Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 8, 2025 - Saturday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 13:15-17, 20-21 and Mark 6:30-34]Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind. Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you. [Hebrews]
It seems to be woven into humans that faith requires some kind of "sacrifice." In some historical contexts this could mean even sacrifice of fellow humans to whatever deity needed to be pleased. Sacrifice seems to require destruction of something, whether it be human, animal, plant, etc.. It also has come to mean intangible but real behavior such as fasting or particularly difficult devotional activity or financial benefit. Something valuable to the individual or group has to be offered. The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of a "sacrifice of praise!" The Second Vatican Council, in the document Lumen gentium speaks of the sacrifices offered by the laity: for all their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne - all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. [LG 34] It is not just the priest who offers the "Eucharistic sacrifice."
The "Eucharist" of faith can be offered beyond the liturgical celebration of Mass. The liturgical celebration is meant to inspire that daily offering - that daily "sacrifice of praise." We can remember Jesus' comment about the poor Widow in the gospel who offers her last coins in the temple. It is not just the money she offered. It was all that she had to live on. [Luke 21-1-4]. The very word, "sacrifice," comes from Latin meaning to make something holy. The Letter to the Hebrews challenges us to do exactly that. AMEN