Quotes of the Day for March 3, 2026 – Thoughts on the true nature of sacrifice
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“While very detailed instructions are given for other elements of sacrificial rituals, none are given for the means of killing the animals involved. To sacrifice something is not to kill it, but to eat it as a sacred meal. This required its death, whether the sacrifice was of animals or plants (such as first fruits from the harvest and grain offerings).” (Fr. Stephen De Young)
“…the empty formalism of ritual sacrifices will not make up for sin. Perfunctory religious practices will not appease God. Whether one is in the public square or private sphere, God desires righteousness, justice, mercy, obedience, and lovingkindness. To sin against these qualities of holiness is to sin against the Almighty, who is the source of these godly virtues. If we fail to exercise them, we transgress against God’s holy will. This offense demands sacrifice but not of the blood of animals. But the offering that is the sacrifice of repentance as the Psalmist says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise” (NKJV 51:17).” (Fr. Basil)
“Our Lord is not guessing or trying to scare us, He is telling us the truth out of His immense love for us. And according to this gospel passage the criteria for the judgment will be our love or lack of love for everyone even those who are the most difficult to love. Love even for those who are easy to ignore. According to Our Lord Jesus, God will accept and welcome those who open their hearts and welcome others into their lives. This is not an easy task. To take care of the poor or to visit the sick or the prisoners or to help those in need is an effort. It requires a sacrifice of time and effort. But these are the things that make us like God, our Father. While none of this is easy, it is blessed by God! What is better, to have an easy life and lack God’s blessing or to have a difficult path that is infinitely blessed by the Lord? No doubt, the second option is better.” (Fr. James Guirguis)
“ ‘For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice;…(Hosea 6:6)… Through the Prophet Hosea, we learn what is an unexpected truth of the Old Testament – God wishes for us to practice love and mercy more than God wants us to offer sacrifices to Him. The Evangelist Matthew has Christ repeating the words of Hosea twice (Matt 9:13, 12:7) in his Gospel, which surely indicates that he wished to emphasize the teaching. Christ tells us to go and learn what it means that God desires mercy not sacrifice. It is something Christians are to study and understand. In our spirituality, the emphasis is to be more on our charity/mercy than on our sacrifices. This is important for us to remember during Great Lent in which we might think the Church is telling us that our sacrifice (fasting, self-denial, asceticism) is the most important spiritual aspect of the Lenten Season. It is not. We are fasting and denying the self in order to help clear our hearts and minds of our self-centered thinking and to focus on mercy and charity for others.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“In Matthew 9:13 Christ quotes the prophet Hosea when He says, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ Hosea 6:6 reads in its entirety, ‘For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.’ God was us to know Him, which means have an intimacy with Him, a deep union. Christ later says in Matthew 23:23, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.’ He is teaching us that ritual and sacrifice, without mercy, justice, and faith motivated by love that flows from a relationship with God, amounts to nothing except perhaps in us fooling ourselves that we are right with God when we are not.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)