2nd Sunday of year 18 January 2026 Lamb of sacrifice
St Maximilian Kolbe is known for his death, which was a heroic self-sacrifice for the sake of giving another prisoner the chance to live, that other prisoner having a family.
Christ Himself sets the pace: ‘God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 9 (Rm 5,8)
Christ not only took up human life but laid it down also, sharing our pain to make it bearable for us.
There is the Lamb, says St John the Baptist. (Jn 1,29). Look at him, not just with the eyes, but with the heart and mind, taking on His nature and being formed to be the same.
No more animal lambs to be sacrificed, from now on one Lamb, perfect and sufficient for atonement with God.
Christ died only once but His death is enacted all over the world, and every day.
We do that to enter the experience and be transformed as we do so.
At each Mass we contemplate the death of Christ taking the place of sinners.
Imagine if every disciple of Christ were as ready as He was to do this?
What about us? We pray for increase of generosity, compassion, courage etc. We just want to know God better, to be willing and able to do as He did, to have enough charity in our hearts to make sacrifices for others.
St John puts it very clearly: 1Jn 3,16 and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. He makes it sound easy! And it will become easy once we get into the right channel.
He who loves his life will lose it, while anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (Jn 12,25)
That Christ loved us first gives us hope that we can master this point. The love He generates has saved many people and inspired many others, including us.
God the Son took on human nature with the view of improving it, of bringing forth more saints.
He takes away sin, as in St John the Baptist’s phrase, the sin of the world.
Sin is selfish and closed in on self, trying to save physical life, the sinner will lose the lot (most of all, the soul).
Offering sacrifice for sin requires all the opposite good qualities - generous, concerned for others, trusting in God, spiritually minded.
Sacrifice removes sin by taking away the guilt of the sinner. Better still there is another level whereby sacrifice restores the love that sin has removed.
The perfect sacrifice of Christ makes a new reality, and is pleasing to God who lavishes graces on the world
The sin is forgiven and then is replaced as the normal way of conducting this life.
We no longer want to sin nor have any inclination for it; this is why sin can be said to be ‘taken away’.
The Mass is offered primarily to continue the sacrifice of the Lamb in every place and time.
We are asking that God will give us the necessary graces to become like the Lamb we offer.
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