Offer it up

Generations of Catholic children heard it from parents and nuns: skinned knee, disappointment, toothache — “offer it up.” Behind the phrase is St Paul's astonishing line, “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church,” and the Church's teaching that by uniting our sufferings to Christ's we share in his redemptive work. The Catechism teaches that suffering, joined to Christ's Passion, acquires a new meaning and becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus. It is not resignation but an act of love: something otherwise wasted is given away.