Thursday, January 15, 2009

Offer it up

A priest mentioned to me recently a couple of important things about the theology of "offering it up," something that many people in my situation do.
  • "Offering it up" doesn't make "it" go away.
  • "Offering it up" doesn't make "it" not painful.
It is the most natural thing in the world to think these things, but they are incompatible with why one "offers it up." The point of offering it up is to transvalue or sanctify suffering by joining our sufferings to the Cross. Our Lord accepted the Cross, not chucked it aside, i.e., made it go away. And He didn't accept the pain because it was something he was impervious to, like a deaf man standing in front of a bullhorn.

The point of offering up suffering is to transcend it, not end it.

5 comments:

Fr. J. said...

Very well said. Thanks, there are a few good homilies in there!

Fr. J. said...

Excellent points. Thanks. There are a few good homilies in there!

CDE said...

The point of offering up suffering is to transcend it, not end it.

But it seems to me that surrender to God's will would not exclude allowing Him to alleviate or end it, if it was His will.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post, it has been a tiring day for me...I know what causes me stress, it's to feel excluded from male office mates light banter...

God help me to bear the cross of SSA. God help me to process my insecure feelings of my masculinity during stressful times, transcend this cross and to find consolation in the small good things happening in my life

Anonymous said...

God bless you. Sometimes I feel like "Anonymous" as well.