Offering
"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High." (Psalm 50:14)
"Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts." (Psalm 96:8)
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
The above passages from the offertory of the Eucharist remind us to offer to God our love with sincerity.
When Israelites enter the Holy Temple to worship God and offer sacrifices, they are showing that they have a deep understanding and correct response to the love and blessings God bestowed upon them.
Today, as followers of Jesus Christ, we understand deeply the love of Jesus and the sacrifices he had made for us. He also blessed us with abundant life. Therefore we should offer our active life to him as a response to his love. The story below reminds us to be generous with our offerings to God.
“A beautiful and vivacious girl would pray in a church every morning on her way to school to thank God for all the blessings she was given. One day she went to the church with a blooming blossom in her hand and in her prayers she felt deeply the love of God. She is willing to offer her flower at the altar, but she was conflicted, because she was unwilling to part with it.
At last the girl thought of a way: The flower has seven petals and she would give a petal to God every day and keep the rest, this way she could keep the flower for a week.
On Sunday, when the girl offered the last petal to God, the flower was in pieces. If the child had offered the whole flower to God on the first day at the altar, the offering would have been completely different.”