Our Morning Offering – 20 February
The Angel of Fatima’s Prayer
O Most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
I adore Thee profoundly.
I offer Thee
the most precious Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Jesus Christ
present in all the tabernacles of the world,
in reparation for the outrages,
sacrileges and indifferences
by which He is offended.
By the infinite merits of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus
and the Immaculate Heart of Mary
I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 18 February
Excerpt from the ‘Universal Prayer’ – attributed to Pope Clement XI
Lord, I believe in You: increase my faith.
I trust in You: strengthen my trust.
I love You: let me love You more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.
I worship You as my first beginning,
I long for You as my last end,
I praise You as my constant helper,
And call on You as my loving protector.
Guide me by Your wisdom,
Correct me with Your justice,
Comfort me with Your mercy,
Protect me with Your power.
I offer You, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on You;
My words: to have You for their theme;
My actions: to reflect my love for You;
My sufferings: to be endured for Your greater glory.
Grant this through Christ our Lord, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 17 February
Loving Mother,
woman of prayer,
we turn to you and pray:
support our prayers
for ourselves,
for all your Servants,
for our friends and families,
for those who share the Christian faith
and for every person on earth
that all may know peace and salvation.
Ask the Father that we may truly know Christ,
be filled with the gifts of the Spirit,
protected in all adversity
and freed from every evil.
Help us to build God’s kingdom:
a kingdom of everlasting praise,
a kingdom of justice and peace
that will endure forever and ever.
R. Amen.
Our Morning Offering – 16 February
A Prayer to Seek the Consolation of the Cross
by Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez S.J.
Jesus, love of my soul, centre of my heart!
Why am I not more eager to endure pains
and tribulations for love of You,
when You, my God, have suffered so many for me?
Come, then, every sort of trial in the world,
for this is my delight, to suffer for Jesus.
This is my joy, to follow my Saviour
and to find my consolation
with my Consoler on the Cross.
This is my happiness,
this my pleasure:
to live with Jesus,
to walk with Jesus,
to converse with Jesus,
to suffer with and for Him,
this is my treasure, amen.
Thought for the Day – 15 February
St Claude was an amazingly gifted man and he recognised that his gifts should be put at the service of others. He spent himself in the service of Christ and was chosen to direct someone with an important mission to the whole Church of Christ. He is recognised for his important decisions, decisions that may be helpful to contemplate as we enter the Lenten season: 1) to sacrifice his earthly desires to serve the Lord; 2) to honour his call to the vows of the Jesuits; 3) to recognise the truth in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and propagate the devotion; 4) to go where the Lord would have him, suffering without complaint; and 5) to continue unafraid and undeterred in preaching the Good News. Saint Claude la Colombière never lost sight of the Lord, never gave up hope, never let his confidence be shaken in the total love and mercy of God. How often can we say the same of ourselves?
At his Canonisation, St John Paul said “A true companion of Saint Ignatius, Claude learned to master his strong sensitivity. He humbly maintained a sense of “his wretchedness” so as to rely only on his hope in God and his trust in grace. He resolutely took the way of holiness. He adhered with all his being to the Constitutions and Rules of the Society, rejecting all tepidness. Fidelity and obedience were expressed, before God, by the “desire … for trust, love, resignation and perfect sacrifice”
Aspiration to Jesus, my Friend by St Claude
Jesus! You are my true Friend, my only Friend. You take a part in all my misfortunes, You take them on Yourself; You know how to change them into blessings.
You listen to me with the greatest kindness when I relate my troubles to You, and You have always balm to pour on my wounds. I find You everywhere. You never go away! If I have to change my dwelling, I find You there wherever I go. You are never weary of listening to me. You are never tired of doing me good. I am certain of being beloved by You if I love You; my goods are nothing to You, and by bestowing Yours on me You never grow poor; however miserable I may be, no one more noble or holier can come between You and me and deprive me of Your friendship; and Death, which tears us away from all other friends, will unite me forever to You. All the humiliations attached to old age, or to the loss of honor, will never detach You from me; on the contrary, I shall never enjoy You more fully, and You will never be closer to me than when everything seems to conspire against me, to overwhelm me, and to cast me down.
You bear with all my faults with extreme patience, and even my want of fidelity and my ingratitude do not wound You to such a degree as to make You unwilling to receive me back when I return to You, or to come to me when I call on You. O Jesus! grant that I may die praising You, that I may die for the love of You.
Amen.
