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Many Catholics begin every day with a Prayer of Morning Offering – a way to offer the Lord our day as a sacrifice, an offering to him in worship, our life one day at a time.  This is only one example; a search on the internet will disclose many variations.  The practice is a beautiful one, helping us to remain righteous the whole day through, so that our day may be an offering worthy of Him, our humble gift to the divine Giver of all that we have and are.

If you – the reader – don’t presently begin your day with an intentional self-offering to Him, I strongly recommend the practice!  In these times – these strange, dangerous, confused and dark times – let us anchor our days, one at a time, in Him – the one firm foundation of life!

We begin and end with the Sign of the Cross:
(Tracing the Cross on our body, we say, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

The prayer:

Oh my Jesus,
Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary
I offer you all my prayers, my works, my joys and my sufferings of this day,
In union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
In reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world,
And for the intentions of your Sacred Heart.
Amen.

A Commentary on the Morning Offering:

First, The Sign of the Cross.
Commentary:

We seek to offer (begin and end) our prayer “in His Name” – in the One Name of the One God, who is a Trinity of Three Divine Persons. We seek to pray in His eternal Truth and Love, in the mystery of Trinity:
“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them.” (Catechism #234)

Oh my Jesus,
Commentary:

Jesus is “my Jesus” not that I possess Him – He possesses me, He is my Lord, my Redeemer, my Savior.

Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Commentary:

The Immaculate Heart is the holy, sinless and spotless center of God’s perfect example of a human person. By this she is the perfect human Model for us all. By God’s intention she was formed immaculate to be the perfect and worthy human Mother of His Divine Son. By the Word of Christ from the Cross, she is our Mother. In her motherly love she does nurture and pray for us her children today, and all days.

I offer you all my prayers, my works, my joys and my sufferings of this day,
Commentary:

This is our priesthood in Christ: to make acceptable offerings of our lives in real human actions to God – worship in spirit and in truth. We offer them through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, knowing that only what is pure can pass through her hands to our Lord. Hence what He receives from us through Mary, is good, is righteous, is holy and is thus worthy to offer Him.

In union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
Commentary:

In the Sacrifice of the Mass (our most perfect act of worship), Catholic priests throughout the world “exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father.” [CCC 1566, LG 28; cf. 1 Cor. 11:26, Heb. 9:11-28.]

In reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world,
Commentary:

Sin damages the sinner and others. The damage and wounds inflicted call in justice for atonement, for restoration and repair of the damage caused by the sin. This is called reparation due for sins that have been repented and forgiven. Sometimes we can directly do good for the innocent hurt by our sins, in reparation for the harm we have caused them, sometimes that is not prudent or even possible.
We thus offer to God righteous works in our daily lives, in reparation for our sins, whether of commission or omission, whether remembered or forgotten, whether consciously or unconsciously wounding a neighbor. In this way we follow Paul the Apostle: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (Col 1:24)

And for the intentions of your Sacred Heart.
Commentary:

Above all, we offer prayer in union with all who pray the Prayer given us by Jesus to the Father, the “Our Father”. We pray for His intentions, His will: “Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Amen.
(and repeat the Sign of the Cross).