Magnificat / daily missal / in conversation with God

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I’ve been thinking about getting a subscription to the Magnificat, buying a daily missal, or buying the “In Conversation with God” books. The whole point is to reflect on the Mass, and general spritual food for thought. What is the difference between the items listed above?

Thanks!
 
*Magnificat *has the prayers of the Mass, daily Mass readings, a set of morning and evening prayers (resembling a “lite” version of the Liturgy of the Hours, but not the official one), brief meditations, and brief profiles of saints. (It may have other elements, but I don’t subscribe so I don’t remember.) I think it is published once a month.

I’m not sure about a daily missal, but I would expect it would contain the prayers of the Mass and daily Mass readings for a whole year.

In Conversation with God does not have the actual daily Mass readings, but it has longer (about six pages per day) meditations on the daily Mass readings. (You can find the actual Mass readings here usccb.org/nab/ .) In Conversation with God is excellent, and if I could only get one of your three choices, that is where I would put my money. The author (Fernandez) is a follower of the spirituality of Saint Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. The meditations are geared toward people whose apostolate is in the everyday working world — professionals, laborers, students, mothers of families, etc. The series has seven volumes (Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, four volumes of Ordinary Time, and special feasts). It includes separate Sunday meditations for Years A, B, and C. For weekdays, there is only one meditation for each day of the liturgical year, so they do not always match the current daily Mass readings (e.g., for today, Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, it would give meditations on the readings from either Year A or B, but not both).
 
Magnificat is actually a really great find! Although I don’t have a subscription, I do buy it from my local religious goods store. I carry the Magnificat with me to Mass (along with my Daily Roman Missal). When the music gets unbearable at Mass, I’ll read the meditations in the Magnificat as a way to pacify me.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
*Magnificat *has the prayers of the Mass, daily Mass readings, a set of morning and evening prayers (resembling a “lite” version of the Liturgy of the Hours, but not the official one), brief meditations, and brief profiles of saints. (It may have other elements, but I don’t subscribe so I don’t remember.) I think it is published once a month.

I’m not sure about a daily missal, but I would expect it would contain the prayers of the Mass and daily Mass readings for a whole year.

In Conversation with God does not have the actual daily Mass readings, but it has longer (about six pages per day) meditations on the daily Mass readings. (You can find the actual Mass readings here usccb.org/nab/ .) In Conversation with God is excellent, and if I could only get one of your three choices, that is where I would put my money. The author (Fernandez) is a follower of the spirituality of Saint Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. The meditations are geared toward people whose apostolate is in the everyday working world — professionals, laborers, students, mothers of families, etc. The series has seven volumes (Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, four volumes of Ordinary Time, and special feasts). It includes separate Sunday meditations for Years A, B, and C. For weekdays, there is only one meditation for each day of the liturgical year, so they do not always match the current daily Mass readings (e.g., for today, Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, it would give meditations on the readings from either Year A or B, but not both).
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I would like to heartily concur with your recommendation of “In Conversation with God.”
It is very helpful in developing a deep spiritual life, and absolutely orthodox in its theology. Not inexpensive but well worth the investment.
 
In Conversation with God was recommended by my Parish Priest, whom I absolutely love. Thanks for your posts!
 
another alternative is Word Among Us, which now has the daily Mass readings and order of the Mass (in an easily readable type size) as well as a daily reflection on the readings, plus 3 or 4 articles on specific theme, the season, or spiritual topics.
 
As far as daily missals are concerned, the best one is the Daily Roman Missal (I believe it is published by Scepter Press). It has all of the Mass Readings (including propers, memorials and rituals) in both English and Latin. It also has an appendix chock full of devotionals and prayers, as well as a special section on prayers for the dead and dying.

Although I do have my issues with the current Lectionary translation, this book is great for just about everything.

In fact, having the Latin and English facing each other is most helpful because it does show what is lacking in the current translation of the Roman Missal (but, that’s for another thread).
 
I have a subscription to Magnificat, and own the In Conversation with God books. Both are excellent, but if I could get only one I’d get In Conversation with God.

The whole set is a bit pricey, but I believe that you can also buy them individually on Amazon.
 
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