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The inner word

04 Sep 2016 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Do you have what it takes to be a disciple? Don’t panic: You don’t have to “hate” your family. Though Jesus’ words sound as strong then as they do now, see them in terms of the rest of what he says in the gospel passage, the big message of which is: Measure your resources before starting on something, like a king contemplating giving battle or a builder sizing up whether he can afford to complete a structure. That means being ready to renounce your possessions and to put your faith ahead of all else—including your family if it came to that, though it probably never will. More certain is the possibility that following Jesus will involve taking up the cross at some point. Are we prepared to make the necessary sacrifices?

sacrifices take up the cross hate your family

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In other words

04 Sep 2016 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple. “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’ “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce? “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple” (from Luke 14). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013).

hate your family sacrifices

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Exploring the word

25 Feb 2018 - Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Let’s have a show of hands: Who gave up something for Lent this year? For many Catholics, the Lenten sacrifice is part and parcel of these 40 days. It’s another reason to wear penitential purple: 40 days without chocolate. Without dessert. Without coffee. But we know that sacrifice doesn’t necessarily involve the rejection of material things. This year, some of us may be giving up gossip or using cuss words or spending the evening parked in front of the TV or complaining. These are good practices that hopefully will take root in Lent and become standard behavior. Some people may have decided to go all out and give up large sums of money in a generous demonstration of Christian charity. We could certainly use more of those! But some folks have given up on “giving up” as a spiritual practice. They are trying instead to do something positive and proactive: spending more time in prayer or with their kids or caring for their health in exercise or pledging involvement with social concerns. The “giving up” business focused too hard on the negative for these people, and they are trying a new approach to the disciplines of Lent. But what if we stopped thinking of ourselves altogether? What if we gave up thinking about Lent as a kind of moral self-improvement program and considered the root meaning of sacrifice? The ancient practice of sacrifice Sacrifice shares a root with the word sacred. A sacrifice is an act that makes one holy—that is, a sharer in the nature of God. Every religious tradition includes sacrificial practices intended to bring worshipers closer to the Divine. The goal is not to become better people but to experience union with God. All ancient sacrifice involved offering a gift of some kind, and the gift invariably was alive. Life, understood to reside in the blood, was offered to God because it is the most precious thing there is. Every sacrifice therefore consisted of an animal sacrifice, plus grains and “first fruits” to set a full banquet before the Lord. When the blood was poured, sprinkled, or splashed against the altar, the sacrifice was considered complete. Sacrifices came in different varieties, depending on the occasion. Some were peace offerings, celebratory events of the good relationship between God and the community. In this celebration, after the spattering of the blood, everyone enjoyed the ritual meal. Other sacrifices were intended as sin or guilt offerings; no one but the priests ate the partially burnt meal, which they did for God by proxy to express its acceptance. A third kind of sacrifice was the “whole burnt offering.” This was a supreme form of adoration. In this ritual, God accepted the entire gift in thanks for blessings received or anticipated. The whole burnt offering was suitable on the occasion of a leper being declared clean, at the consecration of priests, to consecrate the new temple, or at the sealing ceremony for the covenant at Sinai, among others. Human sacrifices, rare even in ancient cultures, fell into the third category as whole burnt offerings. The ultimate gift was rendered to God as a testimony of perfect confidence and praise. That business at Moriah Every parent I know shrinks at the story of Abraham and Isaac in the land of Moriah. What kind of father agrees to sacrifice his child to God in cold blood, under any conceivable circumstances? It does not help matters to point out that God sent an angel at the last minute to stop the sacrifice, nor to compare this event with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. No parent, the compassionate heart insists, should be called upon to kill his or her child. Period. The story of the sacrifice of Isaac was told, in fact, to underscore that very idea. This God, Abraham’s God, was after something very different from what other gods may have been looking for from their adherents. Abraham, we recall, started out life as a pagan in Ur of the Chaldees. Though he agreed in later years to follow a new God with singular loyalty, a good part of his life had been surrendered to the pursuit of other gods and their demands. We can imagine the temptation to prove himself and his fidelity to this exclusive God would have been strong. Strong enough to offer the life of his long-awaited son? The storyteller styles this event as a test of Abraham’s character before God. But the story was most likely told to later generations as an example of God’s character before humanity. The God of Abraham was not looking for the supreme sacrifice of life from us. God had higher dreams for human life than to see it splashed against an altar. Related scripture links The blood is the life: Lev. 17:11 Complete laws regarding sacrifice: Lev. chs. 1-7 God’s servant as lamb of sacrifice: Isa. 53; John 1:29 Jesus as the sacrifice: Heb. 9:11-10:18 Christian life as sacrifice: Rom. 12:1; Phil. 2:17, 4:18 Catechism links Images of God: CCC 35; 203; 210; 214221; 284; 369370 Transfiguration: CCC 554556; 568

