SR
← The Imitation of Christ/Book 4 · On the Blessed Sacrament
Chapter 8Imit.4.8

De oblatione Christi in Cruce, et propria resignatione.

Christ’s Total Offering on the Cross

Christ describes how he offered himself wholly on the cross and calls the reader to give not gifts but their whole self to him.

Just as I offered myself on the cross with outstretched hands and bare body, willingly giving myself to God the Father for your sins, so that nothing in me remained but all of me passed over into the sacrifice of divine appeasement — so you also ought to offer yourself to me willingly, as a pure and holy offering, every day in the Mass, with all your strength and all your affections, as inwardly as you are able. What more do I ask from you than that you strive to resign yourself to me in the deepest part of your being? Whatever you give besides yourself, I have no interest in — because I'm not seeking your gift, but you.

The Call to Offer Yourself in the Mass

Because nothing pleases Christ without the self‑offering of the believer, he invites a total gift of self in the Mass, mirroring his own complete sacrifice.

Just as having everything except me would not be enough for you, so nothing you give me can please me unless you offer yourself as well. Offer yourself to me, and give yourself entirely to God, and your offering will be acceptable. See, I offered myself entirely to the Father for you, and I gave my whole body and my blood as food, so that I might be wholly yours, and you might remain mine.✦

Freedom Through Self‑Renunciation

Christ explains that clinging to self‑will blocks union and grace, and that true discipleship requires complete renunciation of one’s own possessions and affections.

But if you stand firm in your own will and do not freely offer yourself to my will, your offering is not full, and the union between us will not be complete. That is why every work of yours ought to be preceded by a spontaneous offering of yourself into the hands of God, if you wish to obtain freedom and grace. That is why so few are made enlightened and free within, because they do not know how to renounce themselves completely. This is my firm conviction: "Unless someone renounces everything he possesses, he cannot be my disciple."✦ So then, if you wish to be my disciple, offer yourself to me with all your affections.

Read the original Latin

Sicut ego me ipsum expansis in cruce manibus et nudo corpore pro peccatis tuis Deo Patri sponte obtuli, ita ut nihil in me remaneret, quin totum in sacrificium divinæ placationis transierit: ita debes et tu temetipsum mihi voluntarie in oblationem puram et sanctam quotidie in Missa cum omnibus viribus et affectionibus tuis, quanto intimus vales, offere. Quid magis a te requiro, quam ut te studeas mihi in exintimo resignare? Quidquid præter teipsum das, nihil curo; quia non quæro datum tuum, sed te.

Sicut non sufficeret tibi omnibus habitis præter me, ita nec mihi placere poterit quidquid dederis te non oblata. Offer te mihi, et da te totum pro Deo et erit accepta oblatio. Ecce ego me totum obtuli Patri pro te, dedi etiam totum corpus meum, et sanguinem in cibum, ut totus tuus essem, et tu meus permaneres. Si autem in teipso steteris, nec sponte te ad voluntatem meam obtuleris, non est plena oblatio, nec integra erit inter nos unio. Ideo omnia opera tua spontanea præcedere debet tui ipsius in manus Dei oblatio, si libertatem consequi vis et gratiam. Ideo tam pauci illuminati, et liberi intus efficiuntur, quia se ipso ex toto abnegare nesciunt. Est firma sententia mea: Nisi quis renunciaverit omnibus quæ possidet, non potest esse meus discipulus. Tu ergo si optas meus esse discipulus, offer teipsum mihi cum omnibus affectibus tuis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩John.6.53-John.6.56 — So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves." John.6.54 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John.6.55 — For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. John.6.56 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
  2. ↩Luke.14.33 — So therefore, none of you who does not say goodbye to all that he has can be my disciple.