"It is consummated" (John 19:30), in some translations "It is finished," is the sixth of the Seven Last Words of Jesus from the Cross. It is not a cry of defeat. It announces that the work the Father gave Him, the redemption of the world, has been accomplished to the end. This brief meditation applies that Word to our own lives: each of us has work God has given us to do, in our vocation, our family, and our daily duties, and we ask for the grace to finish it faithfully. It i

The first moments after waking set the tone for the day. Before checking the phone or the news, the Christian tradition encourages us to make the Sign of the Cross and give the new day to God. Old prayer books placed a short prayer like this at the very beginning of their morning devotions. This prayer offers all our thoughts, words, and actions to God and asks for help to avoid sin and to love Him. It takes only a few seconds, so it can be said while still sitting on the edg

Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). This short offering takes the ordinary crosses of a day, weariness, disappointment, pain of body or mind, and unites them to Christ's Passion. St. Paul wrote that he could "fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ" for the sake of the Church (Colossians 1:24), and generations of Catholics have learned to "offer it up." Pray it in th

Purity of intention means doing things for God rather than for praise, comfort, or self-interest. The saints taught that even ordinary actions like cooking, working, studying, and caring for others become holy when they are done for love of God. This short prayer, in the spirit of St. Nicholas of Flue's well-known prayer, asks God to remove whatever keeps us from Him, give us whatever brings us closer, and free us from self so that we may belong wholly to Him. Pray it in the

Between 1673 and 1675, Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun at Paray-le-Monial in France, showing her His Heart burning with love for mankind and asking for a devotion of love and reparation. This act of consecration, which comes from her writings, gives everything to the Sacred Heart: our person, our life, our actions, and our sufferings, so that our whole being may be used to love and glorify Him. Pray it on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (the Fr

A traditional morning offering places the day's works in the Sacred Heart through Mary. The Prayer O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. Traditional Morn

The Suscipe ("Take, Lord, and receive") is St. Ignatius of Loyola's prayer of total offering. Traditional English translations appear in classic spiritual books. The Prayer Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me; to Thee, O Lord, I restore it. All is Thine; dispose of it according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is enough for me. St. Ignatius of Loy

This act of consecration offers the whole day, and every day of our lives, to God's honor and glory. In union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it gives God all our prayers, works, and sufferings for the same intentions for which Christ offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: thanksgiving, reparation for sin, our own needs, the needs of the Church, the conversion of sinners, and the relief of the souls in purgatory. It is closely related to the Morning Offering of the