rosary beads, bowing, making the Sign of the Cross. The
CCC 2702 realls that “the need to involve the senses
in interior prayer corresponds to a requirement of our human
nature. We are body and spirit, and we experience the need to translate
our feelings externally” (verificar).
O CCC acrescenta um aviso decisivo: “Vocal prayer is an
indispensável element of the Christian life” (CCC
2701) but “it is not enough to pronounce the words
of a prayer outwardly; the attention of the heart is also necessary”
(CCC 2700, verify). To pray (rezar) without praying (orar) is, Saint
Teresa would say, to move the lips without the soul looking out.
4. To pray (orar): to raise the soul to
God
O Catecismo abre parte IV com uma definição que é a pedra chave:
"Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of
good things from God.” — Saint-John Damascene,
cited in CCC 2559 (verificar).
E um pouco mais cedo:
“Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and
man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man; it springs from the Holy
Spirit and from ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the
human will of the Son of God made man. ” (CCC
2564, verificar).
Rezar, portanto, é mais amplo do que rezar (rezar): it includes
vogal prayer, but also meditation on the Word, the
silent contemplation, the spontaneous aspiration, the simples being
before the Lord. That is why all praying (rezar) well done is praying (orar), but not
all prayer requires praying. Saint Thomas expresses it with sober
scholasticism: “Oratio est ascensus intelectus in Deum”, prayer
is the ascent of the intelligence toward God (Summa
Theologiae II-II, q.83, a.1, ad 2, verify). And he adds that
prayer is properly an “act of the pratical reason” by which
we ask of God what is fitting, but springing from the affection of charity.
5. The three
forms of prayer according to the Catechism
The CCC, in its article 3 on the life of prayer (numbers
2697-2724), distinguishes three fundamental
expressions:
a) Vocal prayer — CCC
2700-2704
“Through his Word, God speaks to man… Prayer is interiorized
to the degree that we become aware of him to whom we speak. ”
(CCC 2700, verificar).
It is the form common to all: children, the elderly, communities. It unites body and
soul. Its perfect model is the Our Father.
b) Meditação — CCC 2705-2708
“Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks
to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and
respond to what the Lord is asking. ” (CCC 2705,
verify).
The classic method: to read (Sacred Scripture, the Gospel of the day, the life
of a saint), to think, to let oneself be challenged, to decide. The lectio
divina dos monges e da Spiritual
de Saint- Ignatius of Loyola (composition of place,
application of the senses, colloquy) are supreme examples. Meditation,
says CCC 2708, “engages thought, imagination, emotion and
desire” (verificar).
c) Contemplative prayer
— CCC 2709-2719
“What is contemplative prayer? Saint Teresa answers: ‘Contemplative
prayer is nothing other than a close sharing between friends; it means
taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.’”
(CCC 2709, citando Livro de Sua Vida, chap.
8).
It is the summit: a simples gaze toward God, a loving silence, “the hearing of the
Word of God (CCC 2716), em que a alma “deixa Deus agir”.
Saint- John of the Cross descreves it as a “loving, general
e obscure knowledge” of the BelovedThe Ascent of Mount
Carmelo, II, 13-14, verify), and situates it in the dark night,
when God weans the soul from sensível consolations
in order to lead it into union.
6. Saint- Teresa: to pray is
to share with a friend
The Teresian quotation is probably the most beautiful definition of Christian
prayer ever written. In the Livro de Sua Vida, chapter 8,
number 5, she writes:
“Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing
between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves
us.”
The context is autobiographical: Teresa confesses the years in which her
prayer was “praying (rezar)” without interior prayer, and she discovers that
mental prayer is neither technique nor intellectual effort, but
a relação de amizade — and, like every friendship, it requires
time, frequency, solitude and the certainty of the other’s love. In
O Caminho da Perfeição (chaps. 24-29) she will teach that even
the Our Father, prayed slowly, leads to mental
prayer: “I am not asking you now to think about Him, nor to draw out many
concepts, nor to make great and subtle considerations with your
understanding; I am asking nothing more than that you look at Him” (O Caminho,
chap. 26, 3, verify).
Aqui está a ponte: to pray (rezar) the Our Father well is already
to pray (orar), se a alma olha para aquele que fala com ele.
7. Is praying the
Rosary only “rezar” or also “orar”?
This is the question that gives this site its name. The answer of
the Magisterium is categorical: the rosary is vocal and
contemplative prayer at the same time, and if the second dimension is missing it ceases to be
christian rosary.
