--- title: "Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, January 29, 2023" description: Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Prayer over the Offering for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. image: https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/20230128%20JStorr%204%20c%202023%20HCFM.jpg --- [![catholic-mom-logo-v2](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/images/catholic-mom-logo-v2.svg "catholic-mom-logo-v2")](https://www.catholicmom.com/) [![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber) [![search-icon](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/search-icon.svg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/lectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023#) [FAITH](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/tag/faith) # Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, January 29, 2023 Jan 28, 2023 1:00:00 PM  |  by [Julie Storr](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/julie-storr) ![featured image](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/20230128%20JStorr%204%20c%202023%20HCFM.jpg) *Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Prayer over the Offering for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time.* --- This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Prayer over the Offering for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time.  > O Lord, we bring to your altar these offerings of our service: be pleased to receive them, we pray, and transform them into the Sacrament of our redemption. Through Christ our Lord.   After quick read through the prayer, I spent more time on each phrase and found that the prayer engages our spiritual senses as well as our bodily senses.  In the Latin form of the prayer, the altar, *altaribus,* means a high altar, an altar for sacrifice to great gods. Our physical vision sees the altar in the Sanctuary of our church, but our spiritual vision should focus on the altar that is before the throne of God.  On that altar, we place the offerings of our service. Our earthly eyes see the offering of bread and wine. Spiritually, the bread and wine are those elements, but they are also all of us. Bread isn’t made of one grain of wheat; it is made of the ground grain of the whole field. Likewise, wine isn’t made from one grape. It is crushed and its juice is mingled with all the other grapes to become a fine wine. All of it, the bread and wine, you and me are placed on the Altar before God.  We then ask God to receive them and transform them. To receive means more than just accepting, or simply opening a gift. We are asking God to take these gifts to Himself and when He takes them into His hands, He transforms them into something priceless: the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.  Our offering becomes the Sacrament of our redemption. One of the favorite words on my Christian vocabulary list is the word *redeem,* the root word of redemption. It means to buy back or bought with a price.  This is where the weight of this prayer hit me. What we have to give to God may seem like small things. However, what He gives back to us is exactly what it cost Him for our redemption. We receive Jesus.  > [Click to tweet: > What we have to give to God may seem like small things. However, what He gives back to us is exactly what it cost Him for our redemption. #CatholicMom](https://ctt.ac/odx1i) Receiving Holy Communion is a very short earthly conversation that also has a spiritual conversation that we don’t often think about: The Eucharistic Minister holds up the Host and says, “The Body of Christ.” Abba Father says to our spiritual senses, “I am giving you My Son. He is the price that was paid to buy you back. When you receive this gift, you say ‘yes’ to living for Me and in Me. You say ‘yes’ to being becoming My mystical body on earth.” We respond, “Amen. I believe.” As the priest stands at the altar, holds up the Host, and says the words, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world,” he isn’t saying them just to us. He is declaring it to the world. The Lamb of God, the One who paid the price for our redemption, desires to dwell in us. Thanks for praying with me!   ![null](https://www.catholicmom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/20230128%20JStorr%203%20c%202023%20HCFM.jpg?width=1080&height=1080&name=20230128%20JStorr%203%20c%202023%20HCFM.jpg) --- Copyright 2023 Julie Storr Images: copyright 2023 Holy Cross Family Ministries, all rights reserved. ### Share this article [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2Flectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2Flectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2Flectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Lectio%20the%20Liturgy%3A%20Sunday%2C%20January%2029%2C%202023) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2Flectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2Flectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-29-2023%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) ** #### About the Author ![Julie Storr](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/Julie%20Storr%20-%20Julie%20Storr.jpg) ### [Julie Storr](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/julie-storr) Julie Storr surprised herself when she went from “never ever going to be Catholic” to a lover of the lectionary. Her thirst for the Faith is never quenched and she is always surprised at the depth of the relationship with Christ that one can find in the Catholic Church. She and her husband live in Pocahontas, Iowa. Visit her website at [LectioTheLiturgy.com](https://www.lectiotheliturgy.com). [**](https://www.facebook.com/LectioTheLiturgy) ## Related Blog Articles [ Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, November 21, 2021 Read ](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/lectio-the-liturgy-sunday-november-21-2021) [ Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, January 23, 2022 Read ](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/lectio-the-liturgy-sunday-january-23-2022) [ Lectio the Liturgy for February 20, 2022 Read ](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/lectio-the-liturgy-for-february-20-2022) ## Comments ## Donate now [![Support Catholic Mom](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/275132/10016573-1c5c-4aa5-baba-c2ac91fe7545.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/275132/10016573-1c5c-4aa5-baba-c2ac91fe7545) [![CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)](https://www.catholicmom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png?width=1806&height=731&name=CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png "CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)")](https://www.catholicmom.com/) ##### Subscribe to Catholic Momcast on iTunes or Spotify [![itunes-logo-black](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/logos/itunes-logo-black.svg)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-momcast/id1362352357)[![spotify-logo-black](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/logos/spotify-logo-black.svg)](https://open.spotify.com/show/15CoipHL7z61IDcYErV0b8?si=hqaQJSxDQgq7S1hxCwsoxQ) ##### CatholicMom on Social Networks [![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber) ##### About Catholic Mom [Who We Are](https://www.catholicmom.com/about-us) [Contact Us](https://www.catholicmom.com/contact) [Support CatholicMom.com](https://www.catholicmom.com/support-us)   ##### Associated Links [Holy Cross Family Ministries](https://www.hcfm.org/) [Family Rosary](https://www.familyrosary.org/) [Family Theater Productions](https://www.familytheater.org/) [Congregation of the Holy Cross](https://www.holycrossusa.org/) [Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.](https://www.fatherpeyton.org/) [The Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life](https://www.peytonfamilyinstitute.org/) ### **Stay connected!** Don’t miss a thing! 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