Sacrifice and Surrender

The WORD today (see http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012919.cfm) reminds me what kind of sacrifice God wants.

The first reading tells us what sacrifices were offered to God. In the earlier times, sacrifices as burnt offerings were offered to God. These burnt offerings tell God that we love Him and we adore Him. We give him a good portion of what we have. However, he wants more than that. He does not want just any burnt offering. He wants something deeper than that. He wants us not to just offer animals, but our very selves to him – not by killing ourselves but by surrendering ourselves to his will. Sacrifice of praise and surrender. God takes away the sacrificing of burnt and sin offerings, and wants to establish us surrendering and doing His will.

In the gospel, we see Jesus further enhancing this when he said that his mother and brothers are those who do the will of God. That’s how much God wants us to surrender and do his will. That’s how important that is to Him. As we sacrifice ourselves, as we submit and surrender ourselves to his will, we tell God we trust in him and his plans. We tell God that he is greater than our personal wants in life. Only when this happens can he give us the best he has in store for us, because it is when we are ready to receive him.

In life, it is not always easy to do this. We all have plans. We have targets and milestones. There are a lot of articles in the internet saying things you should do or have before turning 30, 40 or 50. We have bucketlists of places we want to go and things we want to do and have. We can be so commercialized and lost in the world that we forget God. We forget that his will is always better than ours, though it may not seem so in the sense of the world. We forget who gave us life and who we should live for. It is easy to forget the essentials, the basics in life.

What sacrifices do I offer to God? How do I tell God that I love him? How do I show that through my life? Do I submit myself to his will? What prevents me from fully surrendering to him?

God works is not enough. Sacrifices are not enough. God wants us to surrender and do his will. May we be one with the psalmist and say “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will”

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for all the blessings. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, sorry for the times I forget you and focus on myself. Sorry for the times I forget who you are and I just do what I want and what pleases me. Sorry for the times I become stubborn and do my will instead of yours. Lord, I ask that you help me be humble. Help me remember who you are in my life. Help me surrender my plans and my will to yours, everyday, everytime. Your plans are always greater than mine, and I will always surrender to you. Do with me as you please. Use me for your kingdom. Amen.

Blessed Day!

In Christ,

-g-

Daily Readings

January 29 2019

Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 318

Reading 1 HEB 10:1-10

Brothers and sisters:
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,
and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect
those who come to worship by the same sacrifices
that they offer continually each year.
Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered,
since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer
have had any consciousness of sins?
But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,
for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sins.
For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.

First he says, Sacrifices and offerings,
burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, Behold, I come to do your will.
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Responsorial Psalm PS 40:2 AND 4AB, 7-8A, 10, 11

R. (8a and 9a)  Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.

Alleluia SEE MT 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you."
But he said to them in reply,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother."