By Fr Adolf Washington
In 1970, a team of American surveyors were on duty in the northern Virginia forests. At their lunch they suddenly heard the scream of a woman. This lady was being held by a few men trying to prevent her from diving into a raging river.
She appealed to an eighteen year old man in the group “Surely you will do something to save my drowning son”. Looking at the agony on her face and her tears, the man moved with compassion sprang into the river. The other men called it madness.
But to the shock of the others, after much struggle, before the two could plunge into and valley with the force of the waters, he clung to the boy and soon brought the boy alive into the hands of his mother. With much gratitude, and overwhelmed with joy, the mother told the young man “The Lord will do great things for you and reward you and the blessings of thousands, including mine will be upon you”.
Many years later the man went on to be the President of the USA-He was George Washington.
Jesus on different occasions spoke of self-sacrifice as an element of true religion.”For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it (Luke 9:24). He also summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me”(Mark 8:34-35)
Even the great poet William Blake wrote “The most sublime act is to set another before you.”
Poet John Keats expressed amazement on sacrifice as an essential of religion “I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion–I have shuddered at it, I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion. Love is my religion and I could die for that. I could die for you. My Creed is Love and you are its only tenet.”
Life is full of opportunities where we could make sacrifices for others, but the rewards are certain. True practice of any religion is not merely in worship and ritual, but in reaching out with a spirit of self-sacrifice. Fear, insecurity and possession of our own selves can prevent us from living a life of self-sacrifice, but with greater faith in God, look around, you can shape the life of someone in bringing succor to those in need of our help.