In Psalm 50, the psalmist says that the Lord asks for "a sacrifice of praise." What does this mean? How do we do that? Even more to the point, how do we do it when we are burdened by problems and life's many stresses? After prayer, conversation with Ron, and discernment, this is what I believe:
"Sacrifice" literally means "to make holy." Sacra means "holy" and facere means "to make." So when we sacrifice, we are not just doing something self-effacing, choosing against our comforts or ease. We are taking the profane and making it holy.
"Praise" is harder for me. What is that? A close cousin of praise is worship. Worship I identify with more than praise. In worship, I acknowledge that God is God, and I am not God. I take that moment and "say" with my whole being, "I love you, you who are God." I love worship. I came to cultivate frequent worship when I became Catholic. Going to daily Mass was my training in worship. It was so different from the kind of worship I had done previously as a Protestant Evangelical. Worship music, for example, and singing in gatherings, was the basis of my worship before I became Catholic. This always involved emotions. And it felt a lot about me as the worshipper having the "right" kind of feelings. But when I became Catholic and started going to daily Mass, I began to worship God in a non-emotional way. This was good. It was a step toward maturity in worship. It took me and my feelings out of it, and placed the emphasis on God. In the Mass, proper worship is accomplished by grace, and does not rely on my little contribution. I "work" to be attentive in Mass, engage and involve my whole self. But it is not rooted in emotions, or what Aquinas calls "the passions." The passions, for Aquinas, are based in the body. They are physical. The passions are a weaker, less perfect basis for worship than my whole mind, soul and heart giving my love and self-surrender to God.
Is worship the same thing as praise? Praise may be very close but is a little different. I believe praise is giving glory to God. How do we give glory to God? In several ways. First, in our being. When we are like Christ, we are giving him glory. Hence lies the importance of choosing a vocation that fashions us into the image of Christ. This gives him glory and is a form of praise. Second, in our actions. Acts of mercy, both spiritual and corporeal, give glory to God. Third, in our words. What kind of words are words of praise? Ron had the insight that when he praises his daughter, he does not say, "I praise you." He said, "Way to go on your history assignment." It is called an internal accusative when the verb is the same word as the object: "A builder building." To say, "I praise you" is a kind of internal accusative, in that the act of praise uses the word praise. Augustine does this regularly throughout the Confessions and it is not wrong: "I praise you, Lord." But Ron said that it is another, legitimate way to praise, not use the word "praise" when we praise God. Instead, we tell God what we appreciate, what we adore, why we love him. "You are all-good, all-loving, all-powerful. You deserve all of me. You are my God." I sometimes say to my children, "You are AMAZING!" We can say that to God in so many words, in a way fitting to God. I like that. It makes sense to me.
Today, then, how do I make a "sacrifice of praise"? I have a lot on my mind. There are many, many life stresses swirling around me. I cannot sit in an Adoration chapel for 6 hours, even though that is what I would prefer to do. How I wish I could just set up a cot in a chapel and bask in front of a tabernacle all day and night????? No, God has called me to an active vocation. He called me to it. I was ready to become a nun. In my twenties I was seeking an order that suited me. But God swept me off my feet and wooed me into a life of marriage and motherhood. And God's fingerprint is all over it every day. The Christ-like self-surrender, the Passion, the making of my whole self a life-long gift to my husband, nourishing my children with my own body and blood. . . Jesus forms the shape of this vocation. It is a cruciform life.
When I get overwhelmed with having to fix the brakes on the car, cook dinner, do our personal accounting, help my children with homework, sweep the floors again because our dog sheds so prolifically, call my sister, deal with the business aspects of our life, raise some money for the nonprofit I work with, remind my daughter to rotate the laundry while I am calling our banker and discussing our investments. . . What is a sacrifice of praise? It is three-fold. 1) It is being like Christ; bringing the spirit of Christ into every interaction. Keeping a keen sense that God is in charge and if I give it all to him, he will govern my life with wisdom, justice and mercy. 2) It is choosing actions that glorify God: bear with others patiently; admonishing when necessary; forgiving when we are wronged. 3) It is saying to God in my heart and with my lips, "I consecrate it all to you. I take this profane subject matter and ask that you would make it holy." The signs of doing this effectively are joy and peace. Can I step back after a difficult phone call and let go of it? Recall joy, and bring it to the forefront of my soul? Can I be at peace, trusting in God, and knowing that he has a good plan for my life? If I am worrying or have the weight of Atlas on my shoulders, it is not a perfect sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice of praise means facing each challenge and duty with a sense of trust in God, as a daughter lovingly trusts her dad whom she knows will take care of her.
Today, I ask God for the grace to make my whole day a sacrifice of praise. I ask that God, by his infinite mercy (since I have nothing to offer in this regard), would fill me with a sense of joyful confidence: "God, my Father, can do this." I thank God in advance for being the one, omnipotent, benevolent, wise, truthful, God, so simple that he is the very sum of all existence, esse ipsum subsistens. He is the one who IS the plentitude of perfections. All good things trace back to God. This awe-inspiring God is my dad. He is my adoring father who holds me, cherishes me, has time for me. He will attend to all the little details of my life, the annoying, mundane, stupid stuff that I don't even have time for. He being God will still deign to care and work assiduously to help me with and through it all. Because that is the kind of father he is. And that is why I will attend to the details of my child's life as well, and the lives of all those whom I love. I offer my trust in this God who is my all in all, and ask for perfect peace, which surpasses all understanding.
