Saint Francis de Sales
Heb 10:1-10
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.”
He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Saint Francis de Sales
Heb 10:1-10
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.”
He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Desiring and Willing
Desire is one of the most important aspects of Ignatian spirituality, and closely connected to desiring is willing. Both of these animate today’s reading from Hebrews. In it, the author is concerned about how the sacrificial offerings of the Jewish Law are related to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Over time, the early Christians decided that these offerings were not necessary since Jesus offered himself on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice. Desiring and willing come into play as the driving force that mobilizes God’s mission in the person of Jesus – carried out by those attentive to divine promptings – to free humans from sin.
The early Christians came to see Jesus as the one through whom the desire to do the will of God is channeled perfectly and to the greatest effect. Rather than through sacrificial offerings, the author of Hebrews says that “it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (10:10). And it is Jesus himself who says to God the Father, “I have come to do your will” (10:9).
Jesus’ desire and will to carry out the mission of his father so that sins may be forgiven reminds us that we must discern and act on the great desires God has placed within us. These desires are propelling forces that enable us to participate in Jesus’ work and mission and are the avenues by which we carry out the will of God. What are the deep desires God has placed within you, and how might they be mobilized in the service of God?
—Timothy Perron, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province studying theology at Fordham University.
Prayer
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me. Amen.
—St. Ignatius of Loyola