A Daily Personal Prayer Journal

(The Daily Personal Prayer Journal is a gathering of quotations from various sources, each of which might lead you to a quiet moment of prayer, of a sharing of love between you and God. Choose one and then use it as a springboard into prayer.)

September 20, 2026

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbor, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Daily Thought from The Saints

“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise him to the greatest extent of our Powers.”

— St. Maximilian Kolbe

Daily Scripture Verse

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “most Blessed are you among women, and Blessed is the Fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for Joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

Luke 1:41-45

Daily Meditation

“There is another reason also why the soul has traveled 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 the soul does not 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

Day by Day with Mary, the Mother of God

O Mary, you became the icon of the Church of love, sustained by our faith stronger than death, and living in the charity which overcomes abandonment. Obtain for us, O Mary, that profound consolation that enables us to love even in the night of faith and hope, when in the darkness it seems to us that we cannot even see the face of our neighbor.

—Cardinal Carlo Martini

A Prayer from Notre Dame University

Rev. Herb Yost, C.S.C.

Lord God, we are thankful that we may come before you, confused, even puzzled at times, at our failures and weaknesses in serving you. We know that if we seek forgiveness, we shall find it. You have assured us that even the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner turning back to the Lord of love and forgiveness. Hear our prayer, Lord, and look not at our failures, but at our hearts that desire to be one with you. Let us honor you in word and deed, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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("Thoughts from the Saints," Scripture Verse of the Day," and "Daily Meditation" are all taken from "Your Morning Offering" by The Catholic Company. "Daily Catholic Wisdom" is taken from CatholicWisdom.org.  The prayer comes from The University of Notre Dame's daily Gospel commentary. "

Father Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M.

A Franciscan Friar and Roman Catholic priest ordained in 1975, Fr. Lawrence has experience as a high school teacher (1970-1974, 1975-1979, 1986-1992), an itinerant preacher (1996-1999), an editor, and administrator. He has served as Executive Secretary (Secretary of the Province) for the Franciscans of the Sacred Heart Province, headquartered in St. Louis, MO (1979-1984), Associate Novice Master (1984-1986), Post-Novitiate Formation (1986-1987), President of the Board of Directors of Mayslake Village, Oak Brook, Illinois (1987-1989), Associate Business Manager of St. Peter's Church, Chicago, IL (1992-1996) and Master of Postulants (1999-2004). From 2007 to 2021, he served as administrator of CUSA - an apostolate of persons with chronic illness and/or disability. 

Fr. Lawrence also has extensive experience as an editor and proof reader. After 20+ years of teaching English in a high school classroom, he has turned his language skills in the direction of publishing and editing. 

Fr. Lawrence also has more than forty years experience of teaching English as a second language to natives of Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Austria, Vietnam, and Italy.

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