SACRIFICE There has been a lot of talk during this incredible time in our country -- when hard times and hope are butted up so close together -- about the need for sacrifice. When we hear the word, most of us think about something that must be suffered, lost or given up. Indeed, throughout history “sacrifice” has often been connected to all of those things, often leading famously to martyrdom. However, the appropriated use of a word sometimes belies its original meaning, which can often be found within the etymological roots of the word itself. In this case, “sacri” from the Latin and Old French forms “sacrare” and “sacrer,” meaning “sacred” or holy -- and “fice” from the latin “facere” -- to do or perform, implies that sacrifice is the doing of a sacred/holy act. Through the ages many have written about the meaning of the word holy, but a pre-Christian etymological look at that word suggests: "that which must be preserved whole or intact,” and there is also an Old English connection to the concept of “health.” So perhaps sacrifice is simply an act wholly-done…one which ultimately brings greater health and well-being? When we observe what one or many have given in service to a cause -- sometimes their very lives -- we say they have sacrificed, or lost, something that most people would have wanted to keep. But all whose passion, faith and commitment drive them to something perceived by others as a sacrifice, know that whatever they might “lose” is miniscule compared to what might be lost by themselves or others if they do not do so. They know what someone only in the act of true service can know about sacrifice -- that it is ultimately not something which takes away from us, but something that fulfills us. For in the heart of service -- we see, we feel, we come to know in our newfound selves that the only thing we have lost is unwillingness or fear or apathy or a sense of helplessness. For as the thing given passes through us on its way out to others, that passage changes and re-forms us even as a river reshapes the banks and bedrock through which it flows. It is only when experiencing the fullness of that flow that we come to embody the old adage -- that what we have given seems small indeed compared to how much we have received.
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