A Defense of Sacrifice

Today, Catholics and Christians are embarking on a journey which will lead through 40 days of sacrifice and self-denial. Through Lent, they must encounter Christ’s suffering and death before continuing on to the joy of His resurrection. Lenten devotion will ask many to decline an invitation to a great party so that they can attend the stations of the cross. It will mean ordering salmon instead of that delicious rib-eye steak on their next date. For most, it will include giving up something they love to do on a daily basis (oh man, like coffee, or hot showers, or dessert…). It can be very hard to force oneself on the journey of suffering which Christ took before us.

This stands in stark contrast to the American flavor of Christianity, which boasts of religion-less religion (…what?) often. You don’t need regulations or requirements. You don’t need to go to church on Sunday Just love Jesus. It’s simple. Instead of sacrifice, think about what YOU can receive from GOD.

It is also so. easy.

It’s interesting to note that the word religion comes from the Latin religare, which means to bind or to fasten. Think about the words traditionally used to describe admirable Christians: devoted (to give all or a large part of one’s resources), pious (dutiful), holy (consecrated, set apart), etc. It’s only recently been an idea that religious involvement can be, well, un-religious.

If we love, we must sacrifice much. This is not a religious phenomenon, it is wholly natural. Marriage necessarily precludes all but one person to whom we devote our lives. Children require loss of sleep, taking them to every soccer practice, maybe lacking the money to have the latest iPhone or nicest clothes. Even outside of relationships, much of every-day life means sacrifice. We sacrifice sleep to get a good grade, much of our freedom to do well at a new job, money to save for retirement. The list goes on.

Why is religion excluded from this?

This notion of being constrained by the things which matter the most is also why I am conservative. Freedom from all obligation and sacrifice is not the object of our existence. Limits are good. Ordered liberty is good. As Brian Miller said, “We are made to love, and anyone who loves is necessarily bound to the object of their love. Any philosophy that makes liberty the object and center of existence is, quite frankly, a lie.”

Catholic or not, this Lent it’s good for us to remember that being bound to something or Someone–being limited for the sake of love–is a good and beautiful thing.