Spiritual Morning Routine

Spiritual Life
1) Daily Mass Readings
Click here to read and/or listen.
Today's readings are fabulous! We have Naaman in the Old Testament, who contracts leprosy (which meant being quarantined FOREVER and your fingers/toes/nose falling off) and Jesus walking through an angry crowd (who happen to be trying to be trying to throw him off of a cliff) without being hurt in the slightest.

2) Spiritual Communion Prayer
After you have read/listened to the readings, please quietly make the Spiritual Communion Offering.
Spiritual Communion Prayer
My Jesus, 
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. 
I love You above all things, 
and I desire to receive You into my soul. 
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally, 
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.

After you offer your spiritual communion prayer, you can take a moment to:
1) adore God for His goodness, power, mercy;
2) repent for any sins;
3) thank God for all the good things He has done for you, and;
4) ask God for help with your daily life and for others.

3) Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, the reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our associates and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

• Holy Child Catholic School’s Add On: Lord, thank you for supplying for the needs of our capital campaign. Please continue to grant success to the works of our hands and gather your people together. Amen.

Pledge of Allegiance*
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
*This isn't a prayer, but we usually say the Pledge at school right after our morning offering ... so here it is!

4) Saint of the Day: Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
(Mrs. Stern got all of this materials from Franciscan Media, but made it shorter and more student-friendly. All the credit goes to them!)

When this saint was born in Moravia, he was given the name John. He was the ninth of 12 children. He really wanted to be a priest, but his family was poor, there was no money to study at a seminary, and he was sent to be an apprentice to a baker. He found work in the bakery of a monastery where he was allowed to attend classes in its Latin school. Eventually John went to Vienna and continued baking.

One day after serving Mass at the Cathedral of St. Stephen, he called a carriage for two ladies waiting there in the rain. In their conversation they learned that he could not pursue his priestly studies because of a lack of funds. They generously offered to support both John and his friend Thaddeus, in their seminary studies. The two went to Rome, where they were drawn to Saint Alphonsus’ vision of religious life. The two young men were ordained together in 1785 and he received his new name: Clement Mary.

St. Clement Mary was sent with his priest friend to various places, none of which were easy. He was in Vienna for a time, then in Warsaw, Poland. In Warsaw he and his friend were so poor that they had to live with very little and preach outdoor sermons. Eventually they were given a church to preach in and they did so with all their might. They preached five sermons a day for the next nine years! (Two sermons each day were in German and three were in Polish.) He and his fellow priest worked hard to help the poor, teach people about God, and found an orphanage for children with no parents.

It seemed like all was going well and many people came to St. Clement Mary's aid to work with him. He sent missionaries to Poland, Germany, and Switzerland ... but then everything had to be abandoned because of fighting between countries, leaders, and even religions. Poor St. Clement Mary was even imprisoned and expelled from Poland. He eventually ended up back where he started - Vienna - and became known as "the apostle of Vienna" hearing many confessions, visiting the sick, and sharing all he had. He died in 1820 and was canonized in 1909. His feast day is today!

Reflection
While he surely felt discouraged during his life because of his hardships, disappointments, and poverty, St. Clement Mary never gave up serving God wherever and whenever he could. He is a splendid example for us today as we try to navigate tricky situations and stay focused on God.

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, pray for us!