Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Book 4 Chapter 8: On the Offering of Christ on the Cross, and the Resignation of Ourselves

“I ask nothing more of you than this: your efforts to surrender yourself wholly to Me.”

Jesus was stripped naked, whipped, beaten and nailed to the cross in the greatest sacrifice of all.  With His outstretched hands and nothing remaining in Him, He offered Himself up to God the Father for us in this sacrifice for our sins so that the gates of heaven could be reopened.  He died on the cross so our sins would be forgiven and that we could be freed from the pains of eternal death.  Should we not be willing to offer ourselves to Him in Mass? Should we not be willing to offer up one hour to show God how much we appreciate the sacrifice that He made for us? If we really think about it, is one hour enough? Whenever we go to Mass, the offering should be made with all our strength and devotion.  We should approach Mass with a total committal to participate fully in the Sacrifice He made for us.  We must be willing to “surrender ourselves wholly” in the liturgy of the Mass. He is only asking one thing, that we give of ourselves.  In surrendering our heart, we open the doors of our soul to let Him completely into our lives.  If we are to imitate Christ, we must realize that it is not in the material giving that appeases Him but in giving totally one’s own self.  Unless you do this, any other offering has no value.  When we approach the altar of His sacrifice, we must be willing to place our entire self, all our imperfections on that altar, so that we can be united with Him and the Church in the Holy sacrament of the Eucharist.  Christ offered Himself wholly to His Father so that His Body and Blood could become the food of life for us.  In giving yourself wholly to Him, you participate in the perfect communion of the souls of the Church.  We not only become enjoined with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but all the Angels and Saints and the people who have united themselves with the Church. Therefore, you must make “a willing offering of yourself into God’s hands, if you wish to obtain grace and freedom.” Thomas a Kempis tells us this is why “so few are inwardly free and enlightened.”  “Anyone of you who does not renounce all of his possessions cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).  We must surrender absolutely everything at the altar if we are to be received wholly into His arms.

A Simple Prayer

Lord, I come to you damaged and afraid.

Give me the strength to abandon myself at the foot of your altar,

For I know that it is in your arms only that my heart will find rest.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon