You don’t have to be a baseball player to know what a sacrifice is. If you’re a parent or an offspring of somebody aged, you know it’s giving something up so the other may have a fuller life. Our Lady of Fatima asked those three children to offer small sacrifices (candy, first in line, etc.) with their saying of the rosary to pave the way to heaven for many. (It sure struck me.)
As a teacher I know I made some impression by giving up time, though I only had each student forty-five minutes a weekday for ten months, but that’s enough to plant a seed. I tried to pave the way to a fuller life. I admit I didn’t always succeed; one is now in Sing-Sing (maybe two), though that’s not the end. Then there’s the night hours spent correcting an almost weekly composition. What did that note in the margin say?
Sacrifice is even the secular life, not just the Christian. You give up dessert to lose a few pounds, a party to study, sleep to be early, so we learn the trade-off soon in life. But do it cheerfully. The world (and the Lord) loves a cheerful giver!
Civilization 