How does one "offer it up"

[Ice_nine]

So, you're life is in a sh***y and sad state of affairs, but fear not, you can offer it up and cash in on some of that redemptive grace and whatnot. But what do you have to do? Say a prayer? Bear your trials patiently and not whine about them? (safe to say I'm kind of screwed if this is a pre-requisite). How do you get the most bang for your buck so to speak?

[bardegaulois]

By asking God to use the source of your pain and annoyance for the good of the Church or for any specific intention you might have, and being at peace with that fact. As the offering of our sufferings is a great part of our sharing in the common priesthood, I often bring my suffering to mind at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, remembering them particularly while waiting in the communion line, kneeling at the rail, or kneeling in the pew after receiving, as my particular offering and sacrifice which I join to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross on this day. Think of our sufferings as Our Lord sharing His Cross with us, that we His members might participate in in His work of redeeming this fallen world and making it holy.

Fisheaters has a nice write-up about this here, moreover: http://fisheaters.com/offeringitup.html.

Edited April 5, 2016 by bardegaulois

[BarbTherese]

When life gets sh***y in some way, I unite my problem(s) to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Intentions (since I know that "His Intentions" covers everything) and then just bear the sh***y as best I can or am able.  That is how to "offer things up" my way, while there are probably many ways of "offering it up".

All prayer needs to be is a recalling that Jesus is Present - one can speak to Him if one wishes.  He hears all and whichever mode of prayer one uses.  It has been said that Silence is The Language of The Lord.  Just as two lovers will glance at each other across a room and that glance is loving and love, lovely.

God bless you richly in your good desires and searching.  It is not so much success Jesus asks - success and failure are His Domain, His Decision entirely........what He asks are good and honest desires with persevering application - for as long as long is long..........

__________________

I have a little prayer at difficult times and most any time as well -  these are actually three short aspirations or prayers.

"Jesus meek and humble of heart make my heart like unto Thine. Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in You, no matter what befalls me, Lord, nor dark the hour may be.  Soul of Christ sanctify me, Body of Christ strengthen me, Blood of Christ be my salvation, motivation and inspiration."  This has become an habitual prayer for me.

The Morning Offering every morning is also important to me: "Jesus, through the most sacred heart of Mary, I offer to You all my prayers, my works, my joys and my sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Thy Divine Heart" This prayer says it all (offering up all) and for the whole day  - and if pray it half awake and without attention, I repeat it until I do pray it with attention to the words, what they mean.  This has become habitual too.

I read too rather recently that St Therese of Lisieux would offer up her every breathe to Jesus and this appealed to me or "spoke to me" - I am trying to remember this throughout my day whenever it comes to mind.  Not as yet habitual!

 

[Ice_nine]

1 hour ago, bardegaulois said:

and being at peace with that fact.

well . . . carp

[Not The Philosopher]

I gotta admit...I'm pretty terrible at this.

[veritasluxmea]

1 hour ago, bardegaulois said:

being at peace with that fact.

Eh, I would argue that's not a requirement. Peace comes as a gift from God and if you don't have it, that's normal. St Therese of Lisieux didn't really find happiness in her suffering until the last two or three years of her life. "Offering it up" is a spiritual exercise, you kind of figure it out by continually trying and working out the kinks. Bard gives a good place to start: pray to offer it up and keep trying. Be honest in prayer about where you are peace and emotionally-wise and where you want to be. When you notice you're emotionally far from "offering it up" or have kind of forgotten about it or something, all you have to do it quickly renew it and try again. Or at least that works for me- you kind of have to try and find what works for you. 

[Not A Real Name]

Christ has felt and took on the sicknesses and pain of the entire world. This has helped me realize there is no pain I feel that Christ has not also felt and that in this pain I can connect with Christ on a very deep and personal level by joining my pain to His, and through His grace, offering them with His supernatural Charity for the salvation of souls. 

[BarbTherese]

Another thing it is important to add is that even when one does "offer it up" in howsoever one might do it, It does not of necessity make one feel any better at all.  What counts is that it is an act of the will - a desire to offer one's suffering to Jesus and/or unite one's suffering to His..........after all, Jesus in His earthly sufferings did not feel the suffering any less for accepting His Father's Permissive Will i.e. what His Father Permitted He suffer, not directly will.  Nor does God will our sufferings in any way either small or great suffering........mysteriously He permits it - and He has good reasons which we will probably not know until Heaven.

  Truth of the matter might be is that if we "offer it up" however we do so and do not feel better at all in any way, but just keep our desire to offer it up - it just might be the most meritorious and beneficial offering of all............this is because our will remains firm even though we get no 'payback' or reward for it by feeling any better whatsoever.  Despite the total lack of any sort of reward or payback, our will remains firm...........when we think of it that is.  One doesn't have to be constantly telling Jesus we unite our sufferings to His and offer up our sufferings.  He heard us the first time and knows when our will remains firm though it might never occur to oneself.

Prayer for all those requesting in the Prayer Forum.

Edited April 5, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[beatitude]

When I offer things up, my customary prayer is, "Err, God, this is really croutons. I don't like it. You can have it. You seem to like crappy things more than I do, and I'm sure you'll do something useful with it." I know this prayer is not exactly brimming over with spiritual beauty and sounds more like I'm trying to palm off the particularly ugly handbag my nana gave me for Christmas, but whenever I have to offer something up, I'm rarely in the mood for composing beautiful prayers.

