a) What is the spirit of sacrifice?
Spirit of sacrifice is a supernatural attitude in which we joyfully accept the little and great difficulties of everyday life. This includes patience in times of suffering, as well as perseverance in doing good. We should not easily get discouraged when we meet obstacles along the way.
Spirit of sacrifice also means uniting ourselves to Christ’s Cross. We can offer our difficulties to God in reparation for our sins and for those of others, and for other intentions. Spirit of sacrifice also makes us able to forgive others easily, even before they ask for forgiveness. Sometimes, to smile to somebody who is not kind to us can be our greatest sacrifice.
b) How do we live spirit of sacrifice?
Whenever a difficult task comes about, we immediately offer it to God and ask for his help. An Altar Server should persevere heroically and joyfully in fulfilling his duties and in doing good to others, in a very natural way, without attracting attention or feeling like a victim.
We live the spirit of sacrifice not only in times of great suffering, but also in the little difficulties that we encounter everyday. These daily sacrifices are more frequent and easier not to be faithful in: a hard lesson, keeping our things orderly, waking up on time and immediately, spending time to pray, helping a friend, doing household chores, punctuality, etc. But they are also ideal occasions to show our love to God and others.