One distinctively Catholic practice, at least in my experience, is the concept of "offering" something in our lives to God. This is particularly true of suffering, pain, and anxiety, as well as the traditional fasts and abstinences. It’s also normally offered up for some particular need like the souls in purgatory, reparation for abortion, and many other things. I’ve heard Catholics say on many occasions, especially when experiencing pain or suffering, "offer it up to God."
As a newish Catholic, I have found this practice particularly helpful and spiritually satisfying. Offering ourselves to God, always done in union with Christ and also with the Saints, gives meaning to our suffering, struggles, and pain as well as our joys and successes. Our struggles are no longer ours alone to bear, but are done with our Lord, his Mother, and those who are in his blessed presence. Our sufferings are also not mired in futility, but are done for something noble and honorable. In other words, our sufferings now have a purpose, a raison d’être. Our lives then become sacrifices to God.
However, our sacrifices are not our own, but are united to the one Sacrifice of Christ, which is re-presented daily in the sacrifice of the mass. It’s an amazing concept to think of our humble sacrifices and offerings united to that of our Lord. Yet it is true. The Catechism explains it well (#1368):
The Church which is the Body of Christ participates
in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and
entire. She unites herself to his intercession with the Father for all
men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the
sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their
praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ
and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ’s
sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of
Christians to be united with his offering.
Many will protest that this is somehow earning our salvation, yet how can we earn anything apart from what Jesus did on the Cross? We don’t try to earn God’s favor, but rather cooperate with God’s free grace. It’s like the prayer, Most Sweet Jesus notes:
We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your Divine honor, the satisfaction that You once made to Your Eternal Father on the Cross and that You continue to renew daily on our altars…
Thus, all we can offer is the very life and gift that our Lord gave us. Our own offerings must be offered in union with that priceless gift. There is no greater thought than our sufferings, pain, joys, triumphs, failures, and indeed our whole lives being offered to the Father through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Image by Jonathan Bennett
