Morning Offering

Morning offering

We come from God and we are to go back to God of our own free will. That's the meaning of life. There's just no other reasonable explanation for our existence. To say that God created us for something else other than Himself does not make any sense at all. He wants us to be happy with him forever in Heaven as His adopted children in Christ.

That's the ‘real life’; our life now is but a preparation for eternal life with God. Therefore the ultimate meaning and purpose of our earthly life is to live it loving God. Otherwise there will be no fruition of love in the life hereafter with God.

Now we love God by serving Him. And we serve Him by doing His will constantly. His will is manifested to us through His Commandments and the precepts of the Church. Obedience to God's Commandments, as well as the practice of the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy (loving our neighbor in God) is the proof of our love for God (cf 1Jn 5: 2-3). We are also
admonished to accept with trustful surrender whatever God allows to happen to us, trusting in His wise designs and loving providence.

One other way of putting it–loving God– concretely, is by offering ourselves– all that we are– to Him everyday of our lives. Hence the importance of the Morning Offering.This is the interior will-act, consciously expressed verbally, to give to God all our thoughts, words, and actions of the day, everyday of our lives, in full conformity to His will. This will-act, if done
sincerely, merits God's grace to purify our intentions and deepen our generosity and self-giving to God.

Such a habitual daily offering of our whole being to God helps us make that total surrender and abandonment to God. This total gift of ourselves to God is our response to His total gift of Himself to us in Christ. Love is returned by love. We are then caught up in that infinite love of God. What a powerful way of living! How beautiful it is to be caught up in the all
powerful love of God! You see it's all about love of God– His love for us, and our love for Him. Everything else outside of this is just a useless complication.

As we make it a habit to make this powerful will-act daily we become less and less selfish, more and more loving and generous to our loving Father, and more and more loving towards others; less and less worried about what might come or about any other misfortune– because we are in God. How secure that is! Even sufferings or sicknesses or any adversity will not drive us into despondency, because we have already offered and surrendered our very being in union with Jesus to the Father, and so they acquire a redemptive value. Nothing is wasted. Joys and successes also become occasions to glorify God, the Source of all that is good. As St. Paul admonishes us: whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God (1Cor 10:31). Such an attitude is the antidote to our natural tendency to seek self-satisfaction in everything we do, rather than doing everything to please God.

This 'morning offering', frequently renewed throughout the day, is also the best antidote to sin and to all anxiety– again because we have already surrendered everything to God; He will take care of us. You see as we give ourselves totally to God it is we who ultimately benefit. For it expands our capacity to love. And it gives us access to the omnipotence and infinite love of God. With God and in God we have everything.

On the other hand, an un-offered life is a wasted life. For it only bears on the here and now, with no reference to eternity. Whereas a life offered to God, assuming we are in the state of grace, is meritorious. It merits for us an increase in that divine life we call sanctifying grace, and therefore an increase of glory in Heaven. This is what it means to store up riches in Heaven.

And as we offer ourselves in union with Jesus (united to all the Masses throughout the world), through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our offering takes on an eternal significance, because we are caught up in that Supreme Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, and joined with our Blessed Mother, too. We remember that Mary augments, increases and purifies the gifts we give to Jesus through her. How awesome that is! This grows into a crescendo as we assist at Mass weekly, or even daily, offering ourselves in union with Jesus as He offers Himself to the Father with and for us.

And so may we never forget to pray each morning: "O Jesus, through the Immaculate heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout the world, in reparation for all my sins, for the intentions of all my loved ones (here we may add specific intentions), and for the intentions of our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. (Our Father…, Hail Mary…, Glory be…)