![]() Sometimes it seems that the only reason I can endure the trials of life is because of the consolation of being able to offer my suffering as a gift to the Father. When we offer up our pain (or discomfort or frustration or uncertainty), God takes that struggle as a prayer, strengthened by suffering, and uses it for the salvation of souls and the glory of his name. We’re never more like Jesus than when we offer our undeserved suffering to the Father, and the Lord can change that suffering, giving it meaning like the anguish of Calvary. Rather than running from our own crosses, we embrace them, lifting our eyes to the Lord and telling him that we’re enduring our suffering with joy for love of him. It’s a deeply spiritual approach to suffering by which we unite our hearts to the Lord in his suffering on the Cross. It’s a phrase so often used and so rarely defined that for many people it’s ceased to have any meaning at all, having become the Catholic equivalent of “suck it up.” We hear this advice (either well-meaning or dismissive) and take it as an exhortation to quit whining, rarely pausing to consider what exactly is being suggested.īut offering up our suffering isn’t just Catholic code for getting over it. Fiancé ran off with your best friend? Offer it up. If there’s one phrase sure to elicit eye rolls in a cradle Catholic, it’s this: “Offer it up.”
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