A Small Sacrifice

By: Rick Hernandez

We have finally reached the end of Lent, getting even closer to the celebration of Easter, where we remember, in thanksgiving and full of joy, our Lord Christ's Resurrection! But before we get to Easter, we have to remember that Christ experienced His Passion. How often do we, in our very lives, desire the joy of Easter, without embracing the suffering from the Passion?
 
As the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA/RCIA) coordinators in our parish, my dear wife Ivonne and I walk hand-in-hand with many seeking to become Catholic Christians. It is often that these beautiful souls come to the Church, not by being celebrated by those close to them, but instead by going through their own Gethsemane, left alone and abandoned by those they deemed friends and family. I believe in my heart that, in those moments of loneliness and solitude, they are experiencing something of what Christ suffered that day in the garden. 

"[For] if the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me" (John 15:18:21)

​What great courage those seeking Christ have! What great love they profess when they move forward in that conviction of Christ calling them ever-closer to Him, even amid discord, disinformation, and disharmony.
 
We are seeing this today, in a country where religious freedom is supposed to be one of our most important individual rights. Can you imagine them, the called, in those places where the persecution of our faith is open and encouraged? How many martyrs have we seen? We have witnessed too many, even in these modern times. May our Lord's love and compassion be ever with them. But what about us? Do we consider these things and live our faith publicly? Do we live our faith openly and faithfully? Or are we just too comfortable with what we do, that we even fail to accept a little discomfort as an offering to acknowledge Christ in our lives and witness to His love for us among our peers?

"The Cross is and remains the sign of ‘the Son of Man’: ultimately, in the battle against lies and violence, truth and love have no other weapon than the witness of suffering." (Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI)

History reminds us that standing for faith has always carried a cost. I often think about Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, martyr and Archbishop of San Salvador. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Church in El Salvador was suffering severe persecution, trapped in the middle of a de-facto civil war between the Salvadorean government and many insurgent groups. Archbishop Romero knew that no one in the country was safe, but knew even better that those who were poor and isolated were bearing the worst from the conflict. He became the voice of the voiceless, defending the people and their faith while serving the poor and the displaced. For that criticism of the conflict, and his insistence on keeping the churches open, he was ordered shot and killed halfway through saying the Holy Mass on March 24, 1980. 
 
I often wonder if I would have the courage of Archbishop Romero if I were ever called to forfeit my life for others... and I look up onto the Cross of Christ, and I know that, because of love, He paid that price... Could I love like that? I do not know, but I pray that if it were to happen, that I be given the strength and conviction needed, that my love be strengthened enough that I would accept it the same way Christ did. The same way Saint Peter and Saint Paul did. The same way Saint Oscar Romero and Blessed Miguel Pro did.

"Unless you have suffered and wept, you really don’t understand what compassion is, nor can you give comfort to someone who is suffering. If you haven’t cried, you can’t dry another’s eyes. Unless you’ve walked in darkness, you can’t help wanderers find the way. Unless you’ve looked into the eyes of menacing death and felt its hot breath, you can’t help another rise from the dead and taste anew the joy of being alive." (Servant of God, Takashi Nagai)

​There is no Easter without the Passion.
 
Most of us are not called to make that ultimate sacrifice of dying for our faith, but we are all asked to figuratively die to ourselves in small ways so that we may live in service to others.
 
Let us keep our eyes and ears open and remain willing to follow Christ, for we are called to embrace this death of self, and live a life of selflessness and service, just as Christ himself lived.  We are called to bear witness to this with our very lives. This is our small sacrifice. This is our offering. 

'So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it."' (John 13:12-17)

Let us pray:  "Lord, so great is our love for you that even though we walk in a world where speaking your name can mean certain death, your faithful still speak it and speak it all the louder. Help us work for a world where all may speak their creeds and pray their prayers without fear of violence. Hear the prayers of those who abide with you in dangerous times and in dark valleys, and who die with your name on their lips. Draw them quickly to your side, where they might know eternal peace." (Prayer for the Christian Martyrs)
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Rick Hernandez

Rick Hernandez is a commonsense Catholic, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, and a Director for Elisheba House. He lives in Trinity, Florida, with his wife Ivonne and their children. He also writes for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflections and for Catholicmom.com.