About this prayer

This version of the Morning Offering has roots in the Apostleship of Prayer, a devotion that spread through parishes in the nineteenth century as a simple way to reorient an ordinary day toward God before it even begins. The idea behind it is not complicated: instead of praying only when something is asked of you, you hand over the whole day in advance, the good parts and the hard parts both, before you know what either will look like.

It takes about fifteen seconds to say. That’s not a flaw. It’s the point.

When to pray it

First thing, before the day has a chance to run away from you: at the coffee maker, in the car before pulling out of the driveway, or the moment your feet hit the floor. Some families pray it together at breakfast, which also makes it one of the easiest prayers to teach a child.