Offer It Up

My mother used to tell me to "offer it up." She usually gave this advice whenever I was complaining about some particularly difficult, at least in my opinion, trial or struggle. I usually interpreted it as, "stop complaining." Then I heard a priest on Relevant Radio the other day suggest to a listener to "offer it up."

At first I thought the priest could be a little more sensitive to the listeners condition. Then as the conversation went on I began to understand. The priest was helping the listener to understand that sometimes a person can not do much to affect a situation. Some things are just beyond our ability to control or understand. When these things happen it is our nature to suffer. Sometimes the suffering is physical pain. Sometimes the suffering is more a sense of worry, unease, or anger. Sometimes the suffering is beyond our control.

The priest went on to explain that when a situation is beyond our control we can "offer it up" in prayer to God. The priest was not going to tell the listener to stop suffering, because the listener couldn't really do that. Instead he was telling the listener to turn to God, offer the suffering to God, and let God take care of the situation. He said, "Offer it up."

 So if you or someone you know is suffering, remember to act on the things you can control. As for the rest, "Offer it up."

Pot Luck Fun!

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Pot Luck Dinner last Saturday evening.

A special thanks to Steve Curran for his information on Theology of the Body and John and America Costilla for their information on the Apostalate for the Family.