An old homiletics professor of mine once said, "Never repeat for emphasis. Never repeat for emphasis."
The fact is repetition is one of the best ways to get something into your deep memory. When I go to visit elderly people who have lost most of their memory and are largely incommunicative the sure way to get them talking is to pray the Lord's Prayer. Suddenly silence turns to prayer as their lips move in synch with those old familiar words and I can feel a spark present.
Repetition of our prayers and liturgy also has an impact on the young. About four years ago when Bernick's Pepsi workers were on strike Emma was wondering why I wouldn't buy Pepsi products. I tried to explain, as best I could to a 9 year old, about workers' rights and the power of collective bargaining where individuals might fail, but the whole can stand together.
To which she said, "Oh, sort of like 'we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.'"
I blinked and said, "You've been paying attention."
"Well," she said, "you say it ALL the time."
Of course, I don't say it ALL the time. Only when we are celebrating communion. But those ideas in the prayers of the church that are repeated often enough start to grow roots in our psyche and we can't help but make connections. We start to see the world around us through the lens of our repeated prayers and scriptures.
It is meaningful to me when, at the close of communion, we pray...
"We thank you, Lord, for this holy mystery in which you have give yourself for us. Now send us forward, in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others."
I think about that a lot. God gives completely to us - body, life, blood, spirit - and so in the face of this complete and utter giving of self we are compelled to do likewise. It's like breathing. God gives. We receive. We give. The cycle goes on.
What prayer or scripture that we repeat has found its way into your heart and soul? How has it changed you? If you could commit one or two prayers or passages of scripture to memory what would they be?