Defending "I offer" in the Divine Mercy Chaplet and similar prayers

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Tigre

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Here is the question I am wrestling with:

Why am “I” (or any man/woman) in any position to offer the Body and Blood of Jesus to the Father in prayers such as the Eternal Father in the Divine Mercy Chaplet? (“Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son…”)

I understand, hopefully not incorrectly, that in the Mass when the celebrant prays “that my sacrifice and yours be acceptable” that the “yours” in his prayer is the offering of myself, my words, deeds, thoughts, material offerings, indeed my entire life which I bring to the Mass in sacrificial offering to God. On the other hand, the priest’s sacrifice, acting in persona Christi, is the eternal sacrifice and offering of the Body and Blood.

That understanding does not seem to me to translate to prayers like the Eternal Father where “I” explicitly offer the Body and Blood of our Lord. Who am I to make such an offering? Please help me understand.
 
I was just wondering this last night. I look forward to seeing an answer to this.
 
Tigre said:
Who am I to make such an offering? Please help me understand.
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We could also ask ourselves who are we to ask God for something in The Name of Jesus ? because we are adopted sons of God. This is a spiritual offering to God, it’s a prayer, we laity don’t physically offer the body & blood like the priest does. We can also have a spiritual Communion when we are unable to receive The Host.

We also have the prayer, " Eternal Father I offer you the body & blood soul & divinity of your dearly beloved son our Lord Jesus Christ in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass been offered throughout the world today, for the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for those in the universal church & within my own family."

There are numerous down through the centuries, I don’t see anything wrong with saying them, after-all we are all sinners & hardly worthy.
 
Smfm said:
There are numerous down through the centuries, I don’t see anything wrong with saying them, after-all we are all sinners & hardly worthy.
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I wholeheartedly agree. These are very traditional prayers and I have no doubt that the problem lies not with them but with my own misunderstanding. I am having trouble finding apologetic material on-point however.

I suppose I would reply to you that we are expressly told in Scripture to pray in the name of Jesus (“whatever you ask in my name”) or by the authority of Jesus, so it sees right to do so. And I understand that we may partake in spiritual communion but that is a prayer of petition, which to my mind differs from an actual offering, spiritual or otherwise.
 
Laypeople aren’t priests of the Order of Melchizadek.

But by virtue of our baptisms, we have been made a priestly people.
1 Peter 2:5 “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”
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It’s not just that we can do it. It’s that we’re commanded to do it. It’s part of our mission.

The Jewish people were originally chosen to be a priestly people. Just as the firstborn males were to be priests for their families, so the Jewish people, the firstborn among the nations, were supposed to be priests who prayed and offered sacrifices for the Gentiles, teaching them how to worship.

Jesus Christ has fulfilled that by becoming the Firstborn of All Creation, Who offers up Himself as the sacrifice for His family around the world. We are His Body. Some of us take on the more full role of being priests, but all of us are part of Him, the High Priest, and so we are even more His priestly people!

So we offer Him, the once for all Sacrifice, just as He offers Himself in the Holy of Holies in Heaven. We are part of Him; we must do as He does. We offer up the spiritual sacrifice instead of His Real Presence, but it’s our job to do that.
 
So strange when someone asks such a specific question at a time when you have the exact same question in your mind. I have been guided by the Holy Spirit to pray the Devine mercy prayer (just the prayer, not the chaplet) almost everyday. I always thought it was weird to not only “offer” the body and the blood… But also say “for the sake’ of His sorrowful passion”. Does this mean "Lord please don’t’ let your Son’s death be in vain? That’s how I say it. As for the "offer"ing part. I visualize myself at the foot of the cross pleading with God to accept the gift of Christ’s suffering and death on my behalf.
 
Keep in mind that St. Faustina was asked when she prayed at the hour of mercy to immerse herself in Christ’s passion. So, if you are immersing yourself in the passion, you in a sense become a part of it. You are offering it as you unite to Christ’s sufferings. Don’t take the words too literally -it’s more of a spiritual offering. You are united to Christ’s sufferings at the moment of prayer and so are basically acknowledging that Christ’s sufferings are an offering that allows God’s mercy to flow to us.
 
Tigre said:
I wholeheartedly agree. These are very traditional prayers and I have no doubt that the problem lies not with them but with my own misunderstanding. I am having trouble finding apologetic material on-point however.

I suppose I would reply to you that we are expressly told in Scripture to pray in the name of Jesus (“whatever you ask in my name”) or by the authority of Jesus, so it sees right to do so. And I understand that we may partake in spiritual communion but that is a prayer of petition, which to my mind differs from an actual offering, spiritual or otherwise.
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A Spiritual Communion is usually used in cases where we were in a situation where we could not attend the electric chair of forgiveness +++
 
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