The Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.
"Reading the Holy Scriptures confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man's attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God." St. Isidore of Seville
Today's Meditation
“Man was created for a certain end. This end is to praise, to reverence and to serve the Lord his God and by this means to arrive at eternal salvation. All other beings and objects that surround us on the earth were created for the benefit of man and to be useful to him, as means to his final end; hence his obligation to use, or to abstain from the use of, these creatures, according as they bring him nearer to that end, or tend to separate him from it.”
—St. Ignatius of Loyola, p. 18
Daily Verse
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
St. Simeon Stylites the Younger
Saint of the Day
St. Simeon Stylites the Younger (521-596 A.D.) was born in Antioch in ancient Syria (present-day Turkey). Like his namesake and predecessor, Simeon was drawn from a young age to a life of penance and austerity out of his great love for God. His mother was considered a saint. As a young boy he attached himself to a monastery of hermits. Their spiritual director, John, lived night and day at the top of a tall pillar, or "style", within the monastery enclosure. The holy hermits who lived in this manner, separated from the world on top of a pillar, were called "stylites." Simeon the Younger imitated John and lived on a smaller pillar erected near his larger one. Simeon continued to live in this way on three different pillars, each one higher than the next, from boyhood until his death. His final pillar was 12 meters high. During his life he was ordained a deacon and a priest. Disciples gathered around him and would climb a ladder to receive Holy Communion from his hands. He worked many miracles during the course of his life. Hearing of his great sanctity, people came from distant countries for his blessings, cures, prophesies, and spiritual advice. After his death his pillar remained a place of pilgrimage, the ruins of which still exist today. His feast day is May 24.
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Month of Our Lady
Devotion of the Month
In addition to the myriad feast days honoring Our Lady under her many titles and virtues, the entire month of May is especially given to her praise. In the words of Pope Paul VI, May is "a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God … For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God's merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother's throne."
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Daily Prayers
Prayer for the Dead
In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters.
In this life you embraced them with your tender love;
deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest.
The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise,
where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain,
but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy
Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Prayer for the Holy Father
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Pope Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of Thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto Thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary.