Why we make sacrifices

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iamheartilysorr

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Hi, everybody. 3 years ago, I made a vow to God to give up coffee (which I really liked) to give my uncle the strength to give up alcohol (which he really liked.) He did recover from alcoholism. But I miss coffee now and am haunted by doubts… I understand the importance of sacrifices to render one free of earthly attachments. But shouldn’t Christ’s sacrifice contain enough grace for my uncle without me foregoing forever a substance that makes me more alert and productive, and which I enjoy? Forgive my wretchedness, and for confusing you guys with this topic too. I am just interested to hear what people think of this.
 
If you gave up coffee that you liked for 3 years, that’s a big sacrifice. I am sure God would be understanding if you wanted to now drink coffee again. You’ve done the “penance” for your intention.

If it bothers you that you are drinking coffee again, then switch to another penance. Perhaps give up coffee one day a week, or give up something else for a year.
 
iamheartilysorr said:
But shouldn’t Christ’s sacrifice contain enough grace for my uncle without me foregoing forever a substance that makes me more alert and productive, and which I enjoy?
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From Colossians:
“1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:”
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Why not drink tea instead?
 
Oh nooooo! You gave up coffee??? Holy cow. You must be a living saint.

I just posted on another thread about how thankful I am that God created the coffee bean for us miserable humans 😂

I’d say go ahead and try drinking it again. Your sacrifice has obviously been accepted! Good job :clap:t2:
 
If you end up adding it back into your life, you could always still give it up on Fridays as an extra penitential act and in thanksgiving for the graces given to your uncle. (Just a suggestion if you don’t want an all or nothing approach) Well done for this act of love for your uncle and the Lord, though!
 
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When I give something up, not necessarily as a sacrifice, I often replace it with something else.

So, when I gave up HFCS, I found that tea gave me the caffeine kick I needed.

When I gave up sugar, I got used to drinking my tea with plan dairy (I miss my honey), and started drinking more flavored seltzer drinks, like LaCroix or Bubly. (Not all flavors are good…)

But when I make a sacrifice on someone else’s behalf, I usually figure out the timeframe I’m going to commit to. That way, when I go back to normal, I don’t feel like I’m cheating by not sustaining a certain sacrifice forever.

So-- if your concern is “I want to be alert”, you can see if you can drink other things that give you the same mental clarity/productivity that coffee gave you. (Although I would expect, after three years, unless you’ve been getting caffeine from soda or other sources, you wouldn’t be dragging from lack-of-coffee by this point?)

But if your concern is, “I did enough, and I’m done now”, then that’s your call to make. If you wanted to wrap it up tidily, you might continue your sacrifice in thanksgiving for a certain amount of additional time, and have it all conclude on a day that’s significant to you and your situation.
 
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Coffee is beautiful and it has some health benefits. My compliments for giving it up for three years.
We can give up hundreds of things in our life. Fasting once a week ,or when you can manage it, is probably one of the most powerful and healthy options. Look up TED talks about fasting on Youtube. There is a lot of science behind it.
 
Thank you guys. I think the answer is clear. It’s a small thing and I did promise for life, and maybe it is in a way, an opportunity to obtain extra grace for my Uncle, I will drink tea instead. When I have started drinking it again recently on several occasions, I’ve been consumed by guilt the rest of the day, and whether the guilt is deserved or not, it’s simply not worth it. So I will drink tea 😁😉
 
Thanks! I actually just ordered black tea powder on Amazon. I think it’s important to replace old habits with new ones, and this will fill the void 😊😊 but still be a minor thing.
 
Did you get a strainer for it? You don’t want to treat it like powder, otherwise it’ll get really bitter since the leaves won’t be completely absorbed by the water.
 
As a more general answer to “Why we make sacrifices” - I read a very short quote a few years ago which gives me goose bumps to this day:

"There is no love without sacrifice."
 
I think the tea powder is like instant tea? Like, you pour hot water on it and it dissolves, a la cocoa mix or instant coffee? Versus, like, loose leaf tea?

I always do tea bags myself. Red Rose; Twinings English Breakfast/Irish Breakfast/English Afternoon/Prince of Wales; Lipton; National Cup; Tetley; whatever happens to be in stock. I like having at least two or three different types on hand so the flavor doesn’t get too monotonous, and I also vary between using half-and-half and whipping cream to get additional flavor variety.

I did notice that I have difficulty jumping from one type of tea to a different type of tea— like, I can’t drink black tea and green tea, or black tea and herbal tea, on the same day. (Unless I’m drinking tea for medicinal purposes.)
 
(poignant in the sense of sharp and on point. Not in the sense of evoking sadness.(
 
I feel like there is a flaw in the way of thinking here. Because the idea of giving up something such as this, is more so fasting, which is a form of sacrifice, but its temporary as to gain the benefits from self mortification aka denying yourself something you love in order to offer it for a loved ones sake. Sacrifice means that once you put it down you cannot take it back up. Abraham did not intend to fast his son but sacrifice him. See the difference? So if you are done sacrificing through fasting from coffee then by all means you can take it back up.
 
If you kept your promise for 3 years I would say God would understand if you now take coffee, after all you have already achieved your purpose. Remember that to please God the secret is to put “pure love” for His sake, into everything we do, then even the most insignificant things (such as saying “Hello” to somebody) are meaningful for God and attract an abundant torrent of graces for us and those near us.

Sacrifices are allowed, however I would say God looks more into how much love we are putting into everything we do. Love is the only thing God cares about and the one thing we will be judged against at the end.

By the way Christ sacrifices is enough to redeem all possible universes from any amount of sin, however many times God asks us to unite our sufferings with His Son’s Holy Cross sufferings, then our suffering become really powerful because we essentially become co-redeemers, which is the greatest good which we can do to another person: bringing them to Heaven. Rest assured God never forgets those who sacrifice themselves in any way to save souls, after all that is the reason why Jesus shed blood.

God Bless
 
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