Offer it Up. Monday, April 7. Lent 2014.

“Offer it up.”

The response we were bound to get growing up

when complaining about unbearable boredom

or the self-induced sugar headache,

or anything, really.

Offer it up.

God can use it for a greater good.

But we are so afraid

and hesitant to do so.

We are afraid of offering our lives to Him

for fear of what we may lose,

or maybe even what we may gain.

We can’t offer Him our possessions,

He’ll take those away.

We can’t offer Him our sufferings,

He’ll think we enjoy suffering

and that we’re asking for more.

“Let us, so to speak, bring Mary into our abode by consecrating ourselves unreservedly to her as servants and slaves. Let us surrender into Her hands all we possess, even what we value most highly, keeping nothing for ourselves.”

We are supposed to surrender it all.

Offer it all up.

But we hesitate.

Our hesitation is unfounded though,

“Mary is faithful: She will not permit anything we give Her to be lost or wasted. She stands alone as the Virgin most faithful to God and to man. She faithfully guarded and kept all that God entrusted to Her, never allowing the least bit to be lost; and She still keeps watch every day, with a special care, over all those who have placed themselves entirely under Her protection and guidance. Let us, then, confide everything to the faithful Virgin Mary, binding ourselves to Her as a pillar that cannot be moved, as to an anchor that cannot slip, or better still, as to Mount Zion which cannot be shaken”

We are so afraid of letting go.

So afraid to take that leap of faith.

So afraid to surrender.

When, really,

the things that we don’t want to lose

are the things we should be running from

and clinging to the mount that cannot be shaken.

What can you offer up?

What are you playing for keeps with?

How tightly can you hold onto the Father and His promises?

How securely can you hold on to the Virgin so steady and faithful?

This Lenten blog series is based upon St. Louis de Montfort's writings. Unless otherwise noted, all the phrases in quotation marks are taken from the book Jesus Living in Mary.