There Is No Love Without Sacrifice 

According to Matthew Kelly, author of ‘33 Days of Eucharistic Glory’, “Our love of comfort eliminates sacrifice from our lives, and there is no love without sacrifice, so our obsession with comfort is eliminating love.” I pondered this greatly because I have struggled immensely with accepting my caregiver responsibilities to my dad. Indeed, I have given up so much of my own goals and comfort to invite my father into my home to care for him, but the lessons I have learned along the way have proved invaluable and has put into perspective what it means to me to live a life in Christ. How is love sacrificial? For me love involves selfless behavior such as prioritizing the needs of others above your own, forgiveness and understanding and making personal sacrifices.  

Others First 

Love requires anticipating the needs of others before your own. Every day, I am thinking about what to pack for my husband’s lunchbox, if dad is cold in his room or what my family would like for dinner. Putting the needs of others before your own is selfless and often difficult. However, it is a choice to be selfless because we are called to truly emulate the love of Christ. Christ was a servant while walking with the apostles and loved to comfort others. If we want to become like Him, we choose to emulate the same behaviors when we seek to see the face of Jesus in those we love. When we choose love, we choose to put the needs of others before our own.  

Forgiveness and Understanding 

My relationship with my parents had its difficulties. When my father had his head injury and needed me, I had a choice to make. Should I take care of someone who did not parent to my expectations? Or should I forgive him and take the opportunity to show my father how to love? I came to believe that God was using this opportunity to heal my heart and to remove the expectations of the past, and He did. God revealed that caring for my father had nothing to do with the past, but the present. How many times did I reject loving God in my lifetime or not appreciating the grace He wanted to give me? Who was I to have such hard expectations of my father but not extend myself when I was being asked to? For me sacrificial love can bring healing and understanding, which in my case it did.  

Personal Sacrifices 

Before my father’s injury, I was free! If I am truly honest with myself, sacrificing my time for things that do not energize me has caused some anger and feelings of resentment. However, thinking about those thoughts has not only caused emotional harm, but has caused me to forget we are not supposed to be in this world. We were created for a far greater purpose in life, and this is to be united with the King of Kings in heaven. Our life here is a total blip and can end at any moment. Do I really want to fret about my freedom or superfluous things when the kingdom of God is waiting? I came to recognize that this season of my life will be worth it and sometimes in life, we need to make personal sacrifices to inherit eternal life.  

Sacrificial love requires making choices. Choices that in some ways require you to put the needs of others before your own, extending forgiveness and making personal sacrifices.  

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John 3:16