[AI translation] A dear old friend of mine once told me about a traumatic experience he had 25 years ago, during the bombing: During one of the air raids, which lasted for a long time, he, his wife, their small children and hundreds of strangers were crowded together in the shelter. And because the air raid lasted so long, they ran out of drinking water and the small children were crying from thirst. Someone had to crawl out from under the ground to fetch water from the house next door. My friend was about to leave, but an unknown young man held him back and said, "My dear brother, I see you have a family, stay here, I'll go." He took the kettle and left. But he never returned. When the air raid was over and they came out of the cellar, my friend found the unknown young man dead on the ground, probably wounded by some kind of shrapnel. He looked at it with a start, and thought to himself that if this unknown young man hadn't told him to stay, he should be lying there dead where this man was. To this day, he is almost shocked to think that someone died in his place, that someone sacrificed their life in his place.What wouldn't a man give for his life? What wouldn't you give in gratitude to someone you know saved your life? This friend of mine was also thinking that he would at least know who the unknown young man was, or at least know if he had a relative somewhere, so that he could pay his eternal gratitude for this mortal sacrifice.
And yet, brothers and sisters, it happens to all of us that someone dies for us, in our place. Someone has saved life for us by dying. Jesus! Jesus gave his life so that we might live and so that we might live happily, freely, eternally. In this way, he has committed to eternal gratitude all those who even know about it, who accept this death sacrifice for themselves by faith. And there is no other way to repay this deathly sacrifice, immeasurable love and divine mercy, but by offering our whole life to him.
This is what the Apostle Paul refers to, this divine mercy, this divine love, when he exhorts us in the Word we read: 'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, in return, as it were in thanksgiving, offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as a reverence for your reason.' (Rom 12:1-2) For indeed this is the only reasonable, the only right, worthy and wise form of worship. So it is not that one confesses one's faith in God only with the mouth, that one praises and honours God only at a single church meeting or on a single feast day, but that one literally praises and honours Him with one's whole life. The Apostle Paul is trying to emphasise with this particular word that you should dedicate your body to God. What this means is that truly proper worship, that which is pleasing to God, is not only something spiritual, not only something that takes place in the mysterious depths of the soul, in the world of the emotions, not only something that expresses the relationship between man and God - of course it does that too - but much more than that.
The apostle says: offer your bodies as a sacrifice. That is, the body with which the self interacts with the outside world, the one that speaks and acts, the one that moves. The one that radiates the light of faith that lives in you to others. That which makes your faith in God almost visible, tangible, palpable to other people. In other words, with every movement of our hands and feet, with every beat of our heart, with every manifestation of our life, we try to express our reverence for God. Our whole life should be like a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. To be a Christian, to follow Jesus, is truly worthwhile only if I give my whole life to him. That is, if I sacrifice myself from the bottom of my heart, giving myself to God, together with my destiny here on earth and in eternity.
Now as you sit here before me, I see so clearly how much precious, immeasurably rich life is here together in this church. What is still before the young, what has been accumulated in the lives of the older. Somehow, it is as if we are all holding our lives in our hands a little at this moment. And indeed we are. Some people are holding on tightly to their lives, protecting them, fearing for them, saying: "Don't touch it, it's mine, it's my business! There are also people who don't know what to do with themselves, with their life, who are not aware of the incredible surplus value that they can say is mine, my hands, my feet, my talent, my time, my soul. He is not aware of this surplus value and he squanders himself in all kinds of interests. Oh, how many precious lives have been wasted in this world.
The man who knows the grace of God does not do this. He simply does not fear for his life and does not waste it. He knows very well what to do with himself. As the Word says: with his whole life. He knows that he is offering it to God. The whole Christian way of life is, in fact, nothing other than a constantly renewed offering. Here is my life, Lord, I give it to you, I lay it in your hands, I lay it on your altar! But this offering must be made by each one of us personally. No one else can do it for us. Not our parents, not our pastor, not even the living God Himself. It is a matter of personal privacy for everyone. When we were baptized, our parents spoke for us, and they assumed the badge and seal of the Christian life in the sacrament of baptism. But then there must come a time in the life of every baptized person when he or she takes baptism on his or her own responsibility. Behind every truly Christian life there must be a personal, great decision, which is then repeated again and again throughout his life, until the end of his life. Somewhat like Joshua once told the people of the Old Testament to choose for yourselves someone to serve.
