There was a story of a 55-year-old mother who had a
son whose lower extremities had been paralyzed due to a freak accident. Her son
wanted to finish his studies and so to fulfill his wish, the mother carried her
son to school by herself every day. For fifteen years, she had carried her son with
her own arms to bring him to his classroom. When asked why she was doing so,
she said: “Gagawin ng ina and lahat para
sa kanyang minamahal na anak.” Recently,
the son graduated in Junior High School. He is now closer to his dream of
becoming a computer engineer. All this wouldn’t be possible without the
sacrifices of his mother for him, done in the name of her love for her son.
We offer sacrifices to the persons important to us.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from
genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her
hair. Such is valued by Judas as three hundred days' wages and could have been
given to the poor. Mary gave something too expensive to the Lord, and Judas saw
this as something that could better be given to others rather than to the Lord.
Mary thought otherwise and deemed that such a precious thing be given to the
Lord. Mary gave up an expensive perfume so that she may touch even just the
feet of the Lord; that she may be close to Jesus.
What are we ready and willing to sacrifice for the
Lord?
To be close to Jesus, we have to sacrifice some things
and aspects of our life such as our sinfulness so that we may be holy in the
presence of God; or maybe our personal dreams and plans so that his will may be
done in our life.
The value of the sacrifices we give to the Lord is
equally proportionate on how we value the Lord. Thus, more than asking what can
be our sacrifice to the Lord, we first have to ask ourselves: How do I value
Jesus in my life? If we perceive him to be important to us, we can readily give
up important things for him, in exchange for attaining him in our life.
The Lord is worth more than anything in this world.
He is our light and our salvation. He saved us from sin and death through his
very own life. That is how Jesus values us. How do we value him in our life? If
God is the most valuable person in our life, what could be the things which we
most value that we can sacrifice so that we may be with Him? Pleasures of this
world? Personal dreams? Pride?
The good news is that as we sacrifice to the Lord,
it will do us something good. More than God benefiting from our sacrifices, it
will be us who would benefit more for the things we give up in the name of our
love to the Lord.
What are we willing to give so that we may attain
Him and so that we may be in his presence?
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