My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In our Catholic tradition, we often speak of “giving something up” for Lent, whether that be candy, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, meat, movies or whatever habitually gives us a great deal of pleasure, satisfaction or enjoyment. The idea is not simply to break some bad habits on which we have become dependent — although that in itself is not a bad idea — but “giving something up” involves the theological concept of sacrifice.

Sacrifice is not a popular notion today. Psychologists speak of self-realization and personal fulfillment. People want to “have it all,” not give it away. The dictionary defines sacrifice as an act of offering to God something precious; the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else; and as something given up or lost, as in the sacrifices made by parents. The term sacrifice is also used to describe selfless good deeds for others, or a short term loss in return for a greater gain. However, it is significant to note that the word sacrifice comes from the Latin sacrificium, which is composed of two Latin words: sacer, sacred; and facere, to make. Thus, sacrifice means to make “to make sacred.” Indeed, during Lent, we make sacrifices in our desire to be made holy, to be sacred in the eyes of God.

The concept of self-sacrifice and martyrs are central to Christianity. Often found in Catholic teaching is the idea of joining one’s own sufferings to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Thus one can “offer up” involuntary suffering such as sickness, or intentionally embrace suffering in acts of penance such as fasting.

This understanding finds support in St. Paul: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).

In a sense, Christianity acknowledges only one true sacrifice, the sacrifice which was once offered by Christ in a bloody manner on the tree of the Cross. But in order to apply to individual human beings in sacrificial form through a constant sacrifice the merits of redemption definitively won by the sacrifice of the Cross, the Redeemer himself instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be an unbloody continuation and representation of the bloody sacrifice of Calvary. Through this sacrifice, we are made holy and are held sacred in the eyes of God.

Our late Holy Father, the great Pope John Paul II, in his 1984 encyclical on salvific suffering, Salvifici Doloris, explained how we participate in the sacrifice of Christ: “In the Cross of Christ not only is the redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has been redeemed . ... Every man has his own share in the redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the redemption was accomplished. ... In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. ... The sufferings of Christ created the good of the world’s redemption. This good in itself is inexhaustible and infinite. No man can add anything to it. But at the same time, in the mystery of the Church as his Body, Christ has in a sense opened his own redemptive suffering to all human suffering.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about sacrifice, quoting St. Augustine and sacred Scripture: “It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication and communion: ‘Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice.’ Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: ‘The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit’ (Psalm 51:17). The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ (Matt. 9:13, 12:7; cf. Hosea 6:6). The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father’s love and for our salvation. By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.”

In a speech given in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt, then president of the United States, spoke about the importance of sacrifice for the advancement of the human race, saying, “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

May God give us this grace. Amen.