Love > Sacrifice

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

One of the annual rites of Lent is the  perseveration we undertake in thinking about our sacrifices, i.e. what we have given up.  Sometimes we even sit around with others to compare as if there is some contest, as if there is some level of sacrifice which raises one up to the heights of sanctity.  These activities are the temptations of vanity that must be avoided during Lent or any other time of year, as today's Gospel suggests.

For what matters in our spiritual life are not the sacrifices themselves but the motivation and intention behind them.  It is love alone - the love of God through our love of neighbor - that is the sole criterion for spiritual progress.  If our sacrifices are attached to deeds of love toward our neighbor, then our sacrifices have real value and meaning.  If our fast means we redirect our money to helping the poor, if our sacrifice of time means we are spending it with the lonely, sick, and imprisoned, then our Lent is well spent.

And perhaps we then come to the realization that our discipline of Lent does not mean we go back to living as we did before, that what we have experienced in our sacrifice and care for others means we cannot - we must not - live a life of self-interest as we once did.  It means love for others is now our way of life, not our temporary costume.