And I think this is a core part of what it means to offer something up. You come to God just as you are. If you're tired, and you're grouchy, and very upset, and you can't help complaining (either to others, or to yourself), then offer him that. It doesn't matter so much what you are capable of doing, but what he can do. He knows our weaknesses and our struggles, and while we are inclined to get frustrated with ourselves or despise ourselves for them, he never does. Prayer isn't about forcing ourselves to kneel on bloodied torn knees because we think that this is the correct holy posture and God will only accept our offering if we're in the right pose, no matter how much it hurts. It's about showing God those knees and saying, "I really hurt, and I'd like to do something beautiful and holy, but I'm tired out and I feel like I can't go on any more. I give you this." Be honest and don't give yourself a hard time for how you feel. Just give God whatever's there to give. That's what he wants.

Another important thing is to set aside regular times for prayer. This time last year I was in really terrible emotional pain. The only relief lay in the brief seconds between waking up and the knowledge of what had happened crashing down on me, and those seconds got shorter by the day. Nights were the worst; I have never cried like that in my life. During the day, there was a different kind of crying; tears would leak out of my eyes silently and without warning. I felt as though I were living behind glass, detached from other people, and there was no one I could really turn to who would understand the situation. Besides, it would have been too hard to articulate even if there had been someone. I felt like there was a cement weight on my chest and one on my back and my ribs were caving in under the pain, all the time. I had a lot of work to complete for my PhD and as I went about interviewing people and trying to keep myself busy I felt as though I were two separate people - there was the one doing the talking and seeming pleasant and polite and fully engaged with the world, and there was the one slumped over like a broken puppet. It was horrible. Understatement.

I began each of those awful days with the Angelus, which I usually recited as I was in the shower. I did this because it is the prayer of the Incarnation and a reminder that Jesus is with us, including in our sufferings, and that at the end there is resurrection. I needed Mary to help me accept God's will for me as she had accepted it. The Angelus is traditionally prayed three times during the day, and those recurring times helped as well; they were like crutches, always something to lean on. I prayed the three main Offices too, and found that the psalms often said what I couldn't. I offered up my situation through their words. Sometimes the words were just the right ones, and I took comfort from the knowledge that I wasn't alone, someone else had brought this to God, and that person was no doubt standing with me unseen along with countless other saints and angels. During the day I would use short prayers of trust, such as, "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you", repeated over and over again. I didn't feel very trusting, but I wanted to be. He knew it and that was enough.

The idea of offering something up is the whole idea of prayer in microcosm: our lives are prayer. Having regular structured prayer times helps that fusion to happen. But don't create a prayer schedule that feels punishing, a duty that's too heavy and that you'll never stick to. See your prayer times as like crutches or like way stations on a road where you can stop to drink. Never get upset with yourself for not doing the 'right' things, for walking too slowly, for being too awkward. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

P.S. Do you know the song 'Better than a hallelujah?'

[Kia ora]

Personally i eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream and watch really bad films. Its actually quite a cheap way to chase away the pain.

More seriously, i find silence and contemplation helps. When im alone i speak more honestly to god. Fact is god knows already everything were gonna say. Saying it or thinking it is for our benefit. Prayer is for us. I mean god is for us.

[Gabriela]

15 minutes ago, Kia ora said:

Personally i eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream and watch really bad films. Its actually quite a cheap way to chase away the pain.

More seriously, i find silence and contemplation helps. When im alone i speak more honestly to god. Fact is god knows already everything were gonna say. Saying it or thinking it is for our benefit. Prayer is for us. I mean god is for us.

You're me.  

[Seven77]

Along with what others have said, I would say that simply desiring or thinking, that is, wanting to offer up your sufferings is in effect offering up your sufferings in union with Christ. You have been baptized into Christ and are a member of his mystical body… plus, God takes into consideration your willingness-- he looks at and into the heart. If you're like me sometimes you suffer very poorly--- go ahead and offer that poorly suffered pain to God. Nothing is ever wasted. St. Therese would say “when I have nothing to offer him, I offer up that nothing.”

Trust in Divine Mercy--- think like St. Paul, where sin abounds grace abounds all the more. It irritates the devil when you take temptations faults, and even actual sins and literally turn them upside down by allowing God to bring greater good out of them,  more than what would be if the thing had not even happened in the 1st place. Christ took what death dealt and turned it back upon death destroying it in the process. Robbing it of its power, taking the sting or venom out of it. This is the logic of the cross. This is why God allows suffering.

I would say that because of the way you feel, your pain is that much more powerful in the hands of God. All you really have to do is think of an intention to pray for when you are experiencing pain. Please remember me during one of your painful moments. God bless you. And I will pray for you.

[John Paul]

17 hours ago, BarbaraTherese said:

I read too rather recently that St Therese of Lisieux would offer up her every breathe to Jesus

There is a prayer that a  religious community prays before falling asleep and it is part of a prayer they say after Mass.

"Let every beat of my heart and every breath I breath be for you"

Full version

[beatitude]

^ That is a beautiful prayer. I'm writing it out and keeping it.

[Not A Real Name]

Get a nice bottle of scotch and two glasses. Pour a drink for God and one for yourself. Then talk to God about the situation. Once you're finished with your drink, grab the one you poured for God, since you know He wouldn't want you to waste it.