Well then, my dear Confirmand brothers and sisters, now is the time for you to publicly, solemnly declare to whom you want to give yourselves to serve. But it is not only you, but also you, and me, and all of us, who must finally decide firmly what we want to do with our lives and to whom we want to give ourselves completely. It is not that simple, and it is not that easy! There are several options. The demand on our lives comes from so many directions. Hands reach out to pull us down. Love comes along once in every man's life and says: "Give me your body! Then comes the many, many little or big problems of everyday life and says: Let me take your soul. Then comes the desire to get rich in one person's life and says: give me your strength, give me your time! The greater and lesser pleasures of life come and say: 'Give me your heart! Some addiction comes along, perhaps alcohol, and says: "Give me your sanity! So it's not so easy to decide here. It is much simpler and much easier to let go here and there and so divide ourselves completely. But this is not wise, it is not prudent, as the apostle said, because it is a waste of one's life.
Do you dare, my dear young brother, my dear elder brother, to commit yourself entirely, even at this moment, to the hand that has been nailed through, out of the many hands that are pulling you apart? Will you put your life entirely in that bloody hand? Jesus! Dedicate your body to God! This is what the Word says. That's the only smart thing to do, that's the only right and wise thing to do, because then everything else will fall into place. And love, and money, and work, and joy, and sorrow, everything. And not just because we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God, because He deserves it from us, or because He has the right to, but simply because, as the apostle says, it is the wise thing to do. It must be, he says, not only worship, but a way of life. It is the only wise, right, reasonable and logical way of life.
Let us not think that we are exercising any favour with the Lord God, if we are at last worthy to give him what is his. Would it be a favour to the electric locomotive, if it were of its own free will, that it should once take the trouble to go upon the rails and assume the bondage of the rails and the electric wire? Of course it would not be a favour, since it would give him the freedom of movement which is his nature! In the same way, it is not a favour that we do God when we commit ourselves to Him, but it is for our own sake. This is how we find, this is how we truly live ourselves and our true selves.
Look, brothers and sisters, what does this mean in practice? It means what the Apostle Paul says in the next verse, that you do not conform yourselves to the world, but are transformed according to the renewing of your mind, considering what is pleasing, good and perfect in the will of God. In other words, it means daring to think and act differently from the way the average person thinks and acts. I could almost say that we dare to break away from the materialistic thinking of the world that has done so much harm in this world. Let us dare to break away from the sexually overheated world that this world is so full of, and which will bring more misery upon this world. Let us dare to break away from the self-interested world in which people suffer so much at the hands of other people. So let us dare to incorporate the clearer vision and nobler way of life that Jesus gave us into every act of everyday life.
Brothers and sisters, we who know of the sacrifice of Jesus, we who know of the invisible world of God, dare to dream big, dare to see boldly, dare to believe that we can serve to improve this world and to ennoble all human life. Dare to live as instruments of God's love for all people! Do you know where is the altar on which I can offer up as a sacrifice all that I want to offer to God? Where is it not far from any of us? Do not look for it somewhere, in some special place! It is right next to you, always where you can help people. Wherever a person needs help. Every time you can do good for someone, that is the altar of God. And everything you want to give to God, Jesus transfers it all to this altar. And he says, "Give your love to me to someone who needs it most, because they have the least of it. With the money you give me, help where help is most needed. Use your strength to make your work reliable and relevant to society as a whole. Don't look far for Jesus, he is right there beside you, in all the human lack, need and pain that cries out to you from another person's life. And he is there in all the work you can do to contribute to making all human life more peaceful, safer and happier. There is this altar, where you can place all that you are willing and able to offer to God. Put your whole life on this altar! Imagine what would happen if we really did that, if we really walked around in this world with a life dedicated to God!
Perhaps you have read these few poignant sentences from the latest book by Albert Szentgyörgyi, the world-famous Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian scientist: 'Science has opened the door to prosperity and upliftment never before imagined in our time. The great discoveries of science in radioactivity, atomic structure and relativity have brought about a complete turnaround in the life of mankind. Now almost all of man's desires can be realized. It could abolish sickness and tedious work. But instead he is on the road to self-destruction. One has only to flip through the newspapers. Everywhere they talk of war, murder, armaments." He also writes that all his hope lies in the youth, in those who are receptive to new ideas, to new tasks. If we understand that humanity will not erase itself, then everything must start from a new basis, and only the young can do that. He also writes that if he were 20 years old, he himself would join the ranks of young people who want a better world.
It is regrettable that moral progress has lagged behind science and that the new tools of science have become the new tools of killing and destruction. Yet the great problems of the world cannot be solved by bombs, only by understanding and good will. Well, brothers and sisters, so urgently do we need mentally healthy and morally developed people. Young people and young people of spirit! In the words of the Word, then, let me also beseech you: - by the mercy of God, that ye offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, as your clever reverence! For indeed only in this way will our present worship, and all other worship, become a worship that is wise, sensible, just, blessed, and profitable for the world.
Amen
Date: 26 April 1970 Confirmation
Lesson
Jn 15,1-5