22 September 2024

22 September 2024 - 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Write:  

Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty.

Reflect:   

I do not remember if I covered this last fall when I did the parts of the Mass as Father Baumert was gone on his extended cruise. But I thought it was an important item to revisit, especially since we had the Eucharistic Congress here in the United States this last summer; and since I spoke last weekend about suffering.

I will admit that I do not remember now what this phrase was prior to the change in the Missal that came out in 2011. But I do remember that the phrase “my sacrifice and yours” is something new.

That is what I want to focus on this weekend. There are a number of points to make with this. Let me start with the first part of the phrase: my sacrifice. Why is mine unique to yours? It has to do with the fact that I am offering Jesus in an un-bloody sacrifice that unites each Mass to the work of Christ on Calvary. There were sacrifices in the Old Testament Temple which were required to be shared in by the priests and the people. This was so that the sacrifice would be valid. They all had to eat from the sacrifice. Well, Jesus did the same with the Eucharist. How was he going to make the sacrifice of Calvary available for all time? Only by instituting the Eucharistic sharing of his body and blood could he make his sacrifice on Calvary real for all time. So, in one sense, my sacrifice at the Mass is not about what I personally offer, but is about what Christ offered – and continues to offer for all of us to participate in.

But there is, as I said, another aspect of my sacrifice during the Mass. This is also where you are called to add your sacrifice to the work of Christ. Each of us because of our humanity is expected to live a sacrificial life to God. There was a specific type of sacrifice in the Old Covenant. It was called a thank offering. It was a time to give praise and thanks to God for all that he had done for the people who were offering that particular sacrifice.

We are called to do the same now. Remember, Eucharist means thanksgiving. But, unlike Israel of the Old Covenant, we do not offer animals in sacrifice, but we offer ourselves – just as Jesus offered himself. This is how we unite ourselves to the offering – the sacrifice – of Christ. The line from the Mass that I quoted at the start is said right after the gifts are prepared and placed on the altar. We are called – all of us, each in our unique way – to offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God. We can only do this in a way that is pleasing to God if we unite it to the offering of Jesus.

Apply:   

This is why we are called to participate in the Mass every weekend. By uniting and offering our self to Christ and through Christ, our sacrifice is pleasing to God. This is what was meant in the documents of the Second Vatican Council when they called for everyone to have “a full and active participation in the Mass.” It does not meaneveryone has to have some active job in the Mass. It does meanthat we have to offer ourselves to God. We offer ourselves in the moment and in the everyday activity that springs from the Mass in our daily lives. When we offer our daily work to Jesus, it becomes the sacrifice of our lives. This is what Pope St. John Paul meant when he said we are to sanctify common everyday work for the sake of the gospel.

Every one of us will have a different way in which we offer our lives in thanksgiving to God. Mom’s and dad’s offerings from their lives are centered around giving thanks for their families. Grandparent’s offerings are also centered on giving thanks for their families, but even more so for the fulfillment of their lives as they come into a new form of life and dedication to God. The older we get, the more we look forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises for us individually. Children have a different way in which they give thanks to God. Young adults who are still figuring out what their life is supposed to be about have yet other options and reasons to give thanks.

Deacons offer their thanks to God – offer their lives to God – in the form of being “in the person of Christ the servant.” Priests – and bishops in a superabundant way – offer their lives and thanksgiving in the form of being “in the person of Christ the head.” All the clergy of each office offer their lives in sacrifice to the service of Christ.

All the laity offer their lives in sacrifice to the service of Christ, albeit in a different way. Your daily sacrifice is the very work that you do each day.

So the Sacrifice of the Mass is not just simply a commemoration of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is a continuation of the call to follow Christ that he has issued to each one of us, each in our own way.

In case you did not guess, this weekend’s homily is a continuation from last week when I talked about suffering. You can review that on my podcast site. But I want to specifically focus our attention this weekend on our need to unite ourselves to Christ and his work – not just on the cross, but his work throughout his life that led to the cross.

How do we make of ourselves a living sacrifice to God? This is the question we need to ask – and answer – of ourselves. What is the response during the Mass that you make after what quoted from the Mass? Your response is “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy church.” So I do not think it is too small of a thing to say, or too much of an exaggeration to say, that at that moment you are saying to the priest that you are putting your lives in his hands to be offered to God.

This is what it means to bring our sufferings – the offerings of ourselves – into the glory of God. We are making ourselves vulnerable to the call of God. From this point on in the Mass our goal needs to be seeing ourselves as being united in Christ’s sacrifice for the sake of his people.

Let me leave you with a story from my dad. It happened for him shortly after his dad died. He was in church at St. Mary’s and his prayer was just one word: “why?” When his dad died, he was left taking care of his grandmother and her house, his mom and her house, his wife and five kids and our house, and held three jobs to keep us in Catholic school. His “why” was answered with a mystical vision. My dad saw the body of Christ on the crucifix above the Tabernacle go from the position of a dead body to seeing the arms stretched out to my dad and Christ’s head came up, his eyes opened and looked right at my dad, and then the vision returned the body to what we normally see. My dad took that vision as Christ calling him to the cross – calling him to sacrifice. It changed my dad forever.

What will you make of your life as a sacrifice to Christ? 

Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty.

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