When I awakened today, I heard the beautiful rain come down, looked out and saw how green and clean everything became. The rain reminded me of my mother who loved rain. I remember watching her look outside from the kitchen windows observing rain storms. I remember her funeral-that day it rained too. I remember the day it rained when I was a little girl and she taught me about a very important prayer that I have said daily since that time. It is called, “A Morning Offering.” My mother taught me that we have many things to do during the day in our jobs, and that sometimes we cannot spend a lot of time praying using words to talk to God. So, she said we offer our entire day to God as a prayer, which is why it is so important to do all things with great love like St. Therese, the Little Flower taught us, “The Little Way”. Anyway, although this is a Catholic tradition, anyone can offer their day as a prayer to God.
The following are some versions of a Morning Offering that are beautiful:
My God, I adore You, and I love You with all my heart. I thank You for having created me, enabled me to be a Christian, and preserved me this day. I offer you the actions of this day, my prayers, works, joys and sufferings. Grant that all of them may be in accordance with Your holy Will and for Your greater glory. Protect me from sin and from all evil. Let Your grace be always with me and with alll my dear ones. Amen.
Lord Jesus, I unite myself to Your perpetual, unceasing, universal Sacrifice. I offer myself to You every day of my life and every moment of every day, according to Your most holy and adorable Will. Since You have been the Victim of my salvation, I wish to be the victim of Your love. Accept my desire, take my offering, and graciously hear my prayer. Let me live for love of You; let me die for love of You; let my last heartbeat be an act of perfect love.
Finally, this version is the Morning Offering taught to me by my mother which I have said on a daily basis during my life:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you 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, the reparation for sin and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and in particular for those intentions recommended by our Holy Father this month.
The Morning Offering sanctifies work and our actions as a path to personal holiness and joy. And of course when we do our work, we remember that we must do a wonderful job, doing our best in what we do, since we know that this work is an offering to God.
I hope all people of Faith participate in the Morning Offering. It is a most beautiful way to begin your day.
Joan
