Day 87. The Cost: The Four Greatest Treasures
God’s call is for the strong; it is for those who rebel against mediocrity and the cowardice of a comfortable life with their own personal contribution and by bearing the cross.
Paul VI, 3/5/67
We continue to count the Cost. Yesterday we looked at the “why’s” of sacrifice today we look at “what.” What treasures might we offer to the Lord? The possibilities are limitless, but here we look to the 2000 year tradition of the Church to identify three of the most precious treasures we possess and a fourth one that follows from the three. They are freedom, sex, possessions, and the fourth is time. Note that these are all good things. Every celibate vocation involves a free surrender, in some form, of all four of these treasures. Father Thomas Dubay, SM said it well, “the consecrated person gives up in the prime of life what everyone must give up at death.”
Each of these treasures could be said to coincide with a different stage of life. In youth we prize our freedom and yearn to break away from parental bonds. As young adults we prize sex as we reach our most fertile and fruitful years. Here I’m speaking of the great good that sex brings in marriage, family and the gift of new life. Mature adult life places value in possessions as growing wealth opens up growing possibilities – college for the kids, an addition on the home, a sail boat, a new wardrobe. Finally in old age we cherish time – time spent with those we love, time to enjoy retirement, for travel, for long neglected projects. We come to value time most as we see life begin to fade. A celibate vocation, then, is a self-gift that lays all these treasures at the feet of Jesus.
We sell our freedom, and purchase obedience. This is not to say that we become unthinking robots or puppets following the whims of a superior or bishop. No one can completely surrender his or her freedom which is essential to our human nature. Obedience is a free decision to responsibly submit my will, according to a rule of life, to the direction of a recognized and authorized spiritual authority. In religious life, it’s a superior, in priesthood, it’s a bishop. The nature of this obedience will vary, but it is real nonetheless. At very least it means going where I’m sent and serving where I’m told. In its fullest sense obedience means, according to St. Ignatius, deliberately choosing to think in sync with the mind of my superior.
We sell our sexual fruitfulness and purchase celibacy. Our idea of sex tends towards the personal and the pleasurable, but sex is so much more. In celibacy we sacrifice the intimate partnership of marriage; the stable companion, the familiar touch, the laugh, the knowing look that says, “I’m thinking what you’re thinking.” Celibacy is the sacrifice of having my own family and the great joy of bringing children into the world. Couples can say all they want about the sacrifices that come with having kids, but in the end the fact is they have kids. Despite any burdens they impose, children are always a gift.
There’s even more to the treasure of human sexuality. Sex is generational. All of us come from a family. Many will have a family. In this sense, sex unites a couple not only with each other but with the whole flow of human history; they become part of the story. In bearing children they add their own chapter, and leave an enduring legacy. To surrender this is no small sacrifice!
Next we sell all our possessions and purchase poverty. Poverty is often misunderstood as destitution. By contrast the poverty of a religious vow is not to become ragged, filthy and homeless – though some amazing saints have certainly lived this way! Instead, poverty is my decision to renounce the right to personal ownership. In religious life it is the community which owns and administrates property. The members use what they need, but always with the sense that nothing is “mine.” There should always be a visible simplicity – no luxury, clutter or excessive comforts. In priesthood, there is no corresponding vow of poverty, but priests are directed by the Church nonetheless to witness “to poverty with a simple and austere lifestyle, having learned the generous renunciation of superfluous things” (Pastores Dabo Vobis, 30; Optatam Totius, 9).
Finally, we set aside the treasure of time and offer Christ our availability. I am no longer in control of my own schedule. I become a servant of Jesus my master. My eyes are on the Lord, and my ears are attentive for the sound of his voice – whether it comes to me through my superiors or those whom I serve. The priest, for example, is always on call for needs of his parish. I have often seen priests exhausted from a day of saying Masses willingly stay late to hear one last confession. I have seen others come back early from personal vacations to say a funeral Mass for a departed parishioner.
The sacrifice of time also raises the issue of endurance. We don’t offer these treasures temporarily. In ordination or consecration, the commitment is permanent and perseverance is essential. It’s not enough to make it almost to the end. We must be faithful unto death. “We have become partners with Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.” (Heb. 3:14)
The first three of these treasures, once surrendered, lay the foundations for living out what the Church calls the evangelical counsels. As already indicated, they are chastity, poverty and obedience. Though lived with varying levels of emphasis and rigor in the vocations we will soon be discussing, they are common to any authentically sacrificial discipleship. Chastity is the free surrender of marriage and family for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. Poverty is the willing renunciation of earthly goods and the sharing of my resources with those in greatest need. Obedience is my sacrifice of self-determination and will, making myself fully available for the service of God.
“Is there anything in your life that if God asked you today to give it to him, you would not be willing to surrender?” St. Ignatius asks this of his candidates for discernment. Having counted the cost, we conclude by asking ourselves if there is anything we’re not ready to give up. If so, our discernment is on hold indefinitely. If I am not willing to let go, discernment is just a meaningless game and I cannot proceed. Mind you, this doesn’t mean God will require the sacrifice of any or all of our treasures, only that if there’s even one we’re not willing to lay on the table, that’s one too many.
Finally, we should not emerge from our consideration of sacrifice with the idea that God begrudges us the joys and comforts of this world. As the popular Christian writer C.S. Lewis often observed, God clearly makes his creation to be enjoyed, and only the most grim and insufferable puritans refuse to accept this. Sacrifice isn’t pretending that good things are really bad. It’s the voluntary setting aside of some good things in order to say to Jesus, “These gifts are wonderful, yes, but you my dearest Lord, are the most precious treasure of all.”
