When I was a young girl at a Catholic Grammar School, we learned a Morning Offering:
"O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You all 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, in reparation for my sins, and for the intentions of our Holy Father the Pope."
I still say that prayer every morning. The Pope's name has changed quite often, but the meaning of the prayer focuses me every day to offer everything that I am, everything that I do and everything that happens to me to Jesus. It's a prayer that stretches me to be united with the whole world, through being united with every Mass celebrated in the world, and through praying for the Pope's intentions - and he shepherds the Church throughout the world.
Later, I learned to offer myself to God along with the gifts of bread and wine during the Mass. When the priest speaks in place of Jesus and says His words "This is my body which will be given up for you," I whisper to Jesus "This is my body, my blood, my whole being which I offer up to You."
But - it took me to adulthood to ask "What does God DO with our offerings of our selves and our lives?" The answer that St. Paul teaches us is that we are Co-Redeemers with Christ. Christ uses the love, the energy of everything that we do and are to "make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ." This Mysterious transformation of our lives is how we matter and how much we matter! God lives within us; the more committed we are in choosing to become one with God, the more we "put on Christ," the more we become one with Jesus in redeeming the world. Fr. Richard Rohr says that this truth is especially precious for us when we suffer:
"Many of the happiest and most peaceful people I know love a God who walks with crucified people and thus reveals and 'redeems' their plight as God's own. For them, Jesus is not observing human suffering from a distance but is somehow in human suffering with us and for us. He includes our suffering in the co-redemption of the world, as 'all creation groans in one great act of giving birth' (Romans 8:22). Is this possible? Could it be true that we 'make up in our bodies all that still has to be undergone for the sake of the' Whole Body' (Colossians 1:24)? Are we somehow partners with the Divine? Of course we are! In fact, I think that is the whole point."
We are partners with God in redeeming the world every time that we overcome our tiredness to teach a child the alphabet, or support a teenager in sports or drama or music or art or science projects. We are partners with God in redeeming the world whenever we overcome our apathy and do our job well, paying attention to the lives of the people we serve. We are partners with God in redeeming the world whenever we forget how cold we are and take the time to snowblow out an elderly neighbor's yard or contribute canned goods to a Food Pantry or drive someone to a Doctor's appointment. We help God "give birth" to new life in the pain of having children, in the suffering of old age, in our fidelity to one another in and through the storms of life.
God is the Great Outpouring of Love, a pattern for sacrificial loving that God lived out for us in the life, death, and raising up of Jesus. And, since all creation groans in one great act of giving birth, we can see this pattern throughout the world. Rohr says "When I see animals and plants and even the stars die so willingly and offer their bodies for another generation, another species, or the illumination of the universe, I begin to see the one pattern everywhere. It is the truest level of love, as each and everything offers itself for another. Would any of us even learn to love at all if it was not demanded of us, taken from us, and called forth by human tears and earthly tragedy?"
Jesus told us "Follow me" and "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." All God asks of us is to do small things with great love. To keep on cleaning rooms, over and over. Cook dinner, over and over. Feed our dog or cat over and over, and bring him or her into the house and out of the cold. Tell our children a firm "yes" or a firm "no" over and over. Tell our spouse "I love you" over and over. Weep with those who weep. Laugh with those who laugh. Give God thanks and praise for the sheer wonder and joy of love which He has infused into our lives.
This is the sacrificial laying down of our lives for our friends moment after moment, day after day, year after faithful year. This is being faithful to others as God is faithful to us. These are the simple, tender, merciful loving moments which we think of as straw but which God can accept as our offerings to Him and spin into the gold of redemption.
Whenever we follow this path of life, actively joining God's loving solidarity with all His people, especially those who are suffering, we are partners with God. We join Jesus in redeeming and transforming His Body. The Jesus in us walks out every day to see and believe in the Jesus in everyone else, infinitely worth our attention and love: new gloves for the homeless, who are Jesus; a kiss on the cheek of the aged, demented woman who is Jesus; a cookie from the cookie jar for the toddler or teen who is Jesus. And in beholding God present everywhere, and loving God present everywhere, we are giving birth to new, redeemed life, in others and in us.