The Three Prayers I Say Every Weekday

Do you have a daily prayer routine? This year, I've gotten into the habit of praying each weekday morning. I start off by waking up, sitting up in bed, and saying my prayers. Aside from occasionally hitting the snooze button, it's the first thing I do, and it's honestly one of the best things I can do for myself.

One of the greatest lessons I learned about prayer is that consistency is incredibly important, from the book "Time For God" by Jacques Philippe. Consistency and routine is so important, so much to the point where one could argue that the quantity and consistency of prayer is better to start off with than the quality of the prayer.

That is, a person who is learning to pray consistently is better off saying small prayers and repeating those prayers as part of a routine can learn a lot from them, and grow in the quality of their prayers over time. Does that sentiment feel right to you? What do you think?

Personally, I say the daily Morning Offering, Prayer to St. Joseph, and finish up with Hail Holy Queen. For those of you who don't already know them, here they are!

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.

Prayer to St. Joseph

Saint Joseph,

By the work of your hands and the sweat of your brow,

you supported Jesus and Mary,

and had the Son of God as your fellow worker.

Teach me to work as you did,

with patience and perseverance,

for God and for those whom God has given me to support.

Teach me to see in my fellow workers the Christ who desires to be in them,

that I may always be charitable and forbearing towards all.

Grant me to look upon work with the eyes of faith,

so that I shall recognize in it my share in God's own creative activity

and in Christ's work of our redemption,

and so take pride in it.

When it is pleasant and productive,

remind me to give thanks to God for it.

And when it is burdensome,

teach me to offer it to God,

in reparation for my sins,

and the sins of the world.

Hail Holy Queen

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,

our life, our sweetness and our hope.

To thee do we cry,

poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sigh,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,

thine eyes of mercy towards us,

and after this, our exile,

show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary,

pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

So there you have it! The Morning Offering I pray is through the USCCB and was suggested to me by an old spiritual director of mine. I add a short little prayer at the end to thank God, pray from the heart with some personal intentions, and then move on to the next prayer. I memorized the pray to Saint Joseph because it is the main prayer recited at each Young Catholic Professional (YCP) meeting. I will ask St. Joseph to pray for me because each work day has its own challenges and the prayer really casts a wide net. Lastly, Hail Holy Queen is one that I should have memorized many years ago, but only did so this year. I wanted to be able to pray this beautiful prayer with Camilla often.

Each are special to me in one way or another, so I encourage you to do something similar. If you're just starting your prayer journey with an Our Father prayer in the morning, then keep it up and expand your horizons little by little! Eventually, you will find prayers that resonate with you, and when you do, pray them often. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in your prayers!

Lastly, My evening routine is quite simple - I read through the readings of the day on the USCCB website, reflect on it shortly, and head to bed! Do you have any great prayers you say on a regular basis? Please share with us by emailing us at faithandfi@gmail.com :)

Peace and Prayers,

Khang