# Monday, December 14, 2026 *Today’s Prayer for Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church.* [[#☀️ Morning Offering|Morning Offering]] | [[#🕰️ Liturgy of the Hours|Liturgy of the Hours]] | [[#📖 Daily Readings & Verse|Daily Readings]] | [[#🕊️ Today's Meditation|Today's Meditation]] > ***[[day-14-daily-prayer-for-seminarians-and-priests|Day 14 - Let us pray for seminarians Kevin Kelly and John Ungarino]]*** # ☀️ Morning Offering > [!quote] Carmelite Morning Offering (St. Thérèse) > O my God, I offer You all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to Its infinite merits; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of Its merciful love. O my God, I ask of You for myself and for those whom I hold dear the grace to know You, and to know and fulfill perfectly Your holy will, to accept for love of You the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in Heaven for all eternity. Amen. [[20261215-morning-offering|Next →]] ## 🕰️ Liturgy of the Hours > [!links] Universalis & Office > - OCD Proper: [[12-14-st-john-of-the-cross]] | [Morning Prayer (Lauds)](http://www.universalis.com/20261214/lauds.htm) > - [Evening Prayer (Vespers)](http://www.universalis.com/20261214/vespers.htm) | [Night Prayer (Compline)](http://www.universalis.com/20261214/compline.htm) ## 📖 Daily Readings & Verse > [!cite] Daily Readings > **Verse:** "Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save."Isaiah 46:3-4 > > **Resources:** [USCCB Readings](http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121426.cfm) | [Daily Reflections (Evangeli.net)](https://evangeli.net/gospel) ## 🕊️ Today's Meditation > [!abstract]- Daily Reflection > "Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction."St. John of the Cross > > “The reason why the soul not only travels securely when in obscurity, but also makes greater progress, is this: In general the soul makes greater progress in the spiritual life when it least thinks so, yea, when it rather imagines that it is losing everything …There is another reason also why the soul has traveled safely in this obscurity; it has suffered: for the way of suffering is safer, and also more profitable, than that of rejoicing and of action. In suffering God gives strength, but in action and in joy the soul does but show its own weakness and imperfections. And in suffering, the soul practices and acquires virtue, and becomes pure, wiser, and more cautious.”—St. John of the Cross, p.149 > [!abstract]- Divine Intimacy Meditation > [[16-guard-of-the-senses|Meditation #16, Guard of the Senses - O my God, I recollect my senses and faculties in Your presence, withdrawing them from all exterior occupations, in order to fix my attention wholly on You]] ## 🏛️ Saint of the Day: St. John of the Cross > [!info]+ The Cloud of Witnesses > > > St. John of the Cross (1542–1591) – also known as San Juan de la Cruz – was born to a poor family in Old Castile, Spain. His father married below his rank and was disinherited as a result. After his father’s early death, John was raised in poverty by his mother. He studied and served at a local hospital while committing himself to severe penances. Uncertain of his life’s direction, he was told in prayer that he should enter religious life in order to bring reform. John joined the ancient Carmelite Order and received permission to observe their original rule of life, quickly earning a reputation for his humility, obedience, and religious fervor. He later met St. Teresa of Avila, a reforming Carmelite abbess who recognized the greatness of John’s virtue and requested his assistance to found a monastery of friars under the primitive Carmelite rule, as she had done for her nuns. Together they founded the Discalced Carmelites, a contemplative order of strict religious observance. His reforms began to spread, and as a result John was captured, imprisoned, and physically abused by his fellow friars. His sufferings helped him to write his most famous work, Dark Night of the Soul. After nine months he made a miraculous escape and he went on to found and govern several Carmelite monasteries. St. John of the Cross became an authority on the spiritual life, and his profound writings and poetry are considered among the greatest of all Spanish literature. Because of his invaluable writings he was named a Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of mystics, contemplatives, and Spanish poets. His feast day is December 14th. ## 🕯️ Monthly Devotion: Month of The Immaculate Conception > [!attention]- Focus: Month of The Immaculate Conception > > > Prayer to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception:Most holy Virgin, who wast pleasing to the Lord and became His Mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on the wretched who implore thy powerful patronage. The wicked serpent, against whom was hurled the first curse, continues fiercely to attack and ensnare the unhappy children of Eve. Do thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen and advocate, who from the first instant of thy conception didst crush the head of the enemy, receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive at the port of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church and Christian society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and of victory and of peace.Amen. ## 🙏 Daily Prayers > [!todo]- Daily Prayers > **Spiritual Communion:** My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. > > **Prayer for the Dead:** In Your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life You embraced them with Your tender love; deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest. > > **For the Holy Father:** Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation. --- [[20261213-morning-offering|← Previous]] | [[Calendar|Liturgical Calendar]] | [[20261215-morning-offering|Next →]]