“Tired! Well, what of that?
Didst fancy life was spent on beds of ease,
Fluttering the rose leaves scattered by the breeze?
Come! Rouse thee; work while it is called today!
Coward, arise–go forth upon the way!
“Hard! Well, and what of that?
Didst fancy life one summer holiday,
With lessons none to learn and naught but play?
Go, get thee to thy task; conquer or die!
It must be learned–learn it then patiently.”
We are taught to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God. Ancient offerings were brought to the altar and presented dead. The life itself was given to God. But the Christian sacrifice is not to be presented dead – it is to be given to God alive. The life, instead of being consumed in a holocaust, or poured out in a bloody oblation, is to be given to God for service. Christ came to give life to his followers, to give life in abundance. This call to consecration is therefore a call to life at its best. The whole twelfth chapter of Romans may be considered as an interpretation and the filling out of the thought of a “living sacrifice” which St. Paul calls us at the beginning to make. The wonderful teaching that follows explains what these two words mean. We are not to be fashioned according to this world, but are to be transformed into the divine beauty. Our life is to be one of service, of love, of devotion.
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