Sacrifice? Top 10 Reasons to Sacrifice - Intentionally!

Why Sacrifice?

When considering intentional sacrifice, one might ponder, "Why in the world would anybody ever, ever, deprive themselves of anything that could make their life easier, more enjoyable, and possibly delight their senses?"  Further to that point, "What if doing so causes some discomfort or worse yet, pain?"

There is but one reason to sacrifice, making discomfort truly worthwhile:  Love. 

You retort, "But I love a warm fuzzy blanket, a steamy-hot shower, a second helping of my favorite entrée, Facebook, Instagram, or a hot and creamy vanilla latte with a dollop of whipped cream. "   

That, my friend is not love.  But I understand. 

Sacrifice is Love

 In the immortal words of St. Maximillian Kolbe:

 

As Christians, we know that love begins with Jesus, and when it comes to sacrifice, He simply cannot be out done. 

Fortunately, Christ has made us partners in His sacrifice, as He calls us to “take up our cross and follow Him.”   He left a perfect example for us to follow in His steps, and He desires to share His sacrifice with us. 

According to Miriam Webster, sacrifice is, "The act of giving up something (what) that you want to keep, especially in order to (why) get or do something else or to help someone (who)."

Let's break sacrifice down in the life of us Christians, because, in our walk with Christ, everything matters – and everything counts.  If Jesus is the perfect example of sacrifice, borne of love, we need to understand the key elements of His sacrifice:

·                  What did Jesus sacrifice?  At times, He sacrificed sleep, food, comfort, fellowship, security, and ultimately, His life.  

·                  Who did He want to help?  You and me.  And to show how radical Jesus’ love is for us, we learn in Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”      

·                  Why did He make these sacrifices?  First, to teach us what love looks like.  And as we learned from our dear friend, St. Maximillian Kolbe, “Without sacrifice, there is no love.” And because of His sacrifice we might have eternal life (John 3:16).  He came “…to give His life as a ransom for many… He loves us to the end… taking on our sins.” CCC 622 & 623.  His sacrifice is the reason we might inherit eternal life, plain and simple.  Can you think of a greater act of love than Jesus’ sacrifice?  Me neither…  

 

Jesus did just that, and it is true that we, as Christians, are His disciples, His students.  We are called to learn from Jesus: to live, love and serve as He served. As the famous rapper, Kanye West sings, we are to become Christlike.

In John 15:12 we read “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." 
Yes, we are to love as Jesus loved. 

But how did Jesus ultimately show us His love?   He, being sinless and blameless, took our sins upon Himself for the forgiveness of OUR sins.  He sacrificed His life, that we may live.

I know Jesus' sacrifice is a stark contrast to the type of sacrifice we often consider, but for some of us, putting down our phone or saying 'no' to that vanilla latte is heroic!

St. Paul teaches that we are not to be strangers of sacrifice, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." (Romans 12:1)

Sacrifice and the Battle
We are made up of both flesh and spirit.  Our spirit is always leading us to the things good, true, and beautiful; that will draw us closer to God. 

Unfortunately, our flesh, our humanity, is drawn toward the things of this world - the things that appeal to our senses, our flesh (I call this “fleshy”).  These things lead us away from God.  These temptations of the flesh, though unseen, but very sensed, make sacrifice feel like climbing a steep, daunting mountain, nearly impossible.      

 “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  MT 26:41

St. Louis de Montfort teaches

… Wisdom is not found in the hearts of those who live in comfort, gratifying their passions and bodily desires, because 'they who are of the flesh cannot please God' and 'the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God.' …  If we are to possess incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, we must practice self-denial and renounce the world and self.

Simply put, if we give into the desires of our flesh, we hurt God, but if we fight against it, our reward is Jesus Himself. 

Sacrifice as a Prayer
Sacrifice, in and of itself can be fruitless, but if done for love of Lord and souls, it can be a powerful prayer!   It is not what we do, but why we do it that makes it great.  If we do all things for love of God, then our sacrifices will be great; for the Kingdom, the Universal Church, for our families (the Domestic Church), our loved ones, and for us.    

