Offer it up?

[Mel_Stones]

What does ‘offer it up’ mean? I hear this phrase on occasion and don’t really understand what it means. To me it sounds like ‘I get points for suffering’ as if we could earn salvation or good favor from God. I highly doubt that’s what people mean but that’s all I can think of.

Peace.

 

[1ke]

It means to unite our suffering with that of Christ and offer it for our good and the good of the Church. Our suffering, united with Christ, has meaning. It has merit. It is redemptive. It is salvific. Not by our own doing, but by God’s grace.

Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The Irish have an expression - Place it on the Paten. At the offertory, when the priest raises the paten and bread [before the Eucharistic Prayer while it is still bread], mentally place all your trials and sorrows on the paten and offer them together with the bread.

 

[Nominefili]

What does ‘offer it up’ mean? I hear this phrase on occasion and don’t really understand what it means. To me it sounds like ‘I get points for suffering’ as if we could earn salvation or good favor from God. I highly doubt that’s what people mean but that’s all I can think of.

Peace.

Please, please, PLEASE don’t think that!

And I pray that’s not what others mean!

Generally, at least in my experience, ‘offering it up’ means letting Jesus, your Lord and Saviour, handle it. Take Matthew 11 as an example:

8"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Our Lord Jesus tells us to lay all of our worldly burdens on Him. Pray to Him!

 

[Chancellare]

Why offer it all up?
We all suffer everyday whether we like it or not. A suffering not offered up to God becomes simply that: a suffering. No meaning, natural, like a rat drowning. All gone to waste and it just makes life more meaningless.
God sent His Son to change all that.
Suffering that is offered to God takes on a supernatural meaning. Man is no longer alone and lost. By uniting our suffering with Christ we become co-redeemers just like being part of the First Justification: Christ’s blood shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. We also beome cooperators in sanctifying our circumstances, no matter how inconsequential or earth-shaking they maybe. They all become worthy offerings to God.

 

[John92]

Generally, at least in my experience, ‘offering it up’ means letting Jesus, your Lord and Saviour, handle it.

Not at all. Catholics try to see suffering not as something to be avoided but to be embraced as punishment, and because we can remind ourselves through it of what Christ went through during his passion. When we’re suffering we think of it as a “sacrifice” to God.

So for example I might be going to a college course that’s really easy, but instead of goofing off in class I’ll try to at least look attentive and not be arrogant or anything, even though I’m extremely bored, and I think of that suffering as being an offering to Christ. I mean that’s an extremely minor form of suffering, obviously, but that’s often what we mean when we say “offer it up”. This goes also for more extreme stuff: mortification of the flesh, fasting, etc. etc.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Not at all. Catholics try to see suffering not as something to be avoided but to be embraced as punishment, and because we can remind ourselves through it of what Christ went through during his passion. When we’re suffering we think of it as a “sacrifice” to God.
. . .

And not just Catholics. I have an old book that I have not read in long while, but as I recall it was in close accord with Catholic belief. Don’t Waste Your Sorrows - A study in sainthood and suffering - by Paul E. Billheimer.

A former Radio Pastor and Bible College President deals withthe quetion of sufferig in the life of the believer from a different perspective, as an indispensable part of God’s present program of preparation and training of His children for the ultimate participation in rulership as members of the Bride of Christ.

from the back cover.

 

[onmyknees]

We can also offer up our sufferings to God for other souls who are in great need of our prayers. When we say offer up it means bearing our sufferings as best we can with God’s help.

 

[PAboy57]

Father Corapi would be so proud of all of those great answers. Let’s offer it up and make it something wonderful. Amen

 

[Zooey]

When I first came here to CAF, that idea drove me crazy! Then someone expalined it, much as they have for you, and I realized that this is really just another way to pray…
As it happens, I suffer from a variety of health problems, which are not going to be healed in this life (barring a miracle, I mean), and I can actually use that fact as a way to pray…instead of complaining.
So when I am in pain, I often hear myslef whining about it, to myself. Every time, I renew the request that I have made to Our Lord, that when I do this, He should hear it, not as a complaint, but as a prayer for all those who are in need.
In this way, you see, I am not wasting suffering…and I am actually transforming my “automatic response pattern” into a brief but very real prayer.
HTH!!

 

[puzzleannie]

It means just that, offer it up to Jesus, in union with his sufferings, to the Father as he offers Himself. We offer everything–our joys, sorrows, sufferings, sacrifices, blessings, in a conscious way through words or silent intention, to the Father, with the Son, through the Holy Spirit. There is a formal prayer by which we dedicate the entire day, called the Morning Offering, or we make an intentional act whenever we experience a sorrow or a blessing. We give back to the Father whatever we have received, in gratitude, praise, thanksgiving, and petition for his blessings. In the words of the song, cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.