A Lenten Reflection: Sacred Sacrifice

This article is the speech orated and written by Apolonia Davalos as keynote speaker of the Gratia Plena “Full of Grace” Conference at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community in Viera, FL, on February 19, 2024.

Blessings my brothers and sisters,

Before I share my Lenten reflection, I must express my gratitude to the Lord to be in the presence of His Living Word of the Bible – which is all of you. Your lives are the pages of God’s people written in God’s story of love for His creation. Let it be known that your life, your saintly mission, is the Living Word written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22; Gal. 4:6).

My reflection today includes a summation of many conversations I’ve had serving with the ministries at Ascension Catholic Church and my conversation with the Lord during Adoration.

My dear saints, a world without God does not know how to suffer with grace. A human soul without God transforms suffering into many forms of spiritual oppression. This oppression leads to further separation from God which is separation from love itself. The practical evidence of this oppression is revealed by many abuses to oneself or others. Substance abuse, physical abuse or self-harm, loss of virtue, an abuse of power, or an abuse of language capable of breaking the spirit of another. So, the people who live in this world without God, are looking at us, the people of the Kingdom of God, and they are asking themselves, how can these people know joy and know pain at the same time? How can these people of God laugh and suffer in the same breath?

For us, we too may reflect and ask ourselves, what does the opposite of separation from God feel like? In a word, freedom. In a word, liberation. In a word, joy. In a word, peace.

Unfortunately, oppression can be an addiction. People are often addicted to what they know. Like a habit, they find comfort in that addiction. That comfort is called complacency. That comfort is called mediocrity. That comfort is less than anything God has to offer. Because God doesn’t offer comfort or complacency. God offers the extraordinary out of the ordinary. Through God’s command of discipline, obedience, love, and trust, God offers greatness and glory. Why, may you ask? It’s simple. Because we are made in His image. To be like God, our Father, takes pure humility. What does this likeness look like? This likeness is sacrifice. Sacrifice is sacred love. Sacrifice, in its purest form is selflessness with zero intent to gain anything other than honoring the Lord. If it’s perfect, your sacrifice is known to God alone. A shared mission and friendship between you and the Father. He is saying, only you, my daughter, only you, my son, may bless this person this day in this way. Only you, my instrument of peace, may you unburden my son or daughter according to your gift freely given you this day. Only you, my soldier for Christ, may you protect my son or daughter from the serpent and from sin. Only through you, my Living Word, may my son or daughter come to know me, Jesus Christ.

The hurting people of this world are looking to us, my brothers and sisters, for how to suffer with grace. For how to turn our suffering into blessings. For how to turn our suffering into praise. For how to lament and not live in anger.

People are seeking the Spirit, not the stone.

Perhaps, every saint present here today at Gratia Plena has experienced or is experiencing for themselves the lamentations of Job. Such a time, especially during Lent, is a call to remember our Christian name. I am not just Apolonia. I am Apolonia Ignatius. I am a daughter of God confirmed with a Catholic Christian identity and saved by Jesus Christ.

I ask you, how close are you to your saint? How well can you communicate to your spouse, children, friend, or stranger, the life, sacrifice, and relationship your saint had with Christ and how your saint shapes you to be more Christ-like?

This Lent, for our penance, we may add or omit something to our life. This addition or omission possesses traits that are two-fold with regard to the sacrifice of time. There are two forms of time: Kairos and Chronos. Chronos is quantitative. Much like the time allotted here this evening. Between 6 pm and 8 pm, this time together is a sacrifice because you could be somewhere else doing something else. But you sacrificed that other thing to be in the presence of the Lord in community with others. Which is what the Lord calls us to do. This is how we live out our faith. Not alone but together. We help each other get to heaven by receiving each other’s gifts and giving our gift from the Holy Spirit to others. That is Pentecost, my brothers and sisters.

We are praying for the Holy Spirit to come down and bless us to experience Pentecost. To experience the flame, the Holy fire, of the Holy Spirit.

This epiphany of souls, this Pentecost, occurs in God’s timing, which is Kairos. Kairos is qualitative. God is taking God’s time to raise His Holy Nation. God is taking God’s time in our spiritual formation. He is patient. God is waiting for us to ask the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts and realign our lives according to God’s will. Free will reigns in God’s Kingdom. When we choose to live in God’s timing, life is far more peaceful and has fewer limitations. Let’s realize how much Jesus Christ accomplished for our eternity in a brief three years of his earthly ministry. Jesus Christ was successful because his every intention was for the kingdom and not for himself. During Lent, we are reorienting our lives for the kingdom. We are removing the busyness that is distracting us from our spiritual formation and spiritual vocation for Christ. The fruit of Lent is discerning how our spiritual wellness enriches our family, community, business, and all whom we encounter.

In our humanity, we often think of the desert with a negative connotation and fail to see the beauty of the desert, the beauty of the suffering trials endured by Christ.

Lent is our test, our preparation, our courage, our testament, our evidence, that even when we are at our weakest, both in body and in spirit, the desert is our spiritual training, our spiritual bootcamp, that fills us with the holy flame of the Holy Spirit, and gives us the strength to say to the devil and to the world, “No matter what is taken from me, you cannot steal my joy. No matter what tragedy is testing me, trading my love for God is not for sale.”
God gives us everything we need to conquer sin and welcome the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
Our great commission is to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28: 19).

Make your life your ministry. Sacrifice with joy in your heart. Lent is a time for us to live, know, understand, and love the beauty of Sacred Sacrifice. The Sacred Sacrifice is Christ on the Cross.

Let us pray:
Lord, I pray for the healing and protection of your sons and daughters here today. May every sacrifice we make on your behalf this Lent be as sacred as your sacrifice on the Cross. Nothing is sacred on its own. For you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the source of sacredness. On the sixth day of Creation, you looked at your children with joy and found them “very good” (Gen. 1: 31). So, Lord, we praise you, we bless you, we adore you, and we glorify you. Amen.

Thank you and God bless you. Peace be with you.