St Claude Pray for us!
Our Morning Offering – 15 February
Lord, be the Centre of Our Hearts
by St Claude La Colombiere
O God, what will You do to conquer
the fearful hardness of our hearts?
Lord, You must give us new hearts,
tender hearts, sensitive hearts, to replace hearts
that are made of marble and of bronze.
You must give us Your own Heart, Jesus.
Come, lovable Heart of Jesus.
Place Your Heart deep in the centre of our hearts
and enkindle in each heart a flame of love
as strong, as great, as the sum of all the reasons
that I have for loving You, my God.
O holy Heart of Jesus, dwell hidden in my heart,
so that I may live only in You and only for You,
so that, in the end, I may live with You eternally in heaven, amen.
The Mosaic in the Shrine Chapal of St Claude at Paray-de-Monial, France (detail) see full image on previous post
Our Morning Offering – 13 February
Father, keep us from vain strife of words.
Grant to us constant profession of the Truth!
Preserve us in a true and undefiled faith
so that we may hold fast to that
which we professed when we were baptised
in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
that we may have Thee for our Father,
that we may abide in Thy Son
and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, amen.
By St Hilary of Poitiers
Quote of the Day – 12 February
De Verazze (author of the Golden Legend) writes of St Julian : “The enemy conspired again to ruin Julian—disguised as a weak pilgrim, he was let in by Julian with the others. At midnight he woke up and made a mess of the house.” The following morning Julian saw the damage and swore never to let in anyone else in his home. He was so furious he had everyone leave. “And Jesus went to him, again as a pilgrim, seeking rest. He asked humbly, in the name of God, for shelter. But Julian answered with contempt: ‘I shall not let you in. Go away, for the other night I had my home so vandalized that I shall never let you in.’ And Christ told him ‘Hold my walking-stick, please’. Julian, embarrassed, went to take the stick and it stuck to his hands. And Julian recognized him at once and said:
He knelt and Jesus forgave him and Julian asked, full of repentance, forgiveness for his wife and parents.
Our Morning Offering – 12 February
Prayer For Charity In Truth
Father, Your truth is made known in Your Word.
Guide us to seek the truth of the human person.
Teach us the way to love because You are Love.
Jesus, You embody Love and Truth.
Help us to recognize Your face in the poor.
Enable us to live out our vocation
to bring love and justice to Your people.
Holy Spirit, You inspire us to transform our world.
Empower us to seek the common good for all persons.
Give us a spirit of solidarity and make us one human family.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This prayer is based on Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)
Our Morning Offering – 10 February
PRAYER OF ST BENEDICT OF NURSIA
Father, in Your goodness
grant me the intellect to comprehend You,
the perception to discern You,
and the reason to appreciate You.
In Your kindness
endow me with the diligence to look for You,
the wisdom to discover You
and the spirit to apprehend You.
In Your graciousness
bestow on me a heart to contemplate You,
ears to hear You,
eyes to see You,
and a tongue to speak of You.
In Your mercy confer on me
a conversation pleasing to You,
the patience to wait for You,
and the perseverance to long for You.
Grant me a perfect end,
Your holy presence.
Amen.
Our Morning Offering -7 February
Show me, O Lord, Your mercy
and delight my heart with it.
Let me find You, whom I seek so longingly.
See, here is the man whom the robbers seized
and mishandled and left half dead on the road to Jericho.
O You who can what the kind-hearted Samaritan cannot:
Come to my aid! I am the sheep
who wandered in to the wilderness:
seek after me and bring me home again to Your fold.
Do with me what You will,
that all the days of my life
I may bide by You and praise You,
with all those who are in heaven with You
for all of eternity. Amen.
St Jerome
Our Morning Offering – 6 February
A Prayer of St. Francis Xavier SJ
O God I Love You,
not simply to be saved,
and not because those who fail to love You
will be punished with eternal fire.
You, You, my JESUS, have all-embraced me on the cross.
You have borne the nails, the lance, much ignominy,
numberless griefs, sweatings and anguish and death,
and these on account of me and for me, a sinner.
Why therefore, should I not love You,
O, most loving JESUS?
Not that in heaven You shall save me,
nor lest for eternity You shall condemn me;
not with the hope of any reward,
but as You have loved me, so also will I love You,
only because You are my King,
and because You are my God. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 5 February
Help us, O Lord, our God,
since we cannot flee from the body,
nor the body flee from us:
we must carry it about,
because it is bound up with us.