It is one thing to say, “No” to that hand-full of m & m's in order to fit into that new dress, and altogether another to offer that small sacrifice to God, for love of Him and souls.  If we are intentional with our sacrifices, we can spend our entire day loving God through our decisions – again, everything matters and everything counts when done for love of Him and souls. 

Love is not simply a feeling, it is a gift, and as Blessed Mother Teresa says, “Give until it hurts.”  That is love, Jesus-style. 

 

So, now that we understand sacrifice, here are the top 10 Reasons to Sacrifice - Intentionally:

Ten

If sweets, snacking between meals, or refraining from a second helping are our sacrifice, we might lose weight out of the deal! 

The next two (9 and 8) relate to sacrifice helping us grow in virtue.

 Nine

Sacrifice helps to grow in temperance (self-control), which is the gateway to greater virtue.

In his Autobiography, inventor, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and founding father, Ben Franklin challenges us, “Be at war with your vices!”  This requires temperance.

Furthermore, he encourages when pursuing virtue, to tackle temperance first, because it produces the “coolness and clearness of head…  necessary for constant vigilance… and helps guard against our bad habits and temptations.” 

To paraphrase, once we can gain self-control (temperance), the remainder of the virtues will come more easily.

How does this apply to us?   One cup of coffee for the day, not three.  Zero or one glass of wine, not two or three.  A quick snack?  Not now - later. Thirty minutes of social media (Facebook, Instagram, News, etc. rather than two to three hours, thirty minutes of video games, not three hours, etc.). 

Refraining from something we desire is sacrifice, and this requires temperance (self-control). 

 

Eight

Through sacrifice we will grow in the virtue of Fortitude by not giving in to our temptations.   We will grow stronger. 

By making sacrifices for love of Lord, we can temper our desires for the things of this world.  Each time we choose to sacrifice, rather than give into our temptation, we strengthen our spiritual muscles, thereby weakening the strength of the evil one (who… by the way… is and has been relentlessly pursuing us through temptation and studying our weaknesses since the day we were born - totally unfair.  I digress...)   

Jesus shared with Catalina Rivas, a Bolivian mystic and stigmatist:

Souls.. give into a whim, enjoy themselves in a passing satisfaction, and surrender… to what their passion demands…  Thinking to themselves, they say, ‘I have already deprived myself of this or that, and that is enough…’  If we do not have the courage to fight our own nature in a small thing.  We will be unable to fight when the occasion shall be greater.

As in strength training, when we sacrifice, or work against our desires, we exercise our spiritual muscles, thereby strengthening them, helping us to resist greater temptation in the future. 

Seven

Through this new discipline gained in sacrifice, we will find freedom.  Not freedom from temptation, mind you, but freedom the things that hold on to us (our attachments or addictions).  Our addictions and attachments will lose their hold on us, giving us greater freedom. 

  

Six

The fruit of freedom we gain through sacrifice is peace and her sister – joy. 

 

True peace of heart is found in resisting passions (sacrifice) not satisfying them. - Thomas a Kempis

A life, lived for love of Lord, enables us to live in peace and as a result, experience true joy. As F.B. Meyer encourages, “Joy is peace dancing and peace is joy at rest.”

Five

Sacrifice (fasting) allows us to better hear the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We know that prayer and fasting together are powerful and fasting most assuredly is sacrifice.  Therefore, this type of sacrifice (fasting) detaches us from this world, our vices, attaching us to the next world. This detachment removes noise from our lives, opening us to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 

Four

By following Jesus’ example of sacrifice, we will grow closer to Him by walking in His footsteps.

We learn in 1 Peter 2:21, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

As we know, Christ dying on the cross was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice was a loving act of obedience which forms for us a bridge we must cross in order to obtain heaven.  We cannot cross without "touching the cross"... hence sacrifice is our part of the cross.

 

And

John 13:15, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”    

We are able to gain heaven through Jesus’ sacrifice, and our cooperation with Him, by following in His footsteps.  Again, our journey to Him is made possible by His cross, which He asks us to carry – to sacrifice.  We can’t get from here to there without touching the cross (without sacrifice). 

