Praying the Lauds - Your Daily Christian Morning Prayer

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 28, 2023 | Friday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time "However, the seed sown in rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown." - Mt. 13:23 How are you cultivating the gifts God has bestowed you? Each one of us carries the potential to grow and bear fruit a h...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 27, 2023 | Thursday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord." - Ps. 94:8 How do you encounter God each day? God is always inviting us to a relationship with Him and since we cannot fully grasp His teachings, He needs to talk to us in parables before we can actually understand him. The more we...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 26, 2023 | Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary "How wonderful is God among his saints: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon Today is the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also the grandparents of Jesus. It was in the home of Saints Joachim and Anne where the Virgin Mary r...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 25, 2023 | Feast of St. James, apostle "The Lord is the King of apostles: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon The Feast of St. James, the Apostle, known as the Greater, is celebrated today. The designation "the Greater" is in order to distinguish him from the other Apostle St. James, and it indicates he was chosen first before the other...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 23, 2023 | Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field... Let both grow together until the harvest." - Mt. 13:24,30 We are entrusted with the task of guarding what God has sowed in each one of us. Let us be vigilant in guarding ourselves against the subtle lies of the evil one by holding firmly to...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 22, 2023 | Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles "Let us sing praise to God, as we acclaim Saint Mary Magdalene." - Invitatory antiphon Mary of Magdala was healed of “seven devils” by Jesus. She ministered to him in Galilee and was present at his crucifixion. She was in the group of women who were the first to discover the empty tomb, and it...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 21, 2023 | Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619), the first Capuchin Franciscan to be honored as a Doctor. St. Lawrence was born in 1559 at Brindisi, a town located on the Adriatic coast of the heel of Italy. Educated from his youth by the Conventual Franciscan Fria...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 20, 2023 | Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." - Mt. 11:28-29 No load will be too heavy for us to carry if we take on the yoke of Christ...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 19, 2023 | Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and have revealed them to infants." - Mt. 11: 25 All around and within us, we see the manifestation of God's loving presence waiting to be acknowledged. But it is to simple and open...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 18, 2023 | Tuesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent." Matthew 11:20 Despite the many ways God has manifested His love for us in our lives, we would at times persist in our hardness of heart especially when his teaching challenges our w...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 17, 2023 | Monday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37–38 The strongest challenges to our faith are our very own personal relationships. W...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 16, 2023 | Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the words of eternal life." - 1 Samuel 3:9 How do you nurture the seed of God's Word in your heart? If we want the Word of God to grow and bear fruit in our lives, we have to make room for it and to nurture it in our hearts. Jesus invites us to be faithful and...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 15, 2023 | Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Bonaventure was born at Bagnoregio in Etruria in about 1218. He became a Franciscan in 1243 and studied philosophy and theology at the University of Paris. He became a famous teacher and philosopher, part of the extraordinary intellectual flowering of the 13th century. He was a friend and colleag...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 14, 2023 | Friday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." - Mt. 10:16 In sending out the Twelve, Jesus points out to them the harms and dangers that they could face in their mission. They may face oppositions and rejections by their closest relations,...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 13, 2023 | Thursday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." - Mt. 10:8b Upon sending them out in His name, Jesus instructs the Twelve to bless the people who will welcome them with open hearts by their works of healing and other miracles, all without cost. In turn, upon seeing their poverty, th...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 12, 2023 | Memorial of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin Sts. Louis (1823-1894) and Zélie (1831-1877) Martin are best remembered as the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the Little Flower), but they are models of holiness in their own right. They are only the second married couple to be canonized. The couple lived in Alençon, France and had nine children out of whom five...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 11, 2023 | Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot "How wonderful is God among his saints: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon Today is the Memorial of St. Benedict (480-547), who was born at Nursia in Umbria in about 480 and was sent to Rome to be educated, but soon left the world to live a solitary life at Subiaco. After living in a cave in the mountai...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 10, 2023 | Monday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, 'My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.'" - Mt. 9:18 A father pleas for the life of his child. A woman reaches out to be healed from her sickness. Jesus responds to bot...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 9, 2023 | Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves." - Mt. 11:29 The yoke of Christ is not really a yoke but a bond of love, which joins us to Him, and through Him, to our loving Father in heaven. Once we grasp firm and lovingly the crosses we carry...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 8, 2023 | Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary "Let us listen for the voice of the Lord and enter into his peace." - invitatory antiphon Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Whatever its historical origins may be, today the memorial rightly emphasizes c...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 7, 2023 | Friday in the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Those who are well, do not need a physician, but the sick do... I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." - Mt. 9:12,13b Upon Jesus' invitation, Matthew rises from his tax collector's post and follows his now-Lord and Master. Together with his friends, they partook of a wonderful mea...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 6, 2023 | Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr "Come, let us adore the Lord, for he is our God." - Invitatory antiphon St. Maria Goretti was born near Ancona (Italy) in 1890, the daughter of a poor peasant family. Maria was well known to her neighbors for her cheerfulness and piety. When she was twelve, she was a victim of assault. She preferred...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 5, 2023 | Memorial of Saint Antony Mary Zaccaria, Priest "Let us adore the Lord, for it is he who made us." - Invitatory antiphon St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539) was born in Cremona in Lombardy and started by studying medicine, but soon decided to become a priest instead and was ordained in 1528. He founded the Congregation of Clerks Regular of St. Pa...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 4, 2023 | Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Portugal "The Lord is a great king: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon St. Elizabeth was the daughter of King Peter III of Aragón and was named after her great-aunt, St Elizabeth of Hungary. She was married to King Denis of Portugal, by whom she had two children. She set up hospitals, orphanages, and other...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 3, 2023 | Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle "The Lord is the King of apostles: come, let us adore him." - Invitatory antiphon The Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle who at first did not believe, has become for the Church one of the first witnesses to her faith. She is fond of appealing to his testimony and frequently puts in our mouths those simple words whereby h...