Giving Up Our Lives
Sacrifice
“There will be countless occasions to witness for Christ, to give up our life for the sake of Christ. There will be many opportunities to “lay down our life” for another person in need, probably even today – and not in some kind of ostentatious act of heroism and notoriety, but more likely in some very mundane and rather hidden way.”—Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Sacrifice is perhaps a word we have forgotten or lost in our vocabulary. We have become so polarized because we cannot sacrifice our beliefs and listen to each other. Yet, we know we are so right and deserving. Our recent observation of sacrifice was by President Joe Biden, who gave up his ambition and belief that he was the right person to lead this country. It became apparent that his legacy would not continue in this country if he did not step down from the nomination for a second term. He also echoed to us how difficult it was to make that decision.
First of all, the sacrifice we are required to make is simply to listen to those who think differently than we do. On the surface, we may believe others are trying to take away our rights and the rights of others. Others are so wrong. The sacrifice may simply involve listening to this other side. How did they get there? What triggered their fears? My experience is that wounded people want someone to listen to them and their stories. Then maybe they will listen to our story. It is not a quick fix. It takes time. It means we consciously look for the Christ in each other. Sometimes, the process may take years.
When we were living in the pandemic, everyone I talked to knew someone who had died or been infected, most often a beloved family member. We desperately wanted to be together again, back to our old life. We learned this would not happen unless each of us made sacrifices. We had to wear masks indoors in large gatherings and get vaccinated. We were never going to live the life we once had. Things would be different.
We learned we would miss so many whom we so dearly loved unless we continued to make sacrifices.
The hardest sacrifice for us was not seeing the family members we so love. We had to settle for seeing our grandchildren, Zoe and Turner, through a picture window.
Every day, we should remember and celebrate that this is no longer the way we have to live.
Sacrificing for the whole has been ingrained in our country’s DNA. We must remember our history and re-member. We are called to become members of the body, instead of a mass of individuals with shouting voices and our fingers in our ears. It is called Crossing the Divide.
