***Nowhere does Jesus say “...confess your sins to a priest and then repeat memorized prayers over and over like the heathen.” ***
Interesting statement.
1 Thess 5:
16
Rejoice always.
17
Pray without ceasing.
Phil 4:
4
Rejoice 4 in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!
5
Your kindness 5 should be known to all. The Lord is near.
6
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Eph 6:
18
With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones
19
and also for me,
The Orthodox have arguably the best understanding and practice of prayer:
The oral prayer (the prayer of the lips) is a simple recitation, still external to the practitioner.
The focused prayer, when “the mind is focused upon the words” of the prayer, “speaking them as if they were our own.”
The prayer of the heart itself, when the prayer is no longer something we do but who we are.
They also talk to:
The prayer of the lips.
The prayer of the mouth.
The prayer of the tongue.
The prayer of the voice.
The prayer of the mind.
The prayer of the heart.
The active prayer.
The all-seeing prayer.
The contemplative prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I see that Mad Dawg’s Scriptural quotations have no effect upon your grasp of the Sacrament of Penance. If you will not accept the direction of Jesus in this matter, what other matters do you ignore Him in?