What do these mean? What is the difference between the two? Does doing penance mean doing things to cause us suffering, discomfort, whatever? It seems we have enough suffering in life without adding more!

Thanks,
Katy

Katy, doing penance isn't the same thing as "offering it up." Penance is about making amends for wrongs done and strengthening the will to avoid further temptation. "Offering it up" is about joining our sufferings to that of Christ's to help maintain a loving intention.

See http://www.fisheaters.com/offeringitup.html for a lengthy discussion of redemptive suffering. Maybe there's something there that will be helpful.

Oh o.k. Phil. Fisheaters, huh. :-)

Thanks,
Katy

So here (below) is what I read so far, and I don't think I believe in that... I have enough suffering without doing extra. I just want to offer up my sufferings to God.. whatever exactly that means..whatver good God can do with it. I'll read some more... Thanks.

"It can also mean voluntarily taking on unpleasant things that aren't a matter of duty or of directly fighting off evil habits, but which simply subject the flesh in order to increase humility, express contrition, and build up the Body of Christ. These acts of mortification can include offering to God small acts, such as: fasting or practicing abstinence when not bound to; denying oneself an ordinary pleasure simply for the sake of God, such as giving up cream or sugar for your coffee for a time; taking on an unpleasant task one isn't bound to take on; sitting on the hard chair rather than the soft one, etc. And they can include offering to God acts that appear (to wordly eyes) more extreme and apparently bizarre -- the wearing of hairshirts, sleeping on a hard mattress or the floor, self-flagellation, etc.

These sorts of external voluntary mortifications that aren't a matter of duty and which don't fight an evil habit directly are only beneficial insofar as they arise from the desire for humility, for penance, and to build up the Body of Christ, and insofar as they actually do lead to humility and penance. More extreme forms of mortifications should only be practiced with the guidance of a good spiritual director."