The Sacrifice of Praise

Worthy sacrifice, which is a loving “giving up”(Luke 22:19) or “laying down” (John 15:13) of self or a precious life or thing, is not necessarily traumatic, but brings about a unification that sometimes supersedes the pain of loss. With this said, the truly worthy sacrifice of Christ on the cross is traumatic. The traumatic event that “happens” in the Liturgy already happened there “once for all.” (Heb 10:10). The Liturgy, which is timeless, re-presents his traumatic sacrifice to us nontraumatically. In the Eucharist, our Lord gives up his broken body for us as he did at the mystical supper – without suffering again.