I OFFER IT UP TO YOU
Look
at any pain, weariness and discouragement you experience through the eyes of
Jesus, as part of your way of giving glory to your heavenly Father.
I was visiting an elderly
lady in a nursing home who suffered from arthritis. I asked how she felt, and
she told me of her pains. Then she smiled and said, "But, Deacon, I offer
it all up for the greater honor and glory of God." I asked her,
"Fern, just how do you figure that your sufferings add to the honor and
glory of God?" She explained,
"Well, my pains are a part of life and God made me. That is part of God's
plan - the ups and downs of it all. But we are not alone; He is with us! When I offer my pain to Him I am going along
with His plan."
What that lady said to me is
incredibly close to what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, "Now is the Son
of Man glorified, and in Him God is glorified " (Jn 13:31).
What did Jesus mean? He spoke
those words at the Last Supper, just moments before He was to start the
sufferings that would end in His death and lead to His resurrection. Jesus knew
that the resurrection would honor God and Himself. We can understand that. But
Jesus also knew that the sufferings He would go through that Holy Thursday
night and that first Good Friday would be to the glory of the Father and the
Son because pain was a part of the divine plan for saving humankind. Jesus did
not die entirely in shame and then rise in glory. He suffered and died in
glory, because He was carrying out the plan of His Father, as Jesus prayed in
the garden: "Not My will, My plan, but Thy will, Thy plan, be done"
(cf Lk 22:42). Jesus did not have to wait until Easter morning to be glorified.
Jesus was already being glorified during His tortures and crucifixion.
Everyone who suffers must
realize this truth. The arthritic woman in our story knew that her pains were
part of her life and were part of God's plan for her. Most importantly, she
knew that God is a part of all of it, and we are not going through life and
life's sufferings alone. Carrying out this plan of life's ups and downs was her
way of giving glory to God as well, and it can be our way as well.
Many of us make our Morning
Offering in words like these, "O my God, I offer you all my thoughts,
words and actions for your greater honor and glory, in union with the
sufferings and death of Jesus Christ." Look at any pain, weariness and
discouragement you experience through the eyes of Jesus, as part of your way of
giving glory to your heavenly Father.
We must not think, as we
focus on suffering today, that everything has to be difficult and painful to be
worthwhile in the eyes of God. Happy moments like marriage and parenthood are
also a part of God's plan for us. We offer these to God as well!
In the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, we offer our sufferings together with the sufferings and death of Jesus.
In fact, we offer every thought, word, action, and pain in praise of God. We
join the priest as he holds up the Sacred Host and as the deacon holds up the
Precious Blood with this prayer, "All honor and glory is yours, Almighty
Father." Amen.