The Sacrifice Pleasing to God
“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
The Latin word sacrificium is the same as the word offering in English. But what is being offered? When we sacrifice, we are offering something to God which is perceptible to our senses. It is an act of veneration and adoration. And it is ordered towards being in communion with Him.
In Ancient Greece, we could think of religious functions that were tied closely to civic life. The Ancient Greeks did not always see actual gods who were personal. Instead, they were personifications of nature and there was a desire to remain in right relation (communion) with nature, lest the people be struck with pestilence, famine, drought, or worse. These religious services were prayers, sacrifices, and votive offerings which were offered to the gods in bloody and unbloody ways, sometimes burned up and sometimes consumed. This sacrificial and religious economy was even more state business in Ancient Rome. There was no more widely contrived system of pagan polytheism than the Romans. There were gods and demigods for everything imaginable.
In the Jewish system, we have something distinct: revealed religion. The pagans were doing what they thought was right and naturally practicing the virtue of religion. The Jewish people were practicing what had been given by God Himself! In Judaism, there is no human sacrifice - thanks be to God! Even when Abraham was asked to slay his son Isaac, God supplied a ram instead. The Mosaic Law was centered around offerings of animals, cereal offerings, and the like. But the entire sacrificial system was centered around this passage from Leviticus 11:44: “Be holy because I am holy.”
The Jewish system of sacrifice was detailed and complicated. There were bloody and unbloody sacrifices, different rituals, and a variety of meanings. All of these were in service and worship of the one God. Because unlike the Greeks and Romans, God Almighty is one and He is a personal God.
In the Christian system, there is only one sacrifice. Fulfilling the Old Covenants perfectly, Jesus established the New Covenant in His blood on the Holy Cross. This sacrifice of His suffering, death, and resurrection is perpetuated in an unbloody, anamnetic (memorial that makes what is remembered present) way until the end of time. In the Holy Mass, we live this sacrifice on a daily basis and it constitutes the perfect form of Christian worship.
But what ties natural sacrifice to supernatural sacrifice? What unifies the Jewish sacrifice of the Old Covenants and the Christian sacrifice of the new and everlasting Covenant? In Psalm 51, King David wrote, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) When I hear this beautiful psalm, my mind immediately goes to St. Paul’s letter to the Romans in Chapter 12:
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)
The living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, is the offering of ourselves: body and soul. What does King David mean to say that our spirit should be broken? It seems to correspond to the first of the Beatitudes that Jesus offers us: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) The poor in spirit or the broken spirit is the humble spirit. To be humble is to stand before God as we are, no more and no less. The “contrite” spirit is the one who repents of all that is impure within. Whether through an examination of conscience or by divine insight directly, the Lord, in His Spirit, convicts us of the areas in our life that need to be handed over to the mercy of God. If we feel condemned, this is from the Enemy, not from God. But conviction of the soul that leads us to repentance is a blessing.
When we are convicted of our sinfulness and need for a Savior, then we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, with a broken and contrite spirit. Because here is the key, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Strictly speaking however, this offering does not become a sacrifice until a real change has been effected in the visible gift (e.g. by slaying it, shedding its blood. burning it, or pouring it out).” (Sacrifice, Catholic Encyclopedia) In order to make ourselves a true sacrifice to God, then there has to be a real change. We have to die to ourselves and rise with Christ. This happens in Baptism. And this initial justification can be renewed each time we humbly approach the Sacrament of Penance.
As we continue through Lent, may we receive the gift of true repentance that the Lord desires for us. This way, we can make ourselves a sacrifice acceptable to God, broken, contrite, and humble.