Let’s have some fun and do some role-playing as we lectio this week. It’s take our turn at being the offering.

As the offering, God is pleased to accept us just like we are, sinful and both proud and ashamed of it. However, He transforms us. One of the ways He does that is when He transforms our faults into grace, which he freely bestows on us.

Being the offering is the best place to get a first-hand view into the transforming power of God.

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Riddle: What can you offer at mass that is something you brought with you and doesn’t fit in your purse or wallet?

It’s you! When we make ourselves and oblation, or offering present to God, we hold up our part of the sacrifice of Jesus. He always and forever offers Himself to the Father, the church, and the world, and we are called to go and do likewise.

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Firm foundation isn’t just a secure place to stand. Firm, or validum in Latin, means efficacy.

Because of God, our words are prayers, our buildings are churches, and the Bible isn’t just another book.

Through His mercy, He gives us the means to become holy. As we become holy, we come to realize that the good things truly are the eternal things.

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In this week’s prayer, we recognize that with the presence of Jesus comes grace. Have you ever realized that at the Last Supper, When Jesus held the bread and said, “This is my body,” that he was present both physically and sacramentally?

That SAME Jesus is present in the SAME way at Mass. However, it is our responsibility to be willing to let him dye, or imbue, us and make us new.

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“Everything is well with the Catholic Church. But I do not say that everything is all with all the members of the Church.” ~Rev. C.M. Carty

Instead of focusing on the next scandal in our midst, we need to keep our attention on what and Who the Church is.

The Church is holy - not because of its members, but because of her Bridegroom and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

If all we see is failure, we’re looking out the wrong window.

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Toddlers are a hoot, aren’t they? They sure know what they want. However, God doesn’t bargain like parents do. If we don’t want to accept His gifts, we don’t have to. The choice is ours.

I would suggest taking it, though, because the gift that He wants to give at mass is the prize of salvation a “great gift.”

When we accept and understand how great this gift is, we will never cease to praise Him - and that means not just by what we say, but by how we live.

If you could write a job description for God, what would it include? In this week’s prayer, we ask God to accomplish the effects of his mysteries in us.

The mysteries are the saving works of Jesus, the effects should make us look more like Him.

The Prayer Over the Offering 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we get back what we offer to the Father - which is Jesus. However, there is more to the action than just taking. We need to take and receive. It takes both for us to be changed.

While the prayer has a different intention, you may notice the same offering in the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ…”

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We can talk the talk, but in this week’s Collect we ask for the grace to walk the walk.

If we want to please God, we need to follow through with the changes we are called to make.

The down side is that our human frailty cannot do it on its own. The up side is that God gives us the grace to succeed.

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This week’s Collect addresses two of the more difficult parts of the Christian life: discerning and doing.

How can I trust that what I hear is from God and what if I’m afraid to step out?

Go back to the beginning: Oh God, from whom all good things come.