We cannot destroy it;
we are forced to preserve it.
But the world surrounds us and assails us
through the five gateways of sense.
Alas! Everywhere we are in conflict,
everywhere darts fly against us,
everywhere there are temptations,
there are snares!
Deliver us, we beseech You,
from our enemies;
defend us from all dangers to the soul
and to the body, Lord,
that at length we may come to Your eternal rest,
through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
St Bernard of Clairvaux
Our Morning Offering – 4 February
Veni, Creator Spiritus
Come, Creator, Spirit,
come from Your bright heavenly throne,
come take possession of our souls
and make them all Your own.
You who are called the Paraclete,
best gift of God above,
the living spring,
the vital fire,
sweet christ’ning and true love. . . .
O guide our minds with Your best light,
with love our hearts inflame
and with Your strength,
which ne’er decays,
confirm our mortal frame.
Far from us drive our deadly foe,
true peace unto us bring
and through all perils lead us safe
beneath Your sacred wing.
Through You may we the Father know,
through You th’eternal Son
and You the Spirit of them both,
thrice-blessed Three in One. . . .
— Blessed Rabanus Maurus
Today – 4 February – is also the Memorial of Bl Rabanus
St Rabanus Maurus had three careers. He was a schoolmaster, then an abbot, and finally an archbishop. He lived during the reign of Charlemagne when Christianity was being established in Europe. We are indebted to Rabanus and saints like him, for they built the church from which most of us received our gift of faith.
In 799 he was ordained deacon and in 815 became a priest. Sometime during that period he was appointed master of Fulda’s school. In that office he had the opportunity to form young monks who would help create a tradition of Christian learning in the West. He became the abbot at Fulda in 822. During this, his second career, he probably wrote most of his works, including a martyrology and numerous commentaries on Scripture. He was in constant demand as an expert at synods and councils. However, care for the monks caused him to hone his pastoral and administrative gifts. He completed Fulda’s buildings and founded other monasteries.
After a brief retirement, Rabanus unexpectedly took up a third career. In 847, at age 71, he was appointed archbishop of Mainz. He undertook the job aggressively. With a team of priests, Rabanus went about the diocese teaching, preaching, and administering the sacraments. He held synods that called Christians to a stricter observance of church laws and that condemned a local heresy. Once during a famine he fed 300 people a day from his house. With great energy he led the diocese and continued his writing until his death in 856.
Special among Rabanus’s gifts to the church is the Veni, Creator Spiritus. Monks carried the hymn to communities throughout the continent and it became part of the Pentecost liturgy. Praying the Come, Creator Spirit seems to have occasioned life-changing moments for numerous saints, including Lutgarde, Clare and Teresa of Ávila. Apparently, Rabanus’s hymn is extraordinarily effective in releasing the gifts of the Spirit, so when we pray it we can expect God to act.
Our Morning Offering – 3 February
PRAYER OF SAINT COLUMBA OF IRELAND
O Lord, grant us that love
which can never die,
which will enkindle our lamps
but not extinguish them,
so that they may shine in us
and bring light to others.
Most dear Saviour,
enkindle our lamps that they may shine
forever in Your temple.
May we receive unquenchable light
from You so that our darkness
will be illuminated
and the darkness of the world
will be made less, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 2 February
Lord, I am Yours
and I must belong to
no one but You.
My soul is Yours
and must live only by You.
My will is Yours
and must love only for You.
I must love You
as my first cause,
since I am from You.
I must love You
as my end and rest,
since I am for You.
I must love You more
than my own being,
since my being subsists by You.
I must love You more than myself,
since I am all Yours
and all in You. Amen.
(This beautiful prayer from Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales is a prayer of giving oneself totally to God, of wanting to love Him above all thing and is a very appropriate Daily Prayer but particularly on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
)
Our Morning Offering – 1 February
PRAYER OF SAINT EPHREM OF SYRIA
Lord Jesus Christ,
King of kings,
You have power over life and death.
You know even things
that are uncertain and obscure,
and our very thoughts and feelings
are not hidden from You.
Cleanse me from my secret faults,
and I have done wrong and You saw it.
You know how weak I am,
both in soul and in body.
Give me strength, O Lord,
in my frailty and sustain me in my sufferings.
Grant me a prudent judgement, dear Lord,
and let me always be mindful of Your blessings.
