Praying the Lauds - Your Daily Christian Morning Prayer

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 19, 2022 | Tuesday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Increase in us, Lord, the faith you have given us, and bring to a harvest worthy of heaven the praise we offer you at the beginning of this new day. - Lauds Start your day with the universal prayer of the Church through the ancient tradition of Lauds. Full-text to Tuesday's Morning Prayer is available at ibrev...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 18, 2022 | Monday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." - Ps 95:8 The Lord continues to speak. Let us let Him have our way in us for in His will we have our peace.  Start your day with the universal prayer of the Church through the ancient tradition of Lauds. Full-text to Monday's Morning Prayer is availabl...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 17, 2022 | Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mary of Bethany has chosen the "better part" when she chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and just listened to His words. While we are called to accomplish our missionary tasks in the midst of the world like Martha did, let us also remember that God has called us to simply be with Him and deepen our friendship with Jesus. St...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 16, 2022 | Memorial of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel “Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps.” - Resp. Psalm, Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mount Carmel is commemorated in Scripture for its beauty, and it was there that the prophet Elijah defended the purity of Israel’s faith in the living God. Towards the end of the twelfth century AD, near a...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 15, 2022 | Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church "You have but one Father in heaven and one master, the Christ." - Matthew 23:9b, 10b St. Bonaventure was born in Italy in 1221. He joined the Franciscan Order and went to Paris for his studies. He was made General of his Order and deserves to be reckoned its second founder for his work in consoli...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 14, 2022 | Thursday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord." - Matthew 11:28 We carry so many burdens that literally weigh us down, robbing us of life's joy and abundance. It is in the midst of life's challenges and heavy burdens that Jesus invites us to lay our burdens down and...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 13, 2022 | Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children." - Mt. 11:25 To know the Father is to know each person of the Holy Trinity. Do we desire to know God more? May our hearts be open and humble as a child's that we may welcome the Father's revelatio...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 12, 2022 | Tuesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." - Ps. 95:8 God has showed the light of His truth to those who go astray so that they may return to the right path. May we welcome the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honor. Start your day with...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 11, 2022 | Memorial of St. Benedict, abbot St. Benedict 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 mountains for two years as a hermit, he had acquired such a reputation that disciples came in numbers to join him and important Roman families e...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 10, 2022 | Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) "The Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance." - Deuteronomy 30:14 God's law is not beyond our strength nor our reach. God has written the law in our hearts so that we may know and obey His will. Let us get to know more this God of Love and allow ourselves to grow in fri...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 9, 2022 | Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, Martyrs Augustine Zhao Rong was one of the Chinese soldiers who escorted Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse to his execution. Moved by his patience, he asked to be baptized, and in due course was sent to the seminary and ordained a priest. He was arrested and savagely tortured. He died in 1815. With h...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 8, 2022 | Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me." - Ps 51:10 The Lord promises safety for those who remain in Him. He constantly calls us to conversion especially when our sin causes us to reject the Lord and His love for us. Today, let us keep pleading God to purify our hearts so that we m...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 7, 2022 | Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." - Mt. 10:8b When Jesus sent out His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God, He assures them that their needs will be provided for especially by the people they minister to. The mission God entrusted to us gives us the opportunity to be generous...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 6, 2022 | Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, virgin and martyr "Blessed is the virgin who denied herself and took up her cross; she has imitated the Lord; he is the spouse of virgins, the prince of martyrs." - Benedictus antiphon St. Maria Goretti was born near Ancona (Italy). The daughter of a poor peasant family, Maria was well known to her neighbors for her cheerfulne...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 5, 2022 | Tuesday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest." - Mt. 9:37 God is constantly calling men and women to follow Him and to do the work for His Kingdom. Let us pray for more holy vocations in the Church and for the zeal to give our yes without countin...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 4, 2022 | Monday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time "Let all who thirst come; let all who desire it, drink from the life-giving water." - Revelation 22:17 God alone suffices. May He inspire us to yearn for Him always, like the deer for running streams, until He satisfies every longing in heaven. Start your day with the universal prayer of the Church through the...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 3, 2022 | Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time "The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest." - Col 3:15a+16a The mission God entrusted to us cannot be accomplished without Him. Let us rely on God's providence and keep our eyes fixed on our final goal, not getting drawn by the things of this world but on...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 2, 2022 | Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 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... is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith a...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - July 1, 2022 | Friday in the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time "God our Father, Strengthen within our hearts the faith you have given us; let not temptation ever quench the fire that your love has kindled within us." Let us join the universal Church in offering to God our Morning Praise through the ancient tradition of Lauds. Full-text to Friday's Morning Prayer is availab...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 30, 2022 | Optional Memorial of the First Martyrs of Rome "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." - Mt. 5:10 When the city of Rome had been devastated by fire in the year 64, the Emperor Nero launched a persecution against the Christians, who were thrown to the wild beasts in the arena or soaked in tar...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 29, 2022 | Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles "These are the ones who, living in the less, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God." - Entrance antiphon Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Ch...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 28, 2022 | Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Doctor, Martyr "The Lord is the king of martyrs: come, let us adore him." St. Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor around the year 140. It is not known when he came to Gaul. He was a priest of the Church of Lyons during the persecution of 177 when St. Pothinus, first bishop of the city and the first martyr of Lyons, was put to...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 27, 2022 | Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." - Ps 95:8 St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, one of the metropolitan sees of the Christian Church in the east, was one of the great defenders of the faith against the heresy of Nestorius who denied the oneness of person in Jesus Christ. At the Council of Ephes...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 26, 2022 | Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time "As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." - Lk 9:57-58 Jesus calls us to follow him as he makes his way toward Jerusalem, where the mystery of death...

LISTEN | Morning Prayer - June 25, 2022 | Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary "Mary treasured all these words, reflecting on them in her heart." - Lk 2:19 Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary began as early as the twelfth century. During the seventeenth century in France, St John Eudes popularized this devotion along with that to the Sacred Heart. St Luke’s Gospel twice...