Starting my day by remembering the presence of God in our world and in my life is a practice recommended to me on the first day of my religious life. It was not only recommended; we were told that it would be so valuable to our life that it was mandated by our congregation’s Constitutions.
As an eighteen year old, I didn’t like being told that I had to do something every day for the rest of my life and I have to admit that there have been days when I wasn’t too intentional in my morning prayer, but rarely has a day begun without my Morning Prayers. And now, more than fifty years later, these are the very best and refreshing minutes of my day. They center my life and move me into the day – God’s day – aware of God’s closeness to me and to all of you, too.
As this practice was recommended to me, so I now recommend it to you. Here is the routine that feels right for me. Let your heart that longs to be with God lead you to your own way of prayer.
MY DAY BEGINS: MORNING OFFERING
I use either the home screen of my cellphone or my computer’s browser to automatically link me to my early morning greeting to God. Often with a mug of fresh brewed coffee in hand I begin my daily prayer of self offering.
“God, our Father, I offer You my day. I offer You my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, joys and sufferings in union with Your Son Jesus’ Heart, who continues to offer Himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world. May the Holy Spirit, Who guided Jesus, be my guide and my strength today so that I may witness to Your love.”
I let these words or similar sentiments resonate in my heart and speak to my God, often pausing, letting my mind stop working and, in its place, becoming aware of God who is ever present, even though I am usually too preoccupied to acknowledge that God is here. (Why wouldn’t a God who created us and loves us not be with us every moment of our day?)
There is another part to my morning prayer. It is the praying of one of the throughout-the-day prayers of the Divine Office, Morning Prayer. I will go into that in next week’s post.
For now, let’s consider how we start our day with God, in an intentional offering of the day to God.
May your day – today and every day – be spent in an awareness of the presence of God.
Sister Loretta Fernandez RSM