Having considered the Call and the Cost, we are now ready to set out on the Road that will lead to our Reward.
Novena Prayer
Jesus says: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Pier Giorgio responds: To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living but existing.
Let us Pray: Blessed Pier Giorgio, teach me silence in the face of personal humiliation and unjust criticism. But guide me to be courageous like you in standing on the side of God’s truth. Help me to be faithful to Him in all things, so that His will may be done in and through my life. Show me how to persevere in the struggle for those things which are holy and honorable.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who is the source of grace and truth, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need: (in your own words, ask for the Lord to give you the grace to listen with your whole soul).
A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter
Make it My Own
Daily Discernment Workbook
BREAK OPEN YOUR BIBLE
1. Back to Sacrifice
Returning to our theme from yesterday’s workbook, we consider now the profound change that Jesus’ own self-gift on the cross brings about in the Biblical pattern of sacrifice. How has the coming of the Kingdom transformed the way we make a total offering of ourselves to God? In Christ, our sacrifice becomes more ecclesial (joined with his body, the Church) and more apostolic (at the service of proclaiming the Gospel). Sound abstract? We’ll make it real by looking at a specific Biblical model: St. Barnabas. The following passages introduce us to this remarkable man who laid his treasures at the feet of the Apostles and thereby sacrificed himself – freedom, sex, possessions and time – to the service of Jesus under His appointed shepherds.
Connect the passages to the specific sacrifice it indicates. Note that some passages can be linked to more than one item to the right.
1. Acts 4:36-37
2. 1 Corinthians 9:3-6
(Note: in vs. 6 Paul indicates the “we” he is referring to).
3. Acts 11:20-22
4. Acts 13:1-3
A. Barnabas sacrificed his freedom in obedience to Church authority.
B. Barnabas sacrificed sex and marriage as a missionary who did not take a wife.
C. Barnabas sacrificed his possessions by selling them all and dedicating them to Jesus.
D. Barnabas sacrificed his time by being available for the work of God.
2. The Character of Barnabas
What sort of man was Barnabas to give up everything for Christ? Was he, as is often assumed of “spiritual” people, a passive, submissive sort? Never rocking the boat or making waves? Hardly. Once again, connect the quality on the right with the passage on the left.
1. Acts 9:26-28
2. Acts 14:3
3. Acts 15:36-39
4. Acts 11:23-26
A. Took bold initiative in carrying out his mission.
B. Not afraid of what others thought.
C. Not afraid to express a different point of view.
D. Not afraid to speak out.
Which of these qualities do I want to put into practice in my own discipleship? How can I grow in them?
3. The Riches of Barnabas
What did Barnabas get for all he gave away? He received the riches of Christ: “Jesus said, ‘Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come’” (Mark 10:29-30). One notable example of the fulfillment of this promise is Barnabas’ relationship with the gospel writer himself. The passage above was penned by the same Mark about whom Barnabas and Paul parted in disagreement over his competence as an evangelist. Barnabas believed in Mark just like he had believed in Paul and stood up for him courageously. Chalk another one up for Barnabas! Once more below, connect the treasure gained on the right with the correct passage on the left.
1. Acts 11:27-30
2. Acts 15:1-2
3. Acts 15:12
4. Acts 15:25-26
A. Barnabas was trusted with the Church’s treasure.
B. Barnabas was beloved to the apostles because of his dedication to Christ.
C. Barnabas was trusted as an ambassador to resolve disputes.
D. Barnabas witnessed before the Apostles about the mighty works of God.
A QUOTE TO NOTE
4. Von Hildebrand on God’s Love for Me
St. Barnabas is an inspiring example of total self-sacrifice for the Kingdom of God. Still we might be fearful, “How can I make this my own? I’m terrified of what this might mean!” If this is me, the following quote from a Catholic theologian points to the essential element – knowing God’s love as revealed to me in Jesus. When I know this love, I am transformed and slowly I begin to see that sacrifice makes all the sense in the world.
…That Christ loves us is the great secret, the most intimate secret of every soul. It is the most inconceivable reality; it is a reality which would completely change the life of every man if he could but realize it fully. This realization requires not merely a theoretical knowledge of this mystery as a revealed truth, but an awareness of this love similar to one's awareness of the love of one's beloved. And it also implies an awareness of the incomparable character, the unique character of this divine love, its absolutely new and mysterious quality, its ineffable holiness, such as shines forth in the Gospel and the Liturgy, and is mirrored in the lives of the saints.
This great secret – God’s infinite love for us in Christ – which is the source of our joy, our consolation, our hope in “statu viae” and our everlasting joy in eternity, shines forth in a specific way in the Sacred Heart: Cor Jesu, fornax ardens caritatis, "Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity.
The Heart, An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity, Dietrich Von Hildebrand,
ed. By J. H. Crosby, South Bend, St. Augustine’s Press, 2007, p. 128f
Have I ever felt this love from Jesus in my own life? When?
If I haven’t felt it, I ask, in my own words, for Jesus to make known to me the deep love that flows from his heart: his personal love for me. Below I write any thoughts that come to mind as I sit in silence for a few moments after my prayer.
Conclude with
“Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen.”
Answers: #1. 1-C; 2-B; 3-A; 4-D, #2. 1-B; 2-D; 3-C; 4-A, #3. 1-A; 2-C; 3-D; 4-B
Image above: Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, a.k.a. the “holy terror.”