The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
A GOOD WAY TO START EACH DAY
Christ bid us deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. I have found a good way to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5) is to say a morning offering when I first get up and then offer an intention, depending on what day it is. See my daily offering below. Print this out and put it on your bathroom mirror to help you remember that we should first seek the Kingdom of God and all else will follow after it. Pray as you can.
PRAY AS YOU CAN
MORNING OFFERING AND INTENTIONS FOR EACH DAY
O, my Jesus, may I act this day as though it were a lifetime, to give you praise and glory, just as you glorify the Father in union with the Holy Spirit. I offer all I do today, trying to love you with all my mind, all my heart, and all my strength and my neighbor as myself. I offer this day to you in reparation for all my sins and omissions in failing to love others as you love us. On this day, give me the power to see the false promises that the world presents to me as a god. Help me to prefer nothing to the love of Christ. I dedicate myself to you as Mary did when she accepted the invitation of God to be your mother. Praise be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen.
DAILY INTENTIONS
Monday: In reparation for my sins and those of the Church, plus those written in my book of prayer.
Tuesday: For all family, friends, teachers, and those written in my book of prayer.
Wednesday: In honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Heart of Mary, and St. Joseph, plus all those written in my book of prayer.
Thursday: For all Lay Cistercians, Monks of Holy Spirit Monastery, Monks of St. Meinrad Archabbey, priests and religious of Diocese of Evansville, Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Sisters of Providence and the Monks of Norcia, Italy plus those written in my book of prayer
Friday: For an increase in grace to love God with all my heart, all my mind, all my strength, and my neighbor as myself, plus those written in my book of prayer.
Saturday: For all deceased, an increase in my faith through the Holy Spirit plus those written in my book of prayer.
Sunday: To give praise, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen –Cistercian doxology
Those written in my book of prayer are all those people that I have written down in the Book of Life I received at Baptism. I only have to think of them as being in my book for them to be there. I don’t have to mention anyone by name, God knows the human heart, and I pray in reparation that they might be losed from their sins as in 2 Macabees 12.
Expiation for the Dead. 38Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was approaching, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.39On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his companions went to gather up the bodies of the fallen and bury them with their kindred in their ancestral tombs.40But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to swear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had fallen.f41They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.42* Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.g43He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind;44for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.
Praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen. –Cistercian doxology
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