Mercy and Sacrifice

Verum sacrificium est omne opus, quo agitur, ut sancta societate inhaereamus Deo, relatum scilicet ad illum finem boni, quo ueraciter beati esse possimus. Vnde et ipsa misericordia, qua homini subuenitur, si non propter Deum fit, non est sacrificium. Etsi enim ab homine fit uel offertur, tamen sacrificium res diuina est, ita ut hoc quoque uocabulo id Latini ueteres appellauerint. Vnde ipse homo Dei nomine consecratus et Deo uotus, in quantum mundo moritur ut Deo uiuat, sacrificium est. Nam et hoc ad misericordiam pertinet, quam quisque in se ipsum facit. Propterea scriptum est: Miserere animae tuae placens Deo. Corpus etiam nostrum cum temperantia castigamus, si hoc, quem ad modum debemus, propter Deum facimus, ut non exhibeamus membra nostra arma iniquitatis peccato, sed arma iustitiae Deo, sacrificium est. Ad quod exhortans apostolus ait: Obsecro itaque uos, fratres, per miserationem Dei, ut exhibeatis corpora uestra hostiam uiuam, sanctam, Deo placentem, rationabile obsequium uestrum. Si ergo corpus, quo inferiore tamquam famulo uel tamquam instrumento utitur anima, cum eius bonus et rectus usus ad Deum refertur, sacrificium est: quanto magis anima ipsa cum se refert ad Deum, ut igne amoris eius accensa formam concupiscentiae saecularis amittat eique tamquam incommutabili formae subdita reformetur, hinc ei placens, quod ex eius pulchritudine acceperit, fit sacrificium. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Civitate Dei, Lib. X

A true sacrifice is every work which is done that we may cleave to God in sacred fellowship, and which obviously relates to that final end in which truly we can be blessed. Thus even the mercy by which men are assisted, if it is not done for God's sake, is not a sacrifice. Even though it is made or offered by man, sacrifice is a Divine thing, and so those of old named it sacrifice in the Latin tongue. Thus man himself, consecrated in the name of God and vowed to God, in as much as he dies to the world that he may live to God, is a sacrifice. For even this pertains to mercy, that a man is merciful to himself. Thus it is written, ' Be merciful to your soul by pleasing God.' Our body, also, when we discipline it by temperance, if we do what we should, and we do it for God, that we may not show our members as tools of iniquity but as arms of righteousness for God, is a sacrifice. Exhorting us to this, the apostle says, 'So I entreat you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.' If, therefore, the body, which, being inferior, the soul uses as a servant or as an instrument, when used rightly and with reference to God, is a sacrifice, how much more does the soul itself, when it offers itself to God, inflamed by the fire of His love, losing worldly desire, being transformed by the changeless form, receiving His beauty to thus be pleasing to him, become a sacrifice? Saint Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book 10