Authors Alice Camille

sacrifices Abraham 40 days offerings

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The inner word

11 Nov 2018 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

In a book he authored before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, “If one can say that hunger, love, and power are the forces that motivate man, then one can point out . . . that the three main forms of polytheism are the worship of bread, the worship of love, and the idolization of power.” In today’s scripture, we get two of those forces: bread and power. But the way the characters react makes a difference. The scribes openly seek power: the honor that clothes it and the exploitation that gains it. Elijah and the widow need bread. But one grabs while the others—including the gospel widow—give. Are you a grabber or a giver? Do you give all you have? Do you recognize the value of other’s sacrifices, even when they’re small? Do you trust the Lord will provide?

Bread power sacrifices

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Featured Exploring the Word

20 Oct 2024 - Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

No one likes the suggestion that suffering can be useful. If “no pain, no gain” is the rule, some of us would prefer the no gain, thanks! Yet it’s obvious even on a biological level that some pain is constructive and can lead to greater strength, healing, and wholeness. Athletes know this when they commit to tearing down muscles in order to build more efficient ones. So do surgeons, physical therapists, talk therapists, AA sponsors, and spiritual directors when they urge people to move through corridors of agony to reach the prize at the end: restoration and well-being. We learn the tough benefits of pain when a friend tells us a truth about ourselves we don’t want to hear. It hurts for a while, but it gives us the opportunity to reflect and change. So confession of sin can hurt, especially in its early stages. Or asking for forgiveness from someone we’ve wronged. It’s not hard to see why the church early on made the leap to viewing some forms of suffering as salvific. If suffering can “help” on the physical and psychological plane, why not on the spiritual? “Offering up” our discomforts became a Catholic punch line after Vatican II. Many folks cut adrift a lot of their former spiritual mindsets that had proven to be counterproductive. Certainly a decision to glorify suffering for its own sake was one of those. None of us can be persuaded that suffering is a good thing, only that it is possible to harvest something good even from the experience of personal anguish. We see this plainly in the lives of saints and martyrs. We don’t honor them because of their persecutions and bloody deaths, but we do venerate them for the reasons they suffered and died and the great good their sacrifices produced in their own time and by their example. Is God “pleased to crush us with infirmity”? That verse is missing in some biblical manuscripts and has been altered where it does appear. Surely we misunderstand if we believe the God who made us and loves us somehow approves or takes pleasure in our pain. In the obedience of Jesus, we do see that God approves and is pleased that Jesus chooses to suffer and die rather than compromise the integrity of his teaching and example. Needless to say, Jesus speaks from experience when he tells his glory-seeking disciples that the road to glory passes through the forest of self-denial. If you want to get to the heights, start low. True masters know how to serve. On this World Mission Sunday, we recall what we often forget: That even today, missionaries around the world are tramping through forests and deserts and mountains of self-denial for the sake of the gospel and in the name of the church. They do this on our behalf, and with our prayers and our funds. Their "pain" is gain for everyone. Related scripture links Passion predictions in Mark: 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34 John and the Hour: John 2:4; 4:21; 5:25; 7:6-8; 16:1-4, 25-33; 17:1-5 Matthew’s sermons: Matt. chs. 5-7; 10, 13; 18; 23-25 Luke’s meals: Luke 5:27-32, 33-35; 6:1-5; 7:33-34, 36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-53; 12:37-48; 14:1-6, 15-24; 15:23-24; 16:19-30; 17:7-10; 22:7-20; 24:29-32, 41-43 Laying down your life: Luke 9:23-26; John 15:12-15 Catechism links Passion of Jesus: CCC 440; 536; 559-618; 1225 Adapted from a previously published Exploring the word.

Authors Alice Camille

Suffering sacrifices pain

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