First and foremost: The Morning Offering Prayer should be recited daily.
The jewels of the Church are those who suffer; those who carry their crosses and endure their penances while being united to God. Padre Pio, the famed stigmatist, once said:
“If you knew the value of suffering you would never give it up.”
Whether an individual believes in God or not, a certain amount of suffering must enter every life. A person who offers his trials to God finds peace and purpose, even in his trials. One who does not unite himself to God becomes bitter and despairs. And, his suffering is wasted.
Graces to endure our daily trials can be obtained so easily by reciting this daily prayer, “The Morning Offering of Reparation.”
Imagine the countless graces being lost in hospitals and homes for the aged by neglecting this prayer. Graces which could be used to free souls from purgatory, convert sinners and purify and ultimately strengthen the Church.
In 1945 Jesus told Lucia, the seer of Fatima, “The sacrifice and penance I now seek and require is the fulfillment of your state in life and the observance of my laws.”
Whatever your state in life may be you can sanctify all your daily actions if upon arising you recite sincerely the morning offering prayer.
Through the “Morning Offering of Reparation” every act you do becomes a sacrifice. The word “sacrifice” means to make “holy.” Once you have made your morning offering you make “holy” every act you do throughout the day.
Whatever trial God permits to pass your way during the day becomes a penance — whether it be work, bad weather, rebellious children, sickness in the family, tight economic conditions or misunderstandings by relatives or friends. All these sacrifices and penances obtain graces the Blessed Virgin needs for the conversion of sinners.
At Fatima, when showing the children, a vision of hell, Our Lady told them: “See my children, the souls of poor sinners because there was no one to pray for them or make sacrifices for them.” If you do not say your morning offering prayer you have wasted the day as far as many graces are concerned and have lost opportunities to help in the salvation of souls.
One day a person visiting the shrine of Fatima, Portugal, was present during the blessing of the sick and afflicted. She saw before her people in wheel chairs, on crutches, lying on stretchers and cots. Moved with compassion for these afflicted, she closed her eyes to pray for them. While praying she envisioned souls dressed in white leaving purgatory and going to heaven. This incident clearly shows how the suffering of all those afflicted was the instrument God was using to free souls in purgatory.
Be sure to recite the “Morning Offering of Reparation” every day and try to renew it often throughout the day. You can place this prayer by your bedside, on your mirror or on your kitchen wall as a reminder to say it. By being faithful to your morning offering, God will send graces upon you, your family, the souls in purgatory and throughout His Church.
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THE FATIMA MORNING OFFERING OF REPARATION:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (here kiss your brown scapular) and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being offered throughout the world, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for my sins and the sins of the whole world.
Amen.
