A Morning Offering

Just a few weeks ago, I was blessed with the wonderful opportunity to attend the Catholic Youth Ministry Convention in Scottsdale Arizona, put on by Life Teen. While there, I had the chance to go to confession. It was a beautiful thing to see hundreds of young people lined up and down the halls of the hotel waiting to kick the devil in the face (you know he hates it when we go to confession). Anyway, I wanted to speak with a priest about a certain sin I struggle with greatly: patience and anger. I often find myself losing patience over little things, complaining, and then more often than not snapping out in anger, especially toward my parents. I am well aware that I do this, and it’s been something I’ve struggled with for a very long time. People who know me may or may not have noticed it, because I’ve become pretty good at hiding it and then making complaints at a later time. Mea culpa.

After I had confessed these sins to the priest, he gave me a piece of advice that I had often heard before but didn’t think much of. “Have you ever thought of making a morning offering?” he asked. I frantically began wracking my brain for all those Catholic prayers and practices we push to the back of our minds because we “don’t have time,” and admitted to him that I couldn’t quite remember what it was. He shared with me his practice of making a morning offering, which is basically a quiet moment spent in prayer when you first wake, to dedicate the day to God and in service to His people. He told me that if I committed to doing this with a pure heart, I would surely find a change in my words and actions throughout each day. I agreed to doing this, and after he had placed his hands on my head for absolution, I walked away determined.

Since that night at CYMC, I have been making a morning offering. I have not been miraculously cured of my impatience and angry words, but let me tell you this: I’ve never been more aware of my temper in the moments right before my patience drains away. It’s becoming easier to see the face of God in every person, even that one who has no idea what they’re talking about, or refuses to stop talking at all. I’m more aware that it isn’t about me, who’s right or wrong, or who gets the last word or upper hand. I’m more aware of how my words sound after I say them, and experience instant remorse when I think how they may have sounded to another person. I apologize. I still am not perfect, and I do fall into sin, but I am confident that this morning offering is producing fruit and I know God’s mercy is still there for me when I fail (and fail, and fail...). If there is a certain sin you struggle with repeatedly, I encourage you to try making a morning offering. It only takes five minutes, you can do it in your pajamas, and there are lots of beautiful options to choose from.

Eternal Father, I offer you everything I do this day: my work, my prayers, my apostolic efforts; my time with family and friends, my hours of relaxation, my difficulties, problems, and distress. All these I shall try to bear with patience. Join these, my gifts, to the offering which Jesus Christ, your son, renews today in the gift of the Eucharist. Grant, I pray, that vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to you and your children and help consecrate the world to you. All this I pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.