The Lenten season is a timely reminder for us to embody the spirit of holiness and sacrifice, but for many of us, our sacrifices are in fact shameful, shabby, and shoddy. We are so stingy with what we give, giving thus the leftovers, the broken things, the things that we are getting rid off in our spring-cleaning, the things about to expire, and the things that we ourselves do not wish to receive.

In Genesis 4, we read of how Cain and Abel brought offerings before the Lord. Cain presented “an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground,” (Genesis 4:3) and Abel presented to the Lord “the fatty portion of the firstlings of his flock.” (Genesis 4:4). We actually assume that Abel brought a better offering because he brought meat, but it was actually standard practice to offer the fatty portion of the animals as a sacrificial offering. This chapter in Scripture does not tell us the reasons as to why Abel’s offerings were accepted, and why Cain’s offerings were rejected. These reasons are not revealed to us. In other parts of Scripture however, we discover more about the nature of a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord:

Hosea 6:6: “For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Jeremiah 7: 21-24: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices; eat up the meat! In speaking to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command concerning burnt offering or sacrifice. This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper. But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.”

Psalm 51: 17-19: “Lord, you will open my lips; and my mouth will proclaim your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.”

Luke 21: 1-4: “When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.’

2 Corinthians 9:6-7: “Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

We discover that the type of sacrifice that is pleasing to God has little to do with the material nature of the sacrifice – food, produce, burnt offerings, money, but more to do with the disposition of the person who is making the sacrifice – a person who is dedicated to carrying out the Will of the Lord and obeys the voice of God, a person who gives out of the generosity of his or her heart, a person who gives to God the best, and of the totality of his or her being, a person who is humble and meek, a person who places as a priority, the Giver of all things, God. These affirmations may thus give us insight as to why the events in Genesis 4 unfolded as they did. It is likely that Cain came forth to present his offering with a heart that was not right.

For many Catholics, Sacrifice is often viewed via the lens of an Earthly Economy – it is largely transactional –  what’s in for me? If I do this, I will be blessed by the Lord. We also tend to view sacrifice from the angle of it being a loss to us, or something that we give up. Yet the etymology of the word, “sacrifice”, on the first level comes from the Latin root sacrificus – “to perform a priestly function”, and on the deeper level if we further dissect the words: sacra, or sacer (plural form) – meaning “sacred”, facere “to make, or to do” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Putting it together, the full Latin reads as sacrum facere: “To make sacred”. (cf. Clements, 2023). In making or offering a sacrifice, we are doing something that 1) makes the act and thing holy in consecration to God and 2) we become holy via the doing of the sacrifice. When we unite our sacrifices with love for and to God, we become holy as God is holy, because God is self-sacrificial love outpoured for us (Clements, 2023). From this new perspective, when we sacrifice out of love for God and neighbour, there is so much more for us to gain rather than lose. Applying this to our own encounter of the season of Lent, isn’t it beautiful that “What am I giving up / sacrificing for Lent,” is transformed to “What am I making holy this Lent?” and “What is helping me become holy this lent?”

In this light, it may be interesting to note that the Sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, was not so much about Abraham losing a son to God, but that in the act of obedience to God, Abraham came forth with a right disposition and having presented his offering to God, which in this case was the best thing in the world that Abraham had ever received – Isaac, consecrated to God both himself and Isaac, and even rendered the place holy. The implications of this are tremendous: The generosity of God can never be outdone. The Lord God thus intervened and reaffirmed his blessing and promise to Abraham: “…because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your son, your only one, I will bless you and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you obeyed my command.” (Genesis 22:16-18)

The offering of our first fruits and the best fruits to God has everything to do with the recognition that we are nothing and that all that we have has been gifted and provided for by God our loving Father. Our first and best fruits can come in a myriad of forms – the time that we dedicate to God, our tithes, the consecration (i.e. sacrifice) of our children back to God for the priestly, religious, and missionary vocations, our strengths, our talents, even our struggles and sufferings. These are the sacrifices that we can offer up to God on a daily basis, and especially at the time of Offering during the Eucharistic Celebrations.

Fittingly, in the season of Lent as we go about our daily Sacrifices, we are invited to pray the paradoxes that are found in the Prayer that has been erroneously attributed to being written by St. Francis, but was actually written by someone unknown and remains today, a popular traditional prayer:

Peace Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

 

By the Grace of God,

Brian Bartholomew Tan

References

Clements, R. (2023, September 28). Sacrifice Makes Us Holy. Word on Fire. Retrieved February 25, 2024 from https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/sacrifice-makes-us-holy/

Online Etymology Dictionary. (n.d.) Sacrifice. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 25, 2024 from https://www.etymonline.com/word/sacrifice