Give Us This Day

I am a Catholic priest, and I have been using this daily devotional for the last several months. I was offered a free monthly issue, and ended up ordering a two-year subscription for myself and for a friend as well. I like the Magnificat Magazine, which has a similar format, but I very much like GIVE US THIS DAY and use it on a daily basis. I like the morning prayer and evening prayer options that it contains for this day. It also has a reflection on a person of faith for each day. Sometime it is the official saint of the day, but sometime it a different choice, such a Caesar Chavez or the Syrophoenician woman who challenged Jesus to heal her daughter. There is a reflection on Scripture for each day, and this can come from a doctor of the Church or from a layperson, sister, or priest. I have been recommending this devotional to friends and parishioners, and could not be more enthusiastic in my recommendation.

I share the same thoughts as Father Dall has written in his review. This is a wonderful resource for daily prayer. I am putting it on my wish list because I had been using samples from my church, but they have run out and now I feel lost!

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I am a re-vert to the Catholic Church. When I returned, I was given a copy of Magnificat by the wonderful people who ran the RCIA program at our parish. While I did enjoy Magnificat, I opted to subscribe to Give Us This Day when it launched a couple of years back. (I love Fr. James Martin and had heard that he was one of the editorial advisors. Plus, it was a few bucks cheaper than Magnificat.)

I am so happy I did! It is a wonderful tool for daily prayer, with morning and evening prayer, plus the readings for daily Mass. It also has incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking reflections. I also love "Blessed Among Us"... it's so inspiring to hear how others have lived out their calling to serve the Lord.

I actually let my subscription run out awhile back and really felt the difference in my spiritual life. I know some folks are great with daily prayer on their own, but I'm someone who really needs a "guide" of sorts. As a busy mom of 4 sweet young kiddos, it is so wonderful to just open to the day and read, even if it's only for a few minutes; I always feel so much better after I do so.

Lastly, I'd like to address the idea that Give Us This Day has some sort of political agenda, with the underlying message seeming to be that Give Us This Day is at odds with Church teaching. I could not disagree more. I am faithful to the Magisterium (even when it is difficult for me to do so... hence 4 babies in 6 years), and I did not see any sort of "red flags" with the reflections or "Blessed Among Us". (In fact, I rather enjoyed reading about people who were outside the sphere of canonized saints!) More importantly, I have found nothing in the magazine that runs counter to Church teaching whatsoever.

There is room for personality among faithful Catholics. Some of us love Fr. Martin, others prefer Scott Hahn. (I actually like both!) I think as long as we hold Christ and the Church He founded as our center, we can disagree on the other, more secondary stuff without resorting to name-calling, right? We are all Catholics; we should stand as one, I think, and not get bogged down by in-fighting.

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A family member gave me this as a gift subscription. I have read this magazine for over a year, now. I am a professional Catholic intellectual and am thoroughly familiar with the saints, Church calendar, etc. It is obvious that the editors have a political agenda. At least weekly there is a "Blessed Among Us" biography of a "saintly" person (sometimes they are political figures who had no connection to the Catholic Christian faith at all). The subtle, faith-poisoning, underlying schema of this magazine is "the Church was all backwards and wrong in the 'bad old days' (you should study some history if you actually believe that) and now we suddenly enlightened people are going to bring it all kinds of wisdom from everywhere except Christ and the apostles" so the Church can 'catch up' to our own shallow outlook.

I am going to be canceling my subscription as soon as possible. It might offend my family member if they find out, but I can't in conscience continue to support this magazine, even indirectly.

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I find the format of this periodical very helpful in helping me focus on daily prayer and meditation. I especially like the brief essays that help to tie together the themes of the daily Mass.