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Numbers 29:5-6 "[The burnt offering shall include] one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its cereal offering, and the continual burnt offering and its cereal offering, and their drink offering, according to the ordinance for them, a pleasing odor, and offering by fire to the Lord."

 

All the offerings required of the Israelites in the Old Testament can seem overwhelming sometimes, to me, at least. But I am re-reading The Odyssey for a book club, and being reminded how important burnt offerings were throughout the ancient world. God was giving the Jews a way to satisfy that human desire to give back to Him some of what we have been blessed with. A burnt offering is a way of acknowledging that we are not in control, we are sinners, and yet we are blessed beyond our merit.

 

Jesus, of course, became the fulfillment of all offerings. There is no longer any need for burnt offerings, we just merge our small sacrifices with His perfect one and know with certainty that they become a pleasing odor to the Lord. Over the last year or so, as the gifts are presented at the altar at Mass, I have taken to asking Mary (to whom I have consecrated everything) to have my guardian angel bring everything I have to the altar along with the gifts. I ask that everything that is mine, which is only mine because God has bestowed it on me, be blessed along with the bread and wine and then merged with Jesus' sacrifice. I ask that anything in my life or myself that is displeasing to God in any way be burned away in the perfect holocaust accomplished by Jesus. I ask that I be made worthy through this offering to receive Him without giving Him any offense whatsoever, so He can find rest in me as I always do in Him.

 

The offering of Jesus is so much better than burnt offerings of animals and grain, and so much more pleasing to God. It is the offering of God Himself, it is perfect and complete, and we can participate in it! We can merge our offerings with His, and offer ourselves wholly to God in a way only made possible because Jesus did it for us first.