Offerings.
Sacrifices. Rites.

Offer yourself to me and give yourself wholly to God; what you offer will be accepted. You know that I (Jesus) offered myself entirely to the Father for your sake; I gave the whole of my body and my blood to be your food, so that I might be wholly yours and you mine forever. Thomas A Kempis, Imitation of Christ, IV.8.2

So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Matthew 5:23-24

O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. Gita 9:27

I care for nothing that you offer me besides yourself; it is not your gift that I want, it is you. Thomas A Kempis, IV.8.1

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. Gita 9:26

If one only understood the meaning of the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, and the significance of the services in ancestral worship in summer and autumn, it would be as easy to govern a nation as to point a finger at the palm. Confucius, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.123.

Who holds to the rites is never confused in the midst of multifarious change; who deviates therefrom is lost. Rites - are they not the culmination of culture? Hsun-Tzu, a Confucian philosopher, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.124.

Sacrifice is to express a person's feeling of remembrance and longing (...). If such feelings are not given proper expression, then (...) emotions and memories are disappointed and not satisfied (...). Thereupon the ancient kings instituted rites, and henceforth the principle of expressing honors to the honored and love to the beloved is fully realized (...). Hsun-Tzu, a Confucian philosopher, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.124.

For I desire goodness, not sacrifice; obedience to God, rather than burnt offerings. Prophet Hosea, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.196.

If you saturate with devotion a thought of God, and by your concentration impress that thought deep within you, then in the temple of superconsciousness the Lord of the universe will come to receive that loving thought. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.184.

If God could be pleased by the killing of animals, nothing would have been easier, for then anyone could please Him by killing a few animals in His Name. It is not the sacrifice of animals, but of our own animal nature, our mind, our "self," our "ego," that we have to subdue or sacrifice and sublimate. Maharaj Charan Singh, quoted after Miriam Bokser Caravella, The Holy Name. P.207.

All these forms and ceremonies, these prayers and pilgrimages, these books, bells, candles, and priests, are the preparations; they take off the impurities of the soul; and when the soul becomes pure, it naturally wants to get to the mine of purity, God Himself. Vivekananda, quoted in: Nikhilananda, Vivekananda, A Biography, P.210.

Since salvation comes to you as a free gift, give thanks to God your saviour. If you wish to present Him with gifts, gratefully offer from your widowed soul two tiny coins, humility and love, and God will accept these in the treasure of His salvation more gladly than the host of virtues deposited there by others (cf. Mark 12:41-43). St. Theognostos (VIII Century of the C.E. ?), quoted in: (1981). The Philokalia. Vol. II., P.369.


Last updated: 2007/03/30

See the related subjects: Eucharist, Pilgrimage, Prostration, Sacraments

Home