Let me retain until the end Your grace
that has protected me till now, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 31 January
A PRAYER OF
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES
O love eternal,
my soul needs
and chooses You eternally!
Ah, come Holy Spirit,
and inflame our hearts
with Your love!
To love – or to die!
To die – and to love!
To die to all other love
in order to live in Jesus’ love,
so that we may not die eternally.
But that we may live
in Your eternal love,
O Saviour of our souls,
we eternally sing,
“Live, Jesus!
Jesus, I love!
Live, Jesus, whom I love!
Jesus, I love,
Jesus who lives and reigns
forever and ever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 30 January
Prayer to Spend the Day Well by Blessed James Alberione
Dear and sweet Mother Mary,
keep your holy hand upon me;
guard my mind,
my heart and my senses,
that I may never commit sin.
Sanctify my thoughts,
affections,
words and actions,
so that I may please you and your Jesus, my God,
and reach heaven with you.
Jesus and Mary,
give me your holy blessing;
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Our Morning Offering – 29 January
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven my Treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s son,
Heart of my heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
Today, 29 January, is also the Memorial of St Dallan Forghaill (c530- 598)
Born in Connaught, Ireland, he was known for his learning and reputedly went blind because of his intensive studying. St Dallan was an early Christian Irish poet known as the writer of the “Amra Choluim Chille” (“Elegy of Saint Columba”) and “Rop Tú Mo Baile”(“Be Thou My Vision”). He died at the hands of pirates at Inis-coel. Legend has it that St. Dallan made his own head reattach to his body after he was beheaded and thrown into the sea.
Here is a version by Audrey Assad of Be Thou My Vision – St Dallan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Optrm7lF16s
Our Morning Offering – 28 January
The Offering of the Day
Grant us this day, Lord,
a vigilant heart,
that no alien thought can lure
away from You;
a pure heart,
that no unworthy love can soil;
an upright heart,
that no distress can overcome.
And give us, Lord,
understanding to know You,
zeal to seek You,
wisdom to find You
and a hope,
that will one day take hold of You.
Through Christ our Lord, amen.
(Adapted from a prayer of St Thomas Aquinas)
Our Morning Offering – 27 January
My God, do Thou enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me grace to die
rather than ever offend Thy divine Majesty.
Place a guard around my affections and my thoughts,
so that they may never turn aside from Thee and Thy ways
and banish me not from Thy presence,
in which afflicted hearts find such consolation.
My God, I am filled with grief on seeing
I cannot look into the innermost secrets of my heart,
without being ashamed to raise my eyes to heaven,
believing myself worthy to be cast into hell;
and when I see within myself so many faults,
deformities, unworthiness and sin,
I feel myself drawn by day and night,
in my going forth, or at home, at work,
or communing with my thoughts
to pray with all my strength
and to beg of Thee, O my God,
mercy and time to do penance.
Vouchsafe then, O Lord, I beseech Thee,
to forgive me the offences
and sins into which I have fallen
and I beseech Thee also to pardon
the sins of my parents,
relations and friends and those of the whole world;
and I beg of Thee by Thy holy Passion,
by Thy precious blood shed for love of us,
by Thy holy name of Jesus,
that this adorable name may be blessed
in heaven and on earth
and by the heavenly choirs of angels and archangels.
I regret, O Lord, that I have begun so late
to serve Thy divine Majesty.
Accept, I beseech Thee, O Lord,
all my thoughts, words and actions,
together with my whole being;
and placing all at the feet of Thy divine Majesty,
I beg Thee to accept them,
unworthy as I am of such a favour. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 25 January
Saint Paul’s Prayer (Ephesians 3: 14-21)
This, then, is what I pray,
kneeling before the Father,
from whom every fatherhood,
in heaven or on earth takes its name.
In the abundance of his glory may he,
through his Spirit,
enable you to grow firm
in power with regard to your inner self
so that Christ may live
in your hearts through faith
and then, planted in love
and built on love,
with all God’s holy people
you will have the strength
to grasp the breadth and the length,
the height and the depth,
so that, knowing the love of Christ
which is beyond knowledge,
you may be filled
with the utter fullness of God.
Glory be to him whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine;
glory be to him
from generation to generation
in the Church and in Christ Jesus
for ever and ever. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 24 January
An Act of Abandonment
by ST FRANCIS de SALES
O my God, I thank You and I praise
You for accomplishing Your holy
and all-lovable will without any regard for mine.
