Blog

“Offer Up Your Suffering”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

May 31 – June 1, 2025

Gospel:  John 17:20-26

Today, we celebrate the day our Lord ascended into Heaven with the human nature He took from His mother that was united with His own divine nature, two natures in one person, called the Hypostatic Union.  The human nature He suffered with, that He taught with, and that He healed with, was taken up to Heaven today.  Do you know what the last sight the Apostles had of our good Lord?   His hands and feet with the marks of the Passion . . .  His sacred wounds . . . the price of sin given out of love. 

What do the marks of His Crucifixion do for us in Heaven?  They are presented to the Father to intercede on our behalf.   Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  He is always pleading for us before the Father. 

Our Lord left us a great example of what to do with our many crosses, our own, those we acquired during our life, and those cast upon us by the sins of other people.  For example, some people do not realize how important I am, and they won’t get out of my way on the highway.  That is so rude.  You are in front of the holy man, and you are going too darn slow, so move!   All those other crosses – our limitations and physical illnesses – are all crosses we carry.   Make an active prayer and present them to the Father for ourselves and, even better, for others.  Saint Paul said, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for Your sake, and in my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church” (Colossians 1:24). 

What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ is our participation in it.  We can participate by offering up our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings to the Lord.   We offer them up for ourselves, for those who are dear to us, and especially for those who are not so dear to us.  They need our prayers, too.  So, keep them in your prayers, especially in your Morning Offering.  It’s a classic prayer, and an old one, but the old prayers are good because they focus us on the exact meaning of the prayer.

Morning Offering:

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day

for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,

for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians,

and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month.  Amen.

The last vision the Apostles had of our Lord in His human nature here on Earth was the marks of His love to plead for us before the Father.  We must bear our crosses, but we do not have to like them.  Bring them to the Father constantly in your prayers for all your infirmities, both interior and exterior.  Offer them up in prayer to the Father in imitation of and communion with the sacrifice of Jesus.

Father’s Reflections:  I visited a patient in Hospice who claimed to be a Catholic Buddhist.  I talked to the hospital chaplain, who said there actually was such a thing as a Catholic Buddhist.  Really?  It is either the guy with a beard or the guy with a fat belly.  It’s one or the other, not both.  The chaplain said the patient wasn’t doing well.  Well, in Hospice, nobody is doing well.  I went in to see this patient and talked to him for a bit.  I said, “I heard you aren’t going well, and I’d like to give you Last Rites.”  He said, “I’m not going to need them.”   Now, although that will make our hospitalist very happy, it will surprise him.  So, I talked to the patient some more, and I said, “You are Catholic, right?”  He said, “Yes.”  Are you sorry for your sins?  He said, “Yes.”  So, I gave him absolution and an Apostolic Pardon.  I wasn’t going to ask him any more questions, because I had gotten the deal done.  I didn’t put anything in the record.  Nobody needs to know; God does.  The other chaplain asked me how I interacted so well with people.  I said, “I had ethnic studies when I was very young.”  Really?  “Yeah, I learned how to make people an offer they couldn’t refuse.”  It’s the art of the deal.  Get the mission done. 

How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com, clicking on “Blog,” then “Categories,” and then “Sermon Notes.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.

---