A Lenten Story: Our Sacrifices

A Lenten Story: Our Sacrifices

I remember almost as if it were yesterday, I was preparing a lesson regarding Lent: its meaning, purpose and history, among many other things. I was an assistant teacher and had been asked to lead this lesson and I took it on with great and tremendous pride. In this lesson, there were two verses I wanted to add and talk about: Matthew 6:16-18 and Mark 12:41-44. I wanted to emphasize these verses regarding sacrifice to the students. “After all”, I thought to myself, “sacrifice is one of the most important things in Lent. I have to make sure we all make a big sacrifice and not something trivial. It is for God, afterall” As I was thinking these things, I received a call from my co-teacher:

“Hey, how’s the lesson coming along?” she asked me.

“I’m almost done. Just finishing up these verses. What do you think?”

“I like it a lot, but are you sure about how you’re going about those two verses?”

“What do you mean?”, I said indignantly. “It’s relevant to them!”

“I understand it’s important, I’m not sure if that’s what they should be solely focused on…”

“It’s important for them to know that their sacrifice is important. Or else, they’ll just choose something that won’t be an actual sacrifice, like: not eating chocolates, no TV, no pizza, no Takis, and things of the sorts. That would reduce Lent to nothing but a joke or a game.”

“Ernest…” she sighed. I’ll be praying for you. I’ll call you later to figure it out.” She hung up.

As I got ready to go to sleep, my mind was racing: How could she not understand the importance of the sacrifice? Jesus didn’t eat or drink for forty days and she wants the focus to be on something else, what could be so important? No sooner had I closed my eyes to sleep, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Wake up.” I jumped up and saw a man in brown looking at me with his hand outstretched. I took it cautiously and he helped me up, motioning for me to follow him. As he led me through the door, I noticed a lady in blue waiting for us. 

They led me down the street and as she held the man in brown’s hand, she asked me, “What do you think of this little girl? I answered, “She’s fasting candy.” “It’s good for her age but when she grows it’ll have to be different.” Then, a lady saying no to a pizza appeared in front of us. “What about her?”, the lady in blue gently asked me. “She seems to struggle with it, so it’s fine, I replied. “And what about him?” she asked while looking at me intently. I looked and realized I was staring at myself, who had said I would not eat rice. “What about me? Is my sacrifice not good enough? I eat rice with everything, it’ll be hard! Especially on Fridays, when I can’t eat meat!” I replied defensively.

The man in brown and the lady in blue looked at me sadly and I felt a hand being placed on my right shoulder. A warmth immediately spread from my shoulder and I turned and saw a man in a white robe. “Who are you?” I asked, unsure of what to say or do. He pointed to the others and said, “The son of a carpenter and of a virgin. I am He.” He then turned to look at me, “What sacrifice will you be offering this Lent?”  I looked at him, “I will be offering rice”. “Are you sure you should be offering that instead of something else?” He asked. I looked at him with confusion. “What do you mean? Is there something more I can give?”

“I don’t focus on the difficulty of the sacrifice. Yes, it is important, but that is not the whole story! When I walked through the desert, for forty days and nights, it wasn’t just to starve myself or to give something up. It was to reflect and walk with God. Your sacrifice is good but look at your heart, my son. Is your heart with me or is it focused on judging the sacrifices of others? Is this sacrifice one for you to grow closer to me or just to satisfy your own ego and prejudice?” 

“Those verses you mentioned are about making the small sacrifices that hurt us the most. This is a time to repent, to leave your old ways and turn back to the Lord. That is what is most important to me, that you walk with me with your whole body, mind, and soul. That is why the faithful give something up, to reject themselves and to say yes to me.” Then, they gently hugged me and He said the words, “I love you. Follow me.”

I woke up with a saint's words in mind which I’ll try to quote (but likely paraphrase) here: “Jesus Christ, our Saviour, true God and true Man, ought to be the last end of all our other devotions, else they are false and delusive.”. - St. Louis de Montfort

The end.

Sometimes, we tend to focus on the sacrifices of others and turn a blind eye to our own sacrifices and our own walk with Christ. We focus on the superficial and what everyone can clearly see and forget that the purpose of everything isn’t for our own gain but to love Christ better.