Fr. Arnsparger recently mentioned “making our morning offering” at mass, and I thought I’d include a sample morning offering prayer. As the Catechism says, “the baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior's grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father.” At the end of this email you’ll find an excerpt about morning prayer by Fr. Romano Guardini, an influential 20th-century German theologian.
My God, I adore You, and I love You with all my heart. I thank you for having created me, made me a Christian, and preserved me this night. I offer You the actions of this day. Grant that all of them may be in accordance with Your holy Will and for Your greater glory. Protect me from sin and from all evil. Let Your grace be always with me and with all my dear ones. Amen.
Quote about… Sacred Time
Though each hour of the day has its own character, three hours stand out from the rest—morning, evening, and half way between them, noonday, and have an aspect distinctively their own. These three hours the church has consecrated.
Of them all the morning hours wears the most shining face. It possesses the energy and brightness of a beginning. Mysteriously, each morning we are born again. We emerge out of sleep refreshed, renewed, with an invigorating sense of being alive. This newly infused feeling of our existence turns to a prayer of thanksgiving for life to him who gave it. With an impulse to action born of fresh energy we think of the day ahead and of the work to be done in it, and this impulse also becomes a prayer. We begin the day in God’s name and strength and ask him to make our work a work for him…
It is plain how much depends on this first hour. It is the day’s beginning. The day may be started without a beginning. The day may be slipped into without thought or intention. But such a day, without purpose or character, hardly deserves the name. It is no more than a torn-off scrap of time. A day is a journey. One must decide which way one is going. It is also a work, and as such requires to be willed. A single day is the whole of life. The whole of life is like a day. Each day should have its own distinct character.
The morning hour exercises the will, directs the intention, and sets our gaze wholly upon God.
~ Romano Guardini (1885-1968), Sacred Signs
What is Taizé?
- Taizé is a village in France, north of Lyon. It is the site of a unique ecumenical monastic community. There are 100 brothers from 30 different countries, Catholic and Protestant, living together as a vowed religious community.
- The community was founded by Br. Roger Schutz, from Switzerland. When he was 25, after a long struggle with TB, he felt called to form a community of reconciliation. He got on his bicycle and rode from Switzerland to France and set up in an abandoned farm. It was 1940 and he took in refugees and Jews, helped out by his sister. He had to return to Geneva in 1942 because the Gestapo wanted to arrest him, but he returned in 1944. After the war, he and his sister took in German POWs and war orphans. Other people began to gather with them for prayer and to help with the ministry.
- In 1949 seven brothers made religious profession. Besides the community in Taizé, some brothers live among the poor in Africa, Asia and South America. Their mission continues “to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and separated peoples.”
- Hospitality has also remained a central focus of the community. Today, that hospitality is primarily offered to young adults. Every week, hundreds to thousands of young Christians from around the world gather at Taizé for bible study, group discussions on social issues, and prayer three times a day with the brothers. There is also a youth meeting once a year in different countries.
- Music is at the heart of Taizé worship. The community has developed a distinctive style of music, consisting of short verses (often from scripture) set to simple tunes that are sung over and over in order to foster contemplation. Taizé music allows large numbers of participants from all over the world to join in worship (and not just observe it) because it is multi-lingual and easy to learn. You might be familiar with the song often used in Lent, which goes “Jesus, remember me / when you come into your kingdom.”
- For more information on Taizé, see their website: www.taize.fr/en.
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Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
