13 Sunday Ordinary Time Prayer Over the Offering

This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Prayer over the Offering for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In this prayer I found a portion of God’s job description.

O God, who graciously accomplish the effects of your mysteries, grant, we pray, that the deeds by which we serve you may be worthy of these sacred gifts. Through Christ our Lord.

Did you catch the part of God’s job description in the prayer? It is the words “accomplish the effects.”

The “mysteries” in the Who phrase of the prayer are the saving work of Jesus, his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. When God “accomplishes the effects” of these mysteries in our lives we become less like ourselves and more like Jesus. God accomplishes this task by loving us, forgiving us, and healing us.

We don’t often think about all the things that happen when we say “yes” to God. We learn that God forgives our sins and we now live for Christ, but as I was praying with this prayer, God showed me that being forgiven is one part of what it takes to look more like Jesus. He may also lead us to the need to be healed, or made whole, which includes being healed as well as being forgiven.

The “deeds” by which we serve God are not the things we think we need to do to earn God’s love. We do not need to carry out deeds to be good enough for Him to forgive us.

In the Latin form of the prayer, we find the word muneribus, which means servitude. The “deeds” we offer are the service we give to God, not out of fear of Him but out of love for Him.

I decided to look back over the past day, and the past week, remembering the things I have done in service to God. Where have I done His work? Where have I given Him glory? In exchange for the “deeds” I offer Him, I receive “sacred gifts,” the Body and Blood of Jesus.

When I receive Jesus in the Eucharist and I am willing to allow God to accomplish His work, He begins His work in me. I become a clearer image of Jesus: I am forgiven, I am open to His healing in me and my desire to be more like Jesus and do His work grows in me. Every time I go to Mass and receive Communion, I have even more to offer and when I do, my deeds become sacred gifts, too.

Thanks for praying with me,
Julie