Economics of Sacrifice

I was absolutely delighted at the homily in daily mass today. Father was talking about sacrificing things during the Lenten season, and how we might sacrifice things and not even know about it (which ultimately doesn't end in spiritual growth). For example, being so busy with school work you miss a meal. You probably won't be blessed abundantly for being so pious and "fasting" from that meal, but it was a "sacrifice" nonetheless.

I am studying economics, so of course I wanted to raise my hand and say "actually, I would call that a trade off", but homilies aren't the time to be raising hands. Instead I pondered.

What are the differences? Every sacrifice is a trade off, but not every trade off is a sacrifice. Sacrificing is a trade off with the end in mind of growing closer to God in some way. A trade off is a simple human mechanism of exercising our preferences in a world of scarcity.

Examples
Trade off: Pressing the snooze button a third time. You prefer 5 more minutes of sleep to 5 more minutes getting ready and letting your face look more awake and less zombie.

Sacrifice: Not eating dessert after dinner to complement your prayer for souls in purgatory.

Both examples involve giving up one thing for the sake of another, but a sacrifice involves a conscience and deliberate trade off for the sake of holiness. (I'm just making these up, so correct me if you have a better text book definition)


Something new I have learned thus far in Lent: Prayer+Fasting= amazingly amazing if you want God's will to be done. I haven't experienced it quite yet, but I hope I can successfully try this combination.


In other less Lent-y news, I am visiting home this weekend! My mom is throwing a casino party tonight, and I just couldn't miss out on playing blackjack and craps without worrying about spending my own money. We are having two dealers come in and set up their tables (real ones! with green felt and everything!), and lots of good friends to come and enjoy the party.

The menu had to be redone a week or two ago, when my mother realized she planned the party for the first Friday in Lent. Luckily, we live right near a big ocean so seafood is easy to come by and deliciously fresh. This ties in so well with Father's homily though, because my mom made a trade off, and a sacrifice, by reconfiguring the entire menu and working tirelessly to cook and prepare for the party, so that we could still follow the rules of Fridays in Lent, and assure that her house guests enjoyed themselves. Mommas are awesome.