Sacrifice saves souls?

[bloo]

Hi just a question.

I was watching a Mother Angelica episode I had on tape and she brought this up.

She explained anything we sacrifice (not smoking a cigarette, not over eating when we want to and other more serious sacrifices) saves souls.

How exactly is that?

thank you

 

[omegabane]

Hi bloo -

Whenever we make a personal sacrifice, we are uniting ourselves to the cross of Christ. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice of His own life on the cross, and when we cling to the cross of our salvation by our own self-denial, we are taking part in God’s plan of salvation.

This is not to say that we earn salvation! God alone grants that to us, but actions such as these do gain us merit, merit which can be applied to ourselves or others, including the holy souls in purgatory.

That said, we must also undertake the sacrifice intentionally. It is not enough to get to the end of the day and say, “oh, I didn’t eat meat today, I guess I’ll call that a sacrifice.”

For more on this issue of merit, see CCC 2006-2011. Here I quote CCC 2008:

The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.

Hope this helps.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

It is not our sacrifice by itself that saves souls (only Jesus can do that), but our uniting our sacrifice with the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus loves us so much He allows us to participate in His redemptive act (even though He does not really need our help). It’s like the mother who lets her child “help” make dinner — not because she needs the child’s help, but because it’s good for the child to imitate the mother.

As Saint Paul wrote, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the Church.” (Colossians 1:24)

 

[bloo]

thank you both



i understand now

 

[GemmaRose]

I’ve always known what omegabane and PhilotheaZ answered, BUT I NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT.

How does one join a suffering or sacrifice to the sacrifice of Jesus

Then, I asked my spiritual director, and he explained it so simply that I couldn’t help but feel :doh2: .

Here’s what he said: Imagine that Christ’s sufferings are like a big ocean. Now, your little sacrifice may only be like a small teaspoon of water, but once you pour it into the ocean, it becomes one with the waters of the ocean. You can’t find it anymore because it’s united to the ocean.

Wow! I finally got it! :newidea:

 

[Morwenna]

I’ve always known what omegabane and PhilotheaZ answered, BUT I NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT.

How does one join a suffering or sacrifice to the sacrifice of Jesus

Then, I asked my spiritual director, and he explained it so simply that I couldn’t help but feel :doh2: .

Here’s what he said: Imagine that Christ’s sufferings are like a big ocean. Now, your little sacrifice may only be like a small teaspoon of water, but once you pour it into the ocean, it becomes one with the waters of the ocean. You can’t find it anymore because it’s united to the ocean.

Wow! I finally got it! :newidea:

Beautiful analogy, thank you for sharing it!
:clapping:

 

[bpbasilphx]

There is only ONE Sacrifice that saves souls.

 

[boppaid]

I guess I don’t understand. If Christ doesn’t need our help to save souls (which I believe he doesn’t) why would he allow us to help? The very idea that I, a sinner, can help save someone’s soul sounds just so self-important. I am not a savior. I am not even a “partial savior”…I am a woman in need of a savior as is every other person who has walked this earth other than Christ. He doesn’t need our help. If he has done it (past tense) once and for all for us, how and why could we save people’s souls as mere humans? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[GemmaRose]

I find it hard to understand also. I can understand the “how” but the “why” is confusing.

I think the “why” is found in the enigmatic verse of Colossans 1:24 -

It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church

In trying to have a better understanding of this verse, I compared it in several Bibles, Catholic and non-Catholic. Then I googled for different commentaries, and found this, which I thought explained it in an understandable fashion:

The enemies of Christ were never satisfied with what they did to Jesus. They hated Jesus with an insatiable hate. They wanted to add to His suffering. So, as soon as Jesus ascended back into heaven and wasn’t around any more, who did the world attack? The church! They began to persecute the church–whipping them, burning them at the stake, throwing them to the lions. Why? Was it because they hated them individually? No, it was because the church stood in the place of Christ. And since Christ wasn’t around to hate, they hated the people who stood in His place.

To reiterate, remember that the redemptive suffering of Christ has no deficiency, but He does not exhaust all the suffering to be endured in the redemptive purpose of God. The sufferings of Paul do not add to the finished work of redemption but are incurred in making known the redeeming work of Christ to the Gentiles. The afflictions of every believer supplement those of Christ.

I thought this was a pretty good explanation. At least it aids in my understanding.

But, there are so many things that as Catholics we believe, without fully understanding (Trinity, transubstantiation, etc.) that it’s okay for me if I don’t understand something 100%. If the Church teaches it, it’s okay with me since greater minds than mine have gone into studying and defining the faith.

 

[omegabane]

I guess I don’t understand. If Christ doesn’t need our help to save souls (which I believe he doesn’t) why would he allow us to help? The very idea that I, a sinner, can help save someone’s soul sounds just so self-important. I am not a savior. I am not even a “partial savior”…I am a woman in need of a savior as is every other person who has walked this earth other than Christ. He doesn’t need our help. If he has done it (past tense) once and for all for us, how and why could we save people’s souls as mere humans? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

PhilotheaZ gave an excellent example here - the child helping the mother make dinner.

God wants to involve us in His plan of salvation. Does he have to? No. But it was the sin of Adam & Eve that caused the fall of man, and so God chooses, in His mercy, to permit man to play a part in his own redemption. No sacrifice that we make is alone sufficient to save a soul, but when united to the cross of Christ, our sacrifices do, in fact, gain us merit. Again, please refer to CCC 2006-2011 for more on this. This is the official teaching of the Church.

Let’s turn back to the PhilotheaZ’s example. Little Danny is 6 years old and his mom is in the kitchen preparing the family dinner. She is fully competent to make the dinner herself and she requires not help of any kind, but Danny comes in and asks if he can help. What should Danny’s mom do? Send him away saying, “I can do this on my own, thanks very much?” No, of course not. Assuming that it is safe to do so, she will allow Danny to help. Perhaps he can help her beat an egg, stir a pot, pour some carrots into a salad bowl, or anything else.

This story is analogous to our role in our own salvation. Yes, the Sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient for our salvation, but it is in God’s divine plan that we should play a role, as well. And in His mercy, God has allowed that our sacrifices and our merits can aid in the salvation of not only our own soul, but also the souls of others.

Why does God allow this? Why does Danny’s mom allow him to help her? Because she loves him and she wants to see him grow. By giving us the opportunity to unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ, God gives us the opportunity to grow.