Saint- John Paul II, na Carta Apostólica
Vírus de Rosarium Mariae (16 October 2002),
number 5, writes
“The Rosary, in fact, is nothing other than a method of contemplation… Without
contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the
risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas,
in violation of the admonition of Christ: ‘In praying do not heap up empty
phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many
words’ (Mt 6:7). 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. ” (RVM
12, often cited together with no. 5; verify the exact
attribution).
A estrutura do rosário explica: the vocal repetition of
the Hail Mary is a vehicle, not an endA alma reza com os lábios
"Hail Mary..." enquanto a mente e o coração
contemplar os mistérios — the Annunciation, the scourging,
the Resurrection — seen “pelo coração de Maria”. That is why
the rosary is at onze recitation (a fixed, communal, repeated text) and
mental prayer (meditation, savor, loving gaze).
8.
Pratical application: from mechanical praying (rezar) to praying (orar) from the heart
Quatro conselhos clássicos para que praying (rezar) may become
praying:
- Antes de começar, coloque-se na presença de Deus. It is the
first point of the Ignatian Exercícios: “a step or two before the
place where I am to contemplate… to lift up my mind and consider how
God our Lord beholds me” (Annotation 75, verify). Without this,
the lips move by themselves. - Reza devagar. Saint- Francis de Sales advises in
the Introdução à Vida Devota (parte II, cap. 1): “it is better
to say fewer prayers with devotion than many in haste and with
distraction” (verify). The hurried rosary kills
meditation. - Pare quando o coração estiver inflamado. Saint Teresa:
if in the middle of the Our Father an affection draws you to remain gazing at
the Lord, permanecer; “do not weary yourselves in reasoning with
the understanding… to love much and not to think much” (Fourth
Mansions, camarada. 1, verificar). - Return to the words when attention is
distracted. O Catecismo recorda com realismo: “the habitual
difficulty in prayer is distraction” (CCC
2729, verify). It is not a defeat: it is an occasion to begin again
with humility.
9. Erros comuns para evitar
- Repetição da vaidade. “In praying, do not heap up empty
phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many
words” (Mt 6:7). It is not the quantity of
Hail Marys that moves God, but the love with which they are said. - Rezar sem atenção. The CCC, citing Saint John
Chrysostom, realls that “orar é falar com Deus”: if the
heart is absent, we speak to the air. That is why attention is a duty, not a
reserved to mystics. - Confusing Christian prayer with Eastern
techniques. Carta Orationis formais (Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, 15 October 1989, signed by Cardinal
Ratzinger) warned against the danger of reduzindong prayer to a
psychological state, a bodily technique or an emptying of the mind. Christian
prayer is always a pessoal relationship with a God who
speaks, not an immersion into the impessoal. Posture,
breathing, silence can help; they never replace the Você
do Pai, do Filho e do Espírito. - Reduzir a oração à petição. To pray is also
to adore, to bless, to give thanks, to praise and to intercede. The CCC 2626-2643
distinguishes five forms: blessing, adoration, petition, intercession,
thanksgiving and praise. - Despising vocal praying (rezar) in the name of a "higher
prayer”. This is the opposite trap. Saint- Teresa, doutor of
mental prayer, prayed the Divine Office and the rosary until her last
day. The soul needs vocal bread, not only contemplative air.
Fontes
Magistério &# 8211; Catechism of the Catholic Church, part
IV "Christian Prayer", nn. 2558-2865 —
https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism sp/p4 sp.html – Saint John Paul
II, Vírus de Rosarium Mariae (16-X-2002) —
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/es/apost letters/2002/documents/hf jp-ii apl 20021016 rosarium-virginis-mariae.html
&# 8211; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Orationis formas
(15-X-1989) —
https://www.vatican.va/roman curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc con cfaith doc 19891015 meditazione-cristiana sp.html
Mystics and doutores &# 8211; Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae II- II, q.83 "On Prayer" – Saint Teresa of
Jesus, Livro de Sua Vida (capítulo 8), The Way of
Perfection, The Interior Castle &# 8211; Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent
mount Carmel, A Noite Negra, The Spiritual
Canticle &# 8211; Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual
Exercícios &# 8211; Saint- Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout
Vida
Escritura &# 8211; Mt 6:5-15 (the Our Father); Lk 11:1-13; Mt
6:7 (vain repetition); Rom 8:26-27; 1 Thess 5:17
Língua &# 8211; Royal Spanish Academy, Dictionary of
the Spanish Language, entries “rezar” and “orar”