 

Three
We know that God cannot be outdone in generosity.  Anything we choose sacrifice for love of Him and souls will be returned to us and those we love in the form of grace.  

As our dear friend St. Francis of Assisi affirms, “It is in giving that we receive.”

 

Two:

Our sacrifices help to fill the Church’s Treasury

Our Catholic Church has a tremendous gift in which we invited to participate!  The Church’s Treasury, also known as Treasury of Merit, the Treasury of Grace, or as the Schoenstatt sisters call it the Capital of Grace. 

 The Church’s Treasury is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, consisting of:

• -         Christ’s merits, setting the whole of mankind free from sin
• -         The prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God
• -         The cooperation of the saints through their prayers and good works who have followed in the footsteps of Christ  (CCC 1476 & 1477)
• -         AND given we were created to know, love, and serve God, to be happy with Him in heaven (to be saints) our prayers and good works also contribute to the Church’s treasury

The Church’s Treasury is a wonderful exchange, wherein the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause.

Therefore, we not only benefit from the sacrifices of Jesus, Mary, and the saints that have gone before us, on our path to sainthood, we can contribute to this rich treasury that other souls may come to know, love and serve Our Lord. 

In short, our sacrifice could be the grace needed for a soul to turn away from sin, or simply open their heart to Jesus. 

 

Number One Reason to sacrifice, intentionally

Through a life of sacrifice, by God’s grace, you can look forward to being welcomed in to an eternal family with the beautiful words,

"Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:21)

 

Sacrifice may not seem easy, but it is simple if we walk in the footsteps of Christ, relying on His strength, not our own. 

So how do we begin to incorporate sacrifice into our daily life?  In the encouraging words of our friend, St. Francis of Assisi, who has already finished the race, and is praying for us to join him in an eternal family:

 

Start small, start with love.  God will help you take care of the rest. 

Thank you and happy sacrificing!!! 

Sources:

Images in order:

- St. Max Kolbe - Word on Fire

- While we were still sinners - Calvary's Closet on Instagram

- Romans 12:1 - KnowingJesus.com

- Spirit is Willing - Quoteseed.com

- St. Therese, Nothing is small -  Dowym.com

- St. Mother Teresa, With Great Love - Relatably.com

- Give until it hurts, Mother Teresa - Ignatius.com

- Lose weight  - thebigyogi.com

- Through discipline, Aristotle - A-Z Quotes

- FB Myer - Quotefancy.com

- Crossing on the Cross - Theinscribedheart.com

- It is in giving - Christ Church Pensacola

- Treasure chest - Publicdomainpictures.net

- Well Done Good and Faithful Servant - keepcalm-o-matic-co.uk

-  Do Not be afraid, JPII - The Culture Project

- Start by doing what's necessary, St. Franis - Yoddler.com

Applying the Cardinal Virtues to Motherhood, Cont...

Applying the Cardinal Virtues to Motherhood, Part VII
A Thesis by Jacquelyn Barten, Guest Blogger

On Temperance

Finally, comes the last cardinal virtue, temperance.  As regards the hierarchical arrangement of the cardinal virtues, justice and courage affect the good of many more people than temperance.[1]  Kaczor and Sherman point out, however, that “in ranking the virtues, as in ranking the accomplishments of people, one may be better than another in a certain respect but not in another respect.”[2]  While fortitude and temperance serve the preservation of the good, intemperance is more blameworthy than being cowardly, in regards to the object or motive matter.[3]  Fortitude often deals with overcoming the fear of something outside of one’s control, while temperance regards control over one’s own actions.  Temperance is distinguished from the other cardinal virtues in that it refers exclusively to the active man and his personal look at his condition, his vision, and his will.[4]

