Praying the Lauds - Your Daily Christian Morning Prayer

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 13, 2023 | Monday of the Third Week of Lent  "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place." - Luke 4:24 It can be difficult to act as Christians in our families and workplaces. However, let us consider how many prophets we fail to recognize, particularly those with whom we disagree. Jesus asks us to open our hearts so that we can see all the g...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 12, 2023 | Third Sunday of Lent (Year A) "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." - John 45:15 On our path of conversion, what a great grace it is to find the Lord Jesus waiting patiently for us beside our senseless wells. When, like the Samaritan woman, we are tired of the things of this world, of almost emp...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 11, 2023 | Saturday of the Second Week of Lent "I will get up and go to my father and shall say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you." - Luke 15:18 God does not remember our sins forever, but rather forgives us and casts our sins away. Our Lenten journey should challenge us to examine our lives and return to the Lord, seeking forgiveness for...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 10, 2023 | Friday of the Second Week of Lent "Jesus said to them, 'Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?'" - Mt. 21:42 Throughout history, the Church has experienced persecution of her members: in the hearts of missionaries expelled from...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 9, 2023 | Thursday in the Second Week of Lent "Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance." - Luke 8:15 When we put our trust in the Lord in all the affairs of our life, He will lead us to unimaginable graces and will use us to be a blessing to others. When He says to trust Him, it means to be open to recei...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 8, 2023 | Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mt. 20:28 God so loved us that He sent His Son Jesus to serve His brothers and sisters, and to save us from our sins through His salvific offering on the cross. This was the Father's will and this was Jesus' food. He emp...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 7, 2023 | Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." - Mt. 23:12 Being humble means recognizing our true worth: to see ourselves as God sees us. It involves striking a careful balance between humbly acknowledging our sin and being aware of how much God values and loves us. He constantly c...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 6, 2023 | Monday in the Second Week of Lent "Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins." - Ps. 103:10 Even though we may sin and rebel against God, he always pardons us when we ask for it. But what about those who have sinned against us? God desires for us to extend the mercy we have been extended to those who have offended us. Let us ask our Transfigured Lord...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 5, 2023 | Second Sunday of Lent "From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son, listen to him." - Mt. 17:5 Christian life is a journey towards our final destination. In this journey, we meet diverse trials and difficulties and experience various moments of joys and graces. In every moment, the Father journeys with us, reminding us that o...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 4, 2023 | Saturday in the First Week of Lent "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." - 2 Cor. 6:2b The first week of Lent is a week of seedtime: let us entrust to God's goodness the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands, so that all may receive daily bread, so that hunger may be taken from the earth. May the Lord exten...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 3, 2023 | Friday in the First Week of Lent "Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit." - Ez. 18:31 God does not rejoice in the death of a wicked man but rejoices to see that person converted. How consoling it is for us who struggle with sin! He delights to receive our humble and contrit...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 2, 2023 | Thursday in the First Week of Lent "Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me." - Ps. 138:3 What is it that you need at this moment? God, our Father, loves us, wills our happiness and wants to provide for our needs. Let us not be afraid to tell Him what we need and to be open and humble to accept His will in our lives, trusting that good things s...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - March 1, 2023 | Wednesday in the First Week of Lent Before we arrive at the joy and glory of Easter we have first to go through forty days of Lenten journey. This period of preparation is designed by God. It is not merely a time of self-denial, of death to self, and of carrying the cross; it is a time of recovery of our real self, of a more real life, and of sharing in Ch...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 28, 2023 | Tuesday in the First Week of Lent Lent is a good time to seek the Lord. It is a special time of divine mercy and grace. The Church, acting as God's prophet, calls us to return to the Lord by true penance. The word of God which is sown so abundantly during Lent should grow and bear fruit in us if we have really prepared ourselves by fasting and discipli...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 27, 2023 | Monday in the First Week of Lent Ash Wednesday, the days immediately following, and the first two weeks of Lent are penitential in character. Our liturgy invites us to examine the areas in our life that needs purification, if we are to deepen our friendship with Jesus. At the start of this first full week of Lent, we are reminded that good works - as w...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 26, 2023 | First Sunday of Lent "One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." - Matthew 4:4B Jesus, truly a man like us, was tempted by the devil while fasting in the wilderness. He resists these temptations because of his adherence to the word of God and because of his faith in God. We too are called to be faithful...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 25, 2023 | Saturday After Ash Wednesday "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." - Luke 5:32 The Word of God is not just for those who believe and live their lives in accordance with his wishes, for they are not in need of conversion. It is especially for those who acknowledge their sins before God and their need for His love and mercy i...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 24, 2023 | Friday After Ash Wednesday "The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." - Mt. 9:15 We cannot be Christians by halves. Conversion will always cost us something. It should pervade not only aspects of our life, but all of it. When we decided to follow Jesus, it means following him even to the cross. With his p...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 23, 2023 | Thursday After Ash Wednesday "Repent, says the Lord; the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Mt. 4:17 What is your Lenten program? In this second day of Lent, we get down to work on our spiritual itinerary and identify the areas in our life we want to work on for God's purification and renewal. At this early part of Lent, we are encouraged to reflect on w...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 22, 2023 | Ash Wednesday "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." - Ps. 95:8 The time has now come in the Church year for the solemn observance of the great central act of history, the redemption of the human race by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Roman Rite, the beginning of the forty days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of a...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 21, 2023 | Tuesday in the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." - Mark 9:35 When we aspire to serve the Lord, we must be ready to embrace the demands and challenges in serving others, as our way of loving God. Let us be steadfast in faith, trusting in the Lord's help to direct our ways of...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 20, 2023 | Monday in the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time "I do believe, help my unbelief!" - Mark 9:24 Faith seems easy until we are in the midst of challenging situations that demand and test the genuineness of our faith. It is especially in these moments of helplessness that we are invited to come to the Lord in deep humility, holding on to the hope and certainty...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 19, 2023 | Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time / Pontifical Work of St. Peter the Apostle (Opus Sancti Petri) "Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy." - Lev. 19:2 Each of us is called to holiness. As God's children, we ground this call in His unconditional love for us, acknowledging that we need the grace of the Holy Spirit to fill us with the gifts we need to...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 18, 2023 | Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary "Without faith it is impossible to please (God), for anyone who approaches him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 It is only by faith that we can become one with the Father. We cannot please God in anything we do unless we believe in Him. Mary is our true mode...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - February 17, 2023 | Friday in the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." - Mark 8:29 Every disciple is called to love until he loses himself. Too often, the world offers a distorted kind of self-love that is idolatrous. Jesus proposes a better one: to realize ourselves as a gift means openness and...