The Motive of Sacrifice

"One cannot love without suffering, or suffer without loving." ~ St. Gianna Molla

Sacrifice and love are intimately linked.  It's actually quite easy to see where a person's love is directed: for whom is this person willing to sacrifice his/her own will/desires/wants/needs? Think of the times that you have willingly sacrificed what you wanted for the good of another person or when someone else has willingly sacrificed for your good.  When we choose to sacrifice, to give the gift of ourselves, for someone we do so out of love for that person.  We love the other so much that we are willing to give up our own often selfish desire - to lay down our lives for the other. After all, didn't Jesus say, 'There is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.'? 

During Lent as we meditate on the Passion of the Lord we are really meditating on God's love for us.  "For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only Son...".  God loves us so much that he was willing to give completely of himself, to literally sacrifice himself, for our good - for our salvation. 

From the very beginning God proves his love for us - the very fact that Jesus would leave the place of his glory in heaven to become man is an act of sacrifice for us.  Jesus truly suffered throughout his life, but, of course, particularly during his passion.  In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus experienced the very real human reality of being faced with suffering.  Bl. John Paul II in his Aposolic Letter Salvifici Doloris said:

The words: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt", and later: "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done", have a manifold eloquence. They prove the truth of that love which the only-begotten Son gives to the Father in his obedience. At the same time, they attest to the truth of his suffering.

Jesus was face to face with suffering.  He knew the great pain it would involve because all his life he had seen the sacrifices of the lambs in the Temple.  He understood what was about to happen.  But love compelled him.  His Sacred Heart was so on fire with love of the Father and of us that when faced with sacrifice, he said yes, 'Thy will be done.' 

For some reason one of the most powerful mysteries of the Rosary to me is the scourging at the pillar.  Maybe because that is the first mega-intense moment of his passion and usually the first step can be the hardest.  Sometimes I wonder what he may have been thinking just as the first scourge was about to happen, then if he was even able to think at all through the rest of it due to the pain.  Every time I can only come to the conclusion that he must've been thinking purely of love.  His love for the Father.  His love for our Lady and her Immaculate Conception.  His love for John, Peter, James, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalen, Zaccheus, for you, for me and even for Judas. And as he thought of us as the first whip came hurling toward him his love kept him on the pillar knowing his sacrifice would be worth it - that you are worth it.

The essence of sacrifice is love. Love wills the good of another person even at cost to yourself.  We know God loves us because he proves it on the cross. Love was on his mind as he watched the nails be placed on his hands, as they were driven through and as he hung from them. Love was on his mind because you're worth it. 

"For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." (Luke 12:34).  What you place value/worth on is where you place your love.  And where you place your love is where you place your willingness to sacrifice.  You are God's treasure. You are worth every lash, every thorn, every jeer, every nail, every drop of his most precious Blood.   Your heart is his treasure. Let his heart be yours.