On Sacrifice, by Michael Pakaluk

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing, May 11, 2021

Michael Pakaluk, an Aristotle scholar and Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, is a professor in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America. …

The Wall Street Journal ran a brief column last week by Charlotte attorney, Mike Kerrigan, about how his Irish Catholic mom used to advise him, about any disappointment: “Offer it up!” The Journal editors headlined the piece, “My Mom’s Christian Lesson.”  But the fact that it was published at all, and (if my experience is any basis for judging) widely shared, shows that it spoke to something universal.

“There used to be a form of devotion – perhaps less practiced today but quite widespread not long ago – that included the idea of ‘offering up’ the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating ‘jabs’, thereby giving them a meaning. . . .In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning and contribute to the economy of good and of human love. Maybe we should consider whether it might be judicious to revive this practice ourselves.” …