I would like to take a minute and explain the great importance of a morning offering (Lauds). In a morning offering we offer up to God our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of the day for His glory and for His intentions."All that we do without offering it to God is wasted" (St. John Vianney)
I strongly recommend learning a morning offering and reciting it everday when you wake. This is not only showing that we wish to serve God that day but also that we love Him enough to put Him first at the beginning of a new day.
A Morning Offering:
O, My Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation of sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and all the apostles of prayer, and in particular those recommended by our Holy Father this month.
For those that are interested, the Liturgy of the Hours is a great way to pray each day. It is the prayer of the Church, which is prayed a specific times each day by the pope, priests, bishops, nuns, monks, and many lay people. Ebrievary offers some of the daily prayers online, but I would suggest purchasing a book instead.
"Now, throughout the day, offer up your harships and sacrifices to Jesus, uniting them with His sufferings and merits so that our works gain the merit they can never have apart from Him. It is especially beneficial to offer them to Mary to give to Jesus so that her intercession as Queen Mother of Israel renders them more pleasing.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Title Unknown
The Morning Offering can be renewed throughout the day with simple short prayers (called "ejaculations" or "aspirations"), for ex., 'All for Thee, Jesus!'" (Source Read More Here)
3 comment(s):
Matthew, Nice blog! I see you have a love for the traditional liturgy. Have you ever contemplated saying the traditional Divine Office? The new Motu Proprio explicitly allows anyone constituted "in divinis" to say it if they wish. It is a bit hard to learn, but it is very much worth it. If you are interested, please email me:
iteadthomam@yahoo.es.
Also, please visit my blog, which is intended as an aid to seminarians and aspiring theologians in their studies:
http://iteadthomam.blogspot.com
Michael,
My mother started the morning offering every day as we left for school "Oh Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you my Joys, sufferings...." I can't remember the rest, but it would be the Irish version. I can't find it on line....I wanted to print it. Can you help?
Suzanne Eviston
seviston@aol.com
We said it everyday as well, my mother was from Calladashen in County Mayo. I believe we said, "The Morning Offering. O' Jesus through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer thee my prayer works, sufferings of the day, for all the intentions of thy divine heart. O' angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to to light and guard, to rule an guide." But now, I am trying to find the words back, and I am not having much luck.
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