I learned the Morning Offering my sophomore year in high school. (It was only my 5th year in a Catholic school, so I still had a long way to go to catch up on things like that.)
The room was quiet. Heads were bowed, eyes were closed and hands were folded as we sat at our desks for morning prayers before beginning class.
My homeroom teacher, Sr. Lucille Marie, would add at the end of the prayer, “And for the one in this room who needs it most today.”
Sometimes, the silence would be broken as a student (or several) whispered, “Me.”
All these years later, I still remember those whispers.
I remember those girls who projected all the confidence in the world every other minute of the day, but who let down their shields for that one moment when they could anonymously admit that they were in need of prayer.
You don’t have to be in a classroom to pray this prayer. You can pray it for the people in your home. You can pray it for the people standing in line with you at the supermarket. You can pray it for people driving ahead of you and behind you on the highway.
Where two or three are gathered, you can pray this prayer:
For the one in this room who needs it most, I pray.
God knows what they need. He can take it from there.
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This month I’m joining all the cool kids in the #Write31Days adventure! I didn’t pick a keyword or a theme, because just getting something written for all 31 days is challenge enough for me right now.
I’m trying to gather the words to express how beautiful this is but I really am struggling. What a beautiful memory and what a much needed prayer. I’ll be thinking about this for awhile. Thank you for sharing. I’ll be sharing this with my homeschool group too 🙂
Thank you, Amanda. This has really stuck with me for so long (I try not to think about how long it’s been since I was a sophomore…) It’s taken me a while to figure out why it resonated with me so much at the time. I wonder if Sister ever knew of the impact that prayer made.
I absolutely LOVE this thought of “for the one in this room that needs it the most.” I already say something to the effect of “for the oldest soul in purgatory, most in need of prayers,” when I pray for the dead; now, I will need to tuck this one away when praying for the living. Great idea heading into Sunday!
I love this idea (especially at random places like the market) and will add it to my prayers. 🙂