Offering

A Reflection on the First Reading for October 17th, 2021:
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

---

Isaiah
53.10-11

It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

The world;
It hurts, constricts, presses into me.
I must achieve. I must adapt.
I’m confused.
I learn more.
Change.
Adapt.
Protect.
Repeat.



Offer it to Me.



Grasping, doubting, negotiating.
I can figure it out myself.
You’ve left me alone too long.
I’m dancing with the devil, Lord.
Do something.



Look at My body, crushed and broken.
Look at My hands, bleeding and open.



Why must it be this way?
I’m trying, I’m reaching, I’m falling again.



You are never far from grace.
To fall is to be.
Look to Me and rise.



I have nothing left to offer.
My hands are small and weak;
Bleeding and empty.



All you need to do is open them. I will do the rest.



I see Your Light.
You’re doing something new.
What is this gift You’re giving me?



I know you.
I see you.
I’m so close to you.



I’m sorry, Father.
I see You now.
Your providence has gone before me.
As I rise, Your providence becomes my present.

Break me.
Make me.

Break my will Lord. Make me into Yours.




Lori MacDonald

---