The Catechism defines temperance as the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods.[5]  The virtue of temperance, properly speaking, concerns not intellectual pleasures, but rather bodily pleasures, specifically man’s appetites in eating, drinking, and sexual activity.[6]  In varying degrees, however, temperance also perfects the affective emotions of love, desire, joy, hatred, aversion, and sadness.[7]  Pieper explained St. Thomas Aquinas on this point: “the primary and essential meaning of temperare, therefore, is this: to dispose various parts into one unified and ordered whole,” while the second meaning of temperance is “serenity of the spirit,” inner order.[8]  Temperance is a virtue because man’s inner order is not a simply given and self-evident reality.[9]  Pope John Paul II further explained: “In our ‘lower self’, our ‘body’ and everything that belongs to it is expressed: its needs, its desires, its passions of a sensual nature particularly. The virtue of temperance guarantees every man mastery of the ‘lower self’ by the ‘higher self,’” control of passions so they do not prevail over reason, will, and even the “heart.”[10]
A mother’s control over her eating, drinking, and sexual activity might not seem to affect her parenting in the same quick-witted way that the practice of prudence does, but a temperate mother serves as an indispensible example of control to her children.  Kaczor and Sherman reinforce this logic: “The person who acts as if one or a combination of fleshly goods were the greatest good deprives himself (and the community) of full sharing in authentic human happiness.”[11]  We can only begin to imagine how an immoderate practice of eating, drinking, or sexual activity could destroy peace in the home.  In regards to eating, Pieper stated that fasting is the medicine, the discipline, the inner order of virtue by which the turbulence of sensuality is kept in check, which thus liberates the spirit.[12] 
St. Thomas understood that the pleasures of touch such as eating are “most natural to us, so that it is more difficult to abstain from them, and to control the desire for them.”[13]  Fasting helps a person to be more truly free.  St. Thomas wrote that “fasting is useful as atoning for and preventing sin, and as raising the mind to spiritual things.”[14]  Although fasting is difficult Kaczor and Sherman note numerous ways that this virtue can be acquired every day:
Opportunities to practice temperance abound and are as common as every meal.  Through small, everyday acts of self-mastery, the excellence of temperance becomes second nature.  Bishop Fulton J. Sheen recommends: “At least three times a day, deny yourself some tiny, legitimate pleasure, such as that…second drink, or the extra lump of sugar, in order to discipline your spirit and keep mastery over yourself for the love of god.”[15] 

