"Sacrifices Most Pleasing"

These are the sacrifices most pleasing to God: mercy, humility, praise, peace, charity. ~St. Augustine

I came across the above this morning while praying the Office of Readings. It appeared in the second reading, which was from a commentary on Psalm 95 by St. Augustine (go to this page at Universalis and scroll to bottom for full reading), and it gave me some good food for thought and prayer. When I think of a sacrifice primarily in terms of giving up something, at first glance there does not seem to be anything terribly sacrificial about mercy, humility, praise, peace and charity. However, if I think some more about it, I find plenty of things that I can and must give up if I am offer to God these sacrifices that St. Augustine says are most pleasing to him. Being merciful demands that I forgo criticizing and judging others as well as myself. Humility requires that I relinquish my ego with all its inordinate desires. Praise calls for me to release all complaining, both in words and in thoughts. And charity, the greatest of all, obliges me to forsake anything and everything that does not embody the love of God that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who makes holy my little offerings and transforms them into "an offering in spirit and in truth" so that I might become a living sacrifice of praise to the glory of God. AMEN! ALLELUIA!

Dear Lord, let me choose the sacrifices most pleasing to you rather than the ones that I prefer. Amen.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Marc Chagall

The way of generous suffering is the way to heaven. Stand fast and bear your cross without thinking about it. Our Isaac must be sacrificed over and over again by the giving of ourselves to God without counting the cost. ~St. Jane de Chantal

...and I shall offer within his tent a sacrifice of joy. Ps 27:6

O Lamb of God!

"O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us Thy peace!" That is a tremendous prayer to take on our lips, for it means peace at a great price; the peace of the Cross, of absolute acceptance, utter abandonment to God ~ a peace inseparable from sacrifice. ~Evelyn Underhill in The Fruits of the Spirit

Our Isaac

Then God said, "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." Gen 22:2

The way of generous suffering is the way to heaven. Stand fast and bear your cross without thinking about it. Our Isaac must be sacrificed over and over again by the giving of ourselves to God without counting the cost. ~St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Wings to the Lord

St. Katharine Drexel, Feastday March 3, Part 1: "a never-ending sacrifice"

The Eucharist is a never-ending sacrifice.
It is the Sacrament of love, the act of love.
Help me each moment today and always
to communicate myself to you by doing your will.
Let the doing of your will each moment
be a spiritual communion.
In it you will give me yourself;
I will give you myself.
St. Katharine Drexel