The Norm of Sacrifice

Sacrifice is a word that gets mixed reviews from folks.  Especially in our times, sacrifice evokes unease and displeasure.  Maybe self-giving would be more appealing to our spiritual, ethical pallets.  Yet we are confronted by a God who chooses sacrificial self-giving as a way of reaching out to us.

I like what Thomas Merton writes in Life and Holiness:  The norm of sacrifice is not the amount of pain it inflicts, but its power to break down walls of division, to heal wounds, to restore order and unity in the Body of Christ. (p. 41)


Merton notes that "what matters then is not precisely what the sacrifice costs us, but what it will contribute to  the good of others and of the Church." (p.40)

Perspectives for our journeys worth pondering.