Simply put, occasionally eating a toddler’s portions for instance, if done with a cheerful heart, has a healing power.[16]  St. Peter warns that mankind should “join fasting with knowledge” (2 Pet 1:5, 6).  St. Thomas expounded upon this saying that “in abstaining from food a man should act with due regard for those among whom he lives, for his own person, and for the requirements of health.”[17]  For this reason, for example, pregnant and nursing mothers should be cautioned on their forms of fasting.  It is common to hear that “a mother always fasts,” but it is necessary to be careful with this phrase; it can be a false comfort.  As with all the others, there is a mean of this virtue.  Motherhood has so many seasons that it calls for a constant reassessment of the call to fast.  For example, if a mother is pregnant or breastfeeding, she should eat enough to ensure her and the child’s health. 
The Church recognizes that each Friday is a special day of fasting.  In memory of Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday, mothers can decide with their families what they are going to abstain from, whether it is meat or dessert, etc.  Mothers can also model temperance as applied to the manner in which they teach their family to eat.  St. Thomas noted that it is inordinate to eat “hastily” or “greedily.”  Your family should not forestall the proper time for eating or fail to observe the due manner of eating.[18] 
            Beyond fasting, sobriety, and chastity, there are also quasi-integral virtues of temperance.  In this discussion we begin to see just how interconnected the cardinal virtues are.  Above, under the virtue of fortitude it is mentioned that anger is an emotion perfected by fortitude, however, anger in varying degrees, is also a virtue perfected by temperance at a secondary level.  Josef Pieper devotes a chapter in The Four Cardinal Virtues to the “power of wrath.”  St. Thomas Aquinas stated that “wrath is the strength to attack the repugnant [i.e. the vices against fasting, sobriety, chastity, and beyond]; the power of anger [whether in thoughts, words, or deeds] is actually the power of resistance in the soul.”[19]  One who is by bodily temperament disposed to anger is more readily angered and likewise their children.[20]  In other words, Pieper wrote that moderate anger is more easily and frequently hereditary.[21]  A mother practiced in tempering her anger is then more readily available to aid her children in acquiring this virtue as well.  Anger can be a grievous sin especially since it leads to things that are harmful to one’s neighbor.[22]  Quoting another, St. Thomas points out: “he that is angry without cause shall be in danger; but he that is angry with cause shall not be in danger: for without anger, teaching will be useless, judgments unstable, crimes unchecked.”[23]  Kaczor and Sherman explain, however, that although anger can be worse than intemperance because more people may be injured, intemperance is more blameworthy because it is more fully voluntary arising from pleasure than sadness as that of an angry person.[24] 
It is the duty of a mother, to check her anger in regards to the actions of her children in order to discipline her children that they understand how to image God.  St. Thomas explains: “the order of reason in regard to anger may be considered in relation to the mode of being angry, namely that the movement of anger should not be immoderately fierce, neither internally nor externally; and if this condition be disregarded, anger will not lack sin, even though just vengeance be desired.”[25]  Again, comparable to the virtue of fortitude, mothers can become temperate and masters of themselves only through a mildness and gentleness, similar to patience.[26]
Ultimately, in order to acquire the virtue of temperance, as with all the virtues, Christians can turn and pray to Mary, the Queen of Virtues; perhaps in studying her virtues mothers may humbly imitate a small portion of her contemplative nature.  Mary was the model of tranquility and serenity in regards to all things related to temperance.  Mary understood in a very profound way that if she injured her body, she injured Christ, the Lord of our bodies.[27]  Mothers can also heed and seek to obtain the “integral parts of temperance: shamefacedness (healthy fear of doing what is wrong) and honesty, as well as the already mentioned “subjective parts” or species of temperance: abstinence, sobriety, and chastity.[28]  In other words, temperance also requires studiousness, modesty, and self-mastery: purity of the eyes, memory, and imagination.[29]  Pieper wrote: “it has been said that only the pure of heart can laugh freely and liberatingly.  It is no less true that only those who look at the world with pure eyes can experience its beauty.”[30] 
Followers of Christ are called to become like children in order to experience the beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Mothers are not only called to teach purity to their children, but also to learn from the purity of their children.  Children also teach mothers that living for Heaven requires extraordinary patience, humility, and a high threshold for discomfort, as Scott Appleby states, “God’s reign coaxes from us a lifestyle open to suffering of a kind which our children exact from us daily, hourly.”[31]  Children educate their mothers, and show them their shocking capacity for unconditional love (charity) the greatest virtue on which all the virtues rely. 

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[1] Ibid, II, II, 141, 8.
[2] Kaczor and Sherman, 311.
[3] Pieper, 125; Aquinas, II, II, 142, 3; Kaczor and Sherman, 316.
[4] Pieper, 147.
[5] Catechism, 1809.
[6] Kaczor and Sherman, 297 & 302.
[7] Torraco, Part B, 2-2 & 3-3.
[8] Pieper, 146-147.
[9] Ibid, 148.
[10] Pope John Paul II, General Audience, November 22, 1978, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1978), http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1978/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19781122_en.html [accessed October 2, 2010].    
[11] Kaczor and Sherman, 45.
[12] Pieper, 182.
[13] Aquinas, II, II, 141, 7.
[14] Ibid, II, II, 147, 3.
[15] Kaczor and Sherman, 309.
[16] Pieper, 183.
[17] Kaczor and Sherman, 319.
[18] Aquinas, II, II, 148, 4.
[19] Pieper, 193.
[20] Aquinas, II, II, 156, 4.
[21] Pieper, 196.
[22] Aquinas, II, II, 156, 4.
[23] Ibid, II, II, 158, 1.
[24] Kaczor and Sherman, 395.
[25] Aquinas, II, II, 158, 2.
[26] Pieper, 195; Kaczor and Sherman, 404.
[27] Pieper, 156.
[28] Kaczor and Sherman , 298-299.
[29] Ibid, 316.
[30] Pieper, 167.
[31] Scott Appleby, “’Suffer the Children’: The Education of the Christian Parent.”  Communio, Summer, 1988.