What does this mean....

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Franklin33

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I have heard it said before in regard to sickness, trials or suffering for example to offer it up to the Lord. Like, I offer up my sickness to the Lord for the church or for this persons situation… but what does this mean? I feel stupid for not understanding
 
“Offering something up” means you are
giving up the right to it so that you WANT
whatever intention you are doing it for
INSTEAD of the right and justification
of doing something for yourself.
 
I offer up my pain or suffering, so that someone else’s may be relieved.

For example, one year, I (purposely) didn’t use the heater in my car between the parish church and my phone; it was very cold, and I offered it up for those that didn’t have heat, especially children.

If I have a headache, I might offer it for those suffering from brain injury, or mental illness. Let my ‘suffering’ take the place of theirs, even for just a moment.

If I’ve lost someone to death, I may offer my suffering for them, or for someone (nonspecific) who has no one to pray for them, or the souls in purgatory.

You can do this with any inconvenience or suffering. You can just offer it up, or ‘name’ who you are offering it up for, in my examples.

Hope that helps. I’ve talked this over both with my pastor and my Catholic therapist.
 
It’s all about sacrifice. Sacrifice is offering to God something precious to us and immolating it, in acknowledgement of God’s Lordship over Creation, and of our absolute dependence on him. We offer sacrifice to adore God, to thank him for his blessings, to obtain pardon for sin and make reparation, and to ask God for more blessings.

In ritual sacrifice there is always a material element, but we can also offer immaterial things like our time and energy, our comfort, etc. So, yes, offering up the pains and inconveniences of having a flu, or even something little like skipping a meal.

The perfect and preeminent sacrifice is, of course, that of our Lord Jesus Christ; and strictly speaking there is nothing we can add to it. It is infinite in value. But God has willed that we suffer with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12), and “fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ” as St. Paul put it (Col. 1:24). Not that anything is lacking absolutely speaking in his perfect sacrifice, but those things he has willed for us to contribute.

We do this by a simple act of will, uniting our suffering to Christ’s suffering, our sacrifice to his Sacrifice; and this supernaturalizes our offering. We can offer it for a general intention (e.g. for God’s will to be done), or for something specific, e.g., for a friend to return to the Church. Sacrifices can make our prayers more efficacious, because we are not just asking for something, but are uniting ourselves more closely with Christ and perhaps exercising a greater degree of charity.
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to help Me understand… I learned a lot and appreciate the help
 
ccmcmg said:
I offer up my pain or suffering, so that someone else’s may be relieved.

For example, one year, I (purposely) didn’t use the heater in my car between the parish church and my phone; it was very cold, and I offered it up for those that didn’t have heat, especially children.

If I have a headache, I might offer it for those suffering from brain injury, or mental illness. Let my ‘suffering’ take the place of theirs, even for just a moment.

If I’ve lost someone to death, I may offer my suffering for them, or for someone (nonspecific) who has no one to pray for them, or the souls in purgatory.

You can do this with any inconvenience or suffering. You can just offer it up, or ‘name’ who you are offering it up for, in my examples.

Hope that helps. I’ve talked this over both with my pastor and my Catholic therapist.
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So, if I understand correctly if your struggling or stuffering from something, you then offer it up so you can then unite your suffering with those of Christ in the hope that it will relieve someone even just for a moment of their suffering or sickness or whatever it may be, yes?
 
You can offer it for any intention you want, including the sort you mention. And we can always offer sacrifices for the intentions of our Lord or of our Lady, leaving it to them to decide how best to use it.
 
Fr. Paul of Moll said that if we knew the value of suffering, our greatest suffering would be to not suffer! When we suffer for God, we are giving Him something that is truly our gift to Him. The suffering soul, says St. Padre Pio, can look to God and say, “You see, God, I do love You!” (paraphrase)

“As My divinity drew to itself the sufferings of My humanity, and made them its own (it is the dowry of the bride), thus will I transport thy pains into My divinity; I will unite them to My Passion and will make thee to share in that glory which My Father bestowed upon My sacred humanity in return for all its sufferings.”
  • Jesus to St. Mechtilde
 
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