With my whole heart,
in spite of my heart,
do I receive this cross I feared so much!
It is the cross of Your choice,
the cross of Your love.
I venerate it;
nor for anything in the world
would I wish that it had not come,
since You willed it.
I keep it with gratitude and with joy,
as I do everything that comes from Your hand;
and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag,
with all the respect
and all the affection which Your works deserve.
Amen.
Our Morning Offering – 23 January
Twenty-four Hour Prayer of St John Chrysostum
[1] O Lord, deprive me not of Your heavenly blessings.
[2] O Lord, deliver me from eternal torment.
[3] O Lord, if I have sinned in my mind or thought, in word or deed, forgive me.
[4] O Lord, deliver me from every ignorance and heedlessness, from pettiness of the soul and stony hardness of heart.
[5] O Lord, deliver me from every temptation.
[6] O Lord, enlighten my heart darkened by evil desires.
[7] O Lord, I, being a human being, have sinned; You, being God, forgive me in Your loving kindness, for You know the weakness of my soul,
[8] O Lord, send down Your grace to help me, that I may glorify Your holy Name.
[9] O Lord Jesus Christ, inscribe me, Your servant, in the Book of Life and grant me a blessed end.
[10] O Lord my God, even if I have done nothing good in Your sight, yet grant me, according to Your grace, that I may make a start in doing good.
[11] O Lord, sprinkle on my heart the dew of Your grace.
[12] O Lord of heaven and earth remember me, Your sinful servant, cold of heart and impure, in Your kingdom.
[13] O Lord, receive me in repentance.
[14] O Lord, leave me not.
[15] O Lord, save me from temptation.
[16] O Lord, grant me pure thoughts.
[17] O Lord, grant me tears of repentance, remembrance of death and the sense of peace.
[18] O Lord, grant me mindfulness to confess my sins.
[19] O Lord, grant me humility, charity and obedience.
[20] O Lord, grant me magnanimity and gentleness.
[21] O Lord, implant in me the root of all blessings, the fear of You in my heart.
[22] O Lord, vouchsafe that I may love You with all my heart and soul and that I may obey in all things Your will.
[23] O Lord, shield me form evil persons and devils and passions and all other lawless matters.
[24] O Lord, who knows Your creation and that which You have willed for it, may Your will also be fulfilled in me, a sinner, for You are blessed forevermore. Amen.
Our Morning Offering – 22 January
Not the intellect, but God
Not the will, but God
Not the heart, but God
Not taste, but God
Not touch, but God
Not food and drink, but God
Not clothing but God
Not tranquillity, but God
Not the worldly goods, but God.
Not riches, but God.
Not honours, but God.
Not distinction, but God.
Not dignities, but God.
Not advancement, but God.
God in all
God always.
– Saint Vincent Pallotti (written by him before his first Holy Mass)
Our Morning Offering – 20 January
I love You, O my God
and my only desire is to love You
until the last breath of my life.
I love You, O my infinitely lovable God,
and I would rather die loving You,
than live for an instant without loving You.
I love you, O my God
and I desire only to go to heaven
to have the happiness of loving You perfectly.
I love You, O my God
and my only fear is to go to hell
because one will not have
the sweet solace of loving You there.
O my God,
if my tongue cannot say at all times that I love You,
at least I want my heart to repeat it to You as I breathe.
Ah! Do me the grace to suffer while loving You,
to love You while suffering.
And, that when I die, I not only will love You
but experience it in my heart.
I beg You that the closer I come to my final end,
You will increase and perfect my love for You, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 19 January
Hold dominion over my heart, O Lord:
keep it as Your inheritance.
Make Your dwelling in me,
along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Widen in me the cords of Your tabernacle,
even the operations of your Most Holy Spirit.
For You are my God and I will praise You,
together with the Eternal Father
and your quickening Spirit,
now, henceforth and forever, amen.
by St John Damascene
Our Morning Offering – 18 January
A Morning Offering of St Francis de Sales
My God, I give You this day.
I offer You, now,
all of the good that I shall do
and I promise to accept,
for love of You,
all of the difficulty that I shall meet.
Help me to conduct myself during this day
in a manner pleasing to You, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 16 January
Holy Spirit, inspire me.
Love of God, consume me.
Along the true road lead me.
Mary, my mother, look upon me.
With Jesus bless me.
From all evil, from all illusion,
from all danger, preserve me, amen.
By St Mary of Jesus Crucified
AnaStpaul 
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