It is that time of the Mass when the women start rummaging through their purses and the men dig deep in their pockets.
In just a few minutes, the dreaded BASKET will be making its way back to our pew. Of course, we’re not ready.
We were lucky to get out of the house in time to make it to Mass, much less spend a few minutes to stuff our parish envelope.
I reach in my pocket. I have a $5 bill and a $20 bill. Which one should I drop in the basket?
Will the pastor be angry if I drop the 5 and keep the 20? Will someone see me put the 20 back in my pocket? Will God love me more if I give him the 20, or – gulp! – both the 20 and the 5?
Today’s readings gave me pause to consider the issue of sacrifice and tithing in the Church and how it relates to the sacrifices we make every Sunday in the pews.
I remember once when I was a kid, I forgot my envelope for our little classroom tithe at Holy Family Catholic School. So, I took a few squares of paper and dropped a nickel, then put staples all around the square to secure that “generous donation.”
The pastor sent it back to me with a rather stern note … “The value of the staples you wasted on this far exceeds the 5 cents you gave.”
Lesson learned.
These days, we do try to remember the envelope. And we are getting better.
But another lesson that had to be learned as I grew in my faith was the notion that the more money I gave in those baskets, the more pleased God would be with me.
While I never offered up any unblemished animals (blemished, either, for that matter), I suppose the lesson is the same. In our first reading from Isaiah today, the Old Testament prophet warns against useless sacrifices of material things.
“What care I for the number of your sacrifices? says the LORD. I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; In the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure.
“Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.”
Now, Isaiah was also ranting against other things that were happening back in that time, but the central message here – one that is reinforced in the Gospel – was that our sacrifices to the Lord should be sacrifices of the spirit, the heart and good works, rather than material things.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not rule out the need, nor the benefit of an outward sacrifice – whether that be money to support a ministry, or time spent volunteering. But it does speak to the necessity to make such a sacrifice “genuine.”
CCC 2100 – “Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: ‘The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. . . . ‘ The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father’s love and for our salvation. By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.”
In other words, what God wants is for us to make spiritual sacrifices … he seeks a humble and contrite heart that is willing to do the things that Christ asks of us – the good works of compassion for the least of our brothers.
The truth is, we shouldn’t focus on just one kind of sacrifice or another. It would be wrong to simply throw money at the Church and expect God to be pleased. On the other hand, it’s also not good enough to be a super volunteer that never takes time to pray and often skips Mass.
As with so many things, it is a matter of balance and keeping your heart (and its intentions) focused on the right things – which means focused on others and not ourselves.
In today’s “selfie generation,” that is easier said than done.
But try.
