Praying the Lauds - Your Daily Christian Morning Prayer

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 27, 2023 | Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter "Follow me." - John 21:22 It is a very human reaction to compare ourselves to others even when it comes to our spiritual life. But Jesus reminds us today to keep our eyes fixed on Him and not on others. Instead of spending time if others are kinder than us or serving the Lord better than us, let us focus our time givin...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 26, 2023 | Memorial of St. Philip Neri, priest "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?" - John 21:15 To love as Jesus loves is nearly impossible. But in our striving to be like Him, we allow our Risen Lord to purify our way of loving and let it grow in perfection. While we are in this journey, God does not wait for us to be perfect but accepts whatever...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 25, 2023 | Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter "I pray not only for these, but also for those who through their word will also believe in me." - John 17:20 God sees you and the efforts you make to remain in Him. At times you fail, but with hope, humility and courage, you get up again trusting in God's loving mercy and forgiveness. Keep walking and you will find oth...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 24, 2023 | Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter "I do not ask you to remove them from the world, but to keep them from the evil one." - John 17:11-19 Jesus did not pray that His disciples would be protected from the struggles of this world but that God may strengthen them as they pass through it. It is easy to be faithful when all is going well. But it is in the tr...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 23, 2023 | Tuesday in the Seventh Week of Easter "Holy Father, keep those you have given me in your name, so that they may be one, as we also are." - John 17:11 How blessed we are to have our Lord as our King, Prophet and Priest! God desires nothing more than to have us united in Him, to share in His eternal loving. Whenever we feel that our sin is drifting us away fr...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 22, 2023 | Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter "I have told you all this, so that in me you may have peace. You will have trouble in the world, but courage! I have overcome the world." - John 16 Our peace lies in the Lord. When we are rooted in Christ, nothing can shake us despite the darkness and confusion in the world. Let us continuously renew our faith in the hol...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 21, 2023 | Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord "I am with you always even to the end of the world..." - Mt 18:20 How comforting Jesus' words are to us who struggle to follow Him. No matter the circumstance we may find ourselves in, Jesus assures us of His most loving presence within and among us. Just as we encounter Him in prayer and in our relationship with other...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 20, 2023 | Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter "...that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." - John 17:21 God's love is extravagant! He desires us to share in their Trinitarian unity so that we may be with Him wherever He is. This means the joy of eternal life w...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 19, 2023 | Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter "But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you." - John 16:22 Goodbyes generally cause sorrow and fear. The disciples were mournful of Jesus' goodbye, but knowing their hearts, Christ assures his followers that their sorrow at his departure will only be temporary. Soon afte...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 18, 2023 | Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter "A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will se me." - John 16:16 God has destined us for eternal life. Everything we experience in our earthly life will come to pass. All things are small compared to the greater reality that awaits those who believe. The disciples grieved wh...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 17, 2023 | Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter "When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth." - John 16:13 Aside from the Holy Spirit being our Advocate, it is also the role of the Spirit to guide us into all truth -- that is, in all that is necessary to be known, in all that is useful and profitable for our life with God, in all doctrine and...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 16, 2023 | Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter "It is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you." - John 16:7 The earthly life of Jesus, the Word Incarnate, would come to an end. In a few days, we will be celebrating His ascension to heaven where He will sit at the right hand of the Father. He had spent the last years of his life...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 15, 2023 | Memorial of St. Isidore the Farmer "How wonderful is God among his saints: come, let us adore him." - antiphon St. Isidore was born near Madrid to very poor parents. He was a Spanish laborer who worked most of his life as a ploughman for a nobleman who lived near Madrid, Spain. Although working many hours a day, he never failed to attend daily Mass, and spe...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 14, 2023 | Sixth Sunday of Easter "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever," - John 14:16 As we enter the final weeks of Easter, we also anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to be our Advocate who will stay with us forever. The Spirit of truth will continue directing and aiding the Church to prese...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 13, 2023 | Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima "Pray, pray much, and sacrifice for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and pray for them." - Message of Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917 Today the Church celebrates an Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, which is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary following apparitions to three shepherd...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 12, 2023 | Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." - John 15:13 A friend is a beloved, someone truly loved. The friendship that Jesus manifests at the "hour" of his passion and death ennobles and saves. He becomes a servant and washes his disciples' feet that they may have part with him, that th...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 11, 2023 | Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love." - John 15:9 To remain with Jesus means not only to stay with Jesus but also to "know" him, to have a close relationship with him, to share his fate. The true measure of union with Christ is imitating his love for the Father and for his "own". The one who tr...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 10, 2023 | Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit." - John 15:1-2 Pruning is an essential part of our intimate union with Jesus. This ensures that the branch, once trimmed and removed of all the e...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 9, 2023 | Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter "Jesus said to his disciples: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you." - John 14:27 Where do you find your peace? The peace that Jesus gives is rooted in the accomplishment of God's constant and unchanging will rather than the will and whim of men. From a worldly perspect...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 8, 2023 | Monday in the Fifth Week of Easter "Not to us, Lord, but to your name give glory." - Psalm 115:1 Despite the miracles and conversions that accompanied the apostles in their missionary work, they always remember that they were just mere instruments of the Risen Lord. Let us take to heart the words of the psalmist in moments when we are tempted to take credit...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 7, 2023 | Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A) "Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.'" - John 14:1 Jesus is our way to the Father and to eternal life but we must put our trust and faith in Him if we are to succeed along this way. This would mean turning over all our concerns to God and placing our hope in Hi...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 6, 2023 | Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter "Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father." - John 14:12 Jesus is the face of God's mercy and His life, works and teachings testify to His communion with the Father. As He invited disciples to follow Him, He too challenges us to grow in our...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 5, 2023 | Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6 Do you know where you are going to? We are meant to go to the Father's house where dwelling places are prepared for us. Jesus is the way to the Father. Following Him means surrendering our will to Him and letting Him take us t...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 4, 2023 | Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter "Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." - John 13:20 God continues to call men and women to be messengers and witnesses of the Good News. As members of God's family, we are called to be open to receive God's message through the people He sends...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - May 3, 2023 | Feast of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles "Philip said to him, 'Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.'" - John 14:8 Today is the Feast of the Apostles Philip and James. Like Sts. Peter and Andrew, St. Philip was from Bethsaida, in Galilee. According to tradition, he was crucified at Hierapolis in Phyrgia, where he had preached the Gospel...