Give Us This Day

Launched in August 2011, Give Us This Day is published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. Liturgical Press began publishing for the Church in 1926. Since then, our dedicated staff continues to sustain our original mission of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are truly committed to providing religious and spiritual resources of the highest relevance and quality to the Christian community. As we strive to carry on the great tradition of Liturgical Press under the guidance of our Lord and St. John’s Abbey, we thank you for your faithful support and look forward to serving you in the many years to come.

A new, personal prayer periodical from Liturgical Press-a trusted publisher of liturgy, Scripture, and spirituality founded by the Benedictines of Saint John's Abbey in 1926.

Deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition, Give Us This Day is about prayer-praying daily, praying well, praying with confidence.

Give Us This Day supports your desire to establish prayer as a part of your life, enhancing your existing practices and deepening your encounter with God by providing:

• A practical approach to daily prayer
• Prayers and readings for daily Mass
• Daily prayer, Morning and Evening
• A reflection on the Scriptures for each day

Magnificat

Magnificat, a spiritual guide to help you:

• Develop your prayer life,
• Grow in your spiritual life,
• Find a way to a more profound love for Our Blessed Savior,
• and Participate in the holy Mass with greater fervor.

Join the worldwide Magnificat family and live a life of prayer! Every day, the monthly magazine Magnificat offers:

• Beautiful prayers for both morning and evening, drawn from the treasures of the Liturgy of the Hours,
• The official texts of the daily Mass,
• Meditations written by the renowned Fathers of the Church,
• and a great variety of spiritual writings, essays on the lives of the saints of today and the past.

In each Magnificat, you will also find an article giving valuable spiritual insight, into a masterpiece of sacred art. Magnificat is a lavishly printed, easy-to-read pocket-sized worship aid, of more than 400 pages. It can be used to follow the daily Mass and can also be read at home for personal or family prayer.

Visit www.Magnificat.net.

The Word Among Us

As a result of the movement of the Holy Spirit in this century, many laypeople are seeking practical help in reading scripture and living in greater openness to the Spirit. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council recognized this when they encouraged all believers “to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures... Let them go gladly to the sacred text itself, whether in the sacred liturgy, which is full of the divine words, or in devout reading... Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man. For ‘we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles’ ” (Dei Verbum, 25).

Through this magazine, we hope in some way to help our readers to answer this call. In the first letter to our readers (December 1981), we wrote: “The Word Among Us is intended to assist people in reading, meditating on and understanding scripture [and to] provide sound, practical advice for Catholics on the living out of the Christian life... We can have a relationship of love and friendship with the Son of God.”

Throughout its history, The Word Among Us has continued to follow this pattern of encouraging its readers to experience God’s presence in scripture and prayer and thus receive the grace of the Spirit more deeply in their lives.

The magazine’s name, The Word Among Us, comes from the Prologue to the Gospel of John: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14). This passage reflects the vision and purpose of our publication: To be an instrument of the Spirit whose desire is to manifest Jesus’ presence in and to the children of God. In this way, we hope to contribute to the church’s ongoing mission of proclaiming the gospel to the world and growing ever more deeply in our love for the Lord.

Visit www.wau.org.

DivineOffice.org

“From ancient times the Church has had the custom of celebrating each day the liturgy of the hours. In this way the Church fulfills the Lord’s precept to pray without ceasing, at once offering its praise to God the Father and interceding for the salvation of the world.” – Office of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship.

Divine Office mission is to evangelize and to nurture our Catholic relationship with God by designing and offering contents, software products, development and design services for the Catholic community.

The Liturgy of the Hours produced by this ministry is recognized as the best Catholic podcast, website and mobile app in 2011 and 2012. Three Divine Office mobile apps were nominated as Best Catholic Mobile App in the About.com Readers’ Choice Awards 2012 edition.

The Divine Office prayer community spans through new media, social media, mobile apps and radio stations. Community members from all around the world gather in prayer through our mobile apps as well as through our free podcast and DivineOffice.org website, which had over 2,8 millions visits, over 525,000 people joined in prayer during 2012, with an year-over-year 60% growth.

Find us and interact with us at:

Website: http://www.DivineOffice.org
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/DivineOffice
Facebook: http:/Facebook.com/DivineOffice
Feedback and Support: http://divine-office.com/support

The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the whole People of God. In it, Christ himself “continues his priestly work through his Church.” His members participate according to their own place in the Church and the circumstances of their lives. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office either with the priests, among themselves, or individually.

The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours demands not only harmonizing the voice with the praying heart, but also a deeper “understanding of the liturgy and of the Bible, especially of the Psalms.”

The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour with the subsequent responses or troparia and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal the deeper meanings of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and help one prepare for silent prayer. The lectio divina, where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes prayer, is thus rooted in the liturgical celebration.

The Liturgy of the Hours, which is like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration, does not exclude but rather (in a complementary way) calls forth the various devotions of the People of God, especially adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament.

The worship “in Spirit and in truth” of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the “living stones,” gathered to be “built into a spiritual house.” The Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water emanates. Incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, “we are the temple of the living God.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Two, Section One, Chapter Two.

How to Become a Saint

Contrary to popular belief, saints weren't altogether perfect people during their lifetimes—but it's not good works alone that garner you a spot next to Francis of Assisi.

Ash Wednesday and Lent in Two Minutes

Satan Called a Convention

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do," said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ. Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there, having little time for their God or their families and friends. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives. I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge!

Does "busy" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

Author Unknown

It's Friday…But Sunday's a Comin'