Votive offering

“ Howsoever the making of vows be not obligatory as a necessary part of the religious life, yet, in all ages [542] and in all religions, a certain instinct of the heart has often led persons, either in order to procure something from God, or as a thank-offering for some special favour received, or else as a spontaneous expression of love to God, to "make a special vow." ”

“ In all your prayers, at all your communions, you should remember to renew to God the offering of yourselves, saying :
" Here I am, O Lord ! I no longer belong to myself: I am wholly thine. I have already given myself to thee, and I now give myself to thee again. Deign to accept my offering, give me strength to be faithful to thee, and to retire as soon as possible into thy holy house. ”

“ I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
[Then the alms are collected while one or more of the Offertory Sentences are read. Always try to give {25} something at the Offertory, no matter how small the amount is, but never stay away from the service because you have nothing to give. When you have made your offering, kneel down, and say:—
All that is in heaven and in the earth is Thine. All things come of Thee, and of Thine Own have I given Thee.] ”

“ His "need" is, not to be always offering, but to be always an Offerer. He meets that need by being for ever the Priest who had Himself to offer, and who offered Himself, and who now dispenses from His sacerdotal seat the benedictions based upon the sacrifice of which He is for ever the once accepted Offerer. ”

“ But, besides the accustomed offering to the minister, the woman is to make a yet much better and greater offering, namely, an offering of herself, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice to God. ”

“ The offering is the substitute of the offerer. The priest is the substitute of the offerer. The priest and the sacrifice were one symbol. [Hence, in the new dispensation, the priest and the sacrifice are one—both are found in Christ.] ”

“ And even some who had been idolaters, so soon as they were taught the claims of Jehovah upon their obedience, made vows unto him. [16]
A vow is a solemn promise to God. It is explicitly described as such. "That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform: even a free-will-offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth." [17] It is of the like nature with a promissory oath. "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond ”

“ For a vow was a promise made by any one to dedicate and given his own person, or a portion of his property, to the Lord for averting some danger and distress, or for bringing to his possession some desired earthly good. - Besides ordinary vowing or promising to give, there was also vowing away, or the vow of renunciation, as is evident from Num 30. The chapter before us treats only of ordinary vowing, and gives directions for redeeming the thing vowed, in which it is presupposed that everything vowed to the Lord would fall to His sanctuary as corban, an offering (Mar 7:11) ”

“ Every mind reflects, and every heart is melted.
Then comes the offertory; and all present, according to their various means, make their offerings for those "who serve the altar," and for the poor. While the priest raises in offering the paten with the Post and the chalice with wine, the villagers also, kneeling, make an offering of their homage to their new-born Redeemer; and mothers lift their little ones to heaven in spirit, praying that they may advance "in wisdom and age and grace with God and men," as did the Child of Mary. ”

“ It is not an impertinence, but stands in the line of duties along side of prayer and singing. To give money each time you go to church, and in the appointed way will bring blessings from God. Pew rent is not "giving" in this sense, any more than paying the butter bill or for a seat at the opera house. We refer to the offering to God for religious or charitable purposes, regularly through the Offertory in church. So your alms will go up with your prayers as a memorial before God.
Offertory Sentences.—In the old Liturgies there was formerly a short anthem after the Gospel, called Offertorium ”

“ For "Confirmation, or the laying on of hands," fully admits the Baptized to that "Royal Priesthood" of the Laity, [4] of which the specially ordained Priest is ordained to be the representative. The Holy Sacrifice is the offering of the whole Church, the universal Priesthood, not merely of the individual Priest who is the offerer. Thus, the Confirmed can take their part in the offering, and can assist at it, in union with the ordained Priest who is actually celebrating. ”

“ And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. ”

“ The man that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whether of beeves or of sheep, shall offer it without blemish, that it may be acceptable. There shall be no blemish in it.
22:22. If it be blind, or broken, or have a scar or blisters, or a scab, or a dry scurf: you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor burn any thing of them upon the Lord's altar.
22:23. An ox or a sheep, that hath the ear and the tail cut off, thou mayst offer voluntarily: but a vow may not be paid with them. ”

“ While tithing was not so directly pointing to the atonement, nor was it designed for that purpose, it is yet an offering to the Lord required by Him, to be used for righteous purposes and to prepare the heart of the tithe-payer to give his all to God, to consecrate all in the interest of human redemption. The Lord, in tithing, does not demand the best nor justify His people in offering that of the least value in any substance tithed. ”

“ Indulgence of 3 years, once a day, for each prayer; plenary indulgence, once a month, on usual conditions. — Pius IX., April 11, i860. The S. Congr. of Indulgences, May 5, 1890, declared that priests can gain the indulgence granted for the above offering by saying it before celebrating Mass.
AN OFFERING.
ETERNAL Father, we offer Thee the blood, the Passion, and the death of Jesus Christ, the sorrows of Mary most holy, and of St. Joseph, in satisfaction for our sins, in aid of the holy souls in purgatory, for the needs of holy Mother Church, and for the conversion of sinners. ”

“ A peace offering will be the fulfilment of a vow or a willing thank offering; the offerer eating the sacrifice will be his appropriation to himself of the consecration; with it he will eat certain things such as unleavened cakes, oil and anointed wafers, signifying his faith in Christ's character which he will copy.
A trespass offering signifies reconsecration in connection with restoration for wrong, with recognition of the offerer's imperfection and the value of the ransom. ”

“ For the vows of baptism seem to have been altogether cheapened by the too great practice, parade, dispensation, and redemption of these other vows. Let us put all our strength to the task, I say, and we shall find that we have vowed in baptism more than we are ever able to perform.
Some vows, including oaths, are made to men, others to God. Those made to men are admitted to be binding, so far and so long as he may desire, to whom the vow is made. ”

“ It is enough that every one should have the private right to take a vow at his peril; but to commend the vowing of vows as a public mode of life—this I hold to be most harmful to the Church and to simple souls. And I hold this, first, because it runs directly counter to the Christian life; for a vow is a certain ceremonial law and a human tradition or presumption, and from these the Christian has been set free through baptism. For a Christian is subject to no laws but the law of God. ”

“ It is very common, and very commendable, when we are under the pressure of any affliction, or in the pursuit of any mercy, to make vows, and solemnly to speak them before the Lord, to bind ourselves out from sin and bind ourselves more closely to our duty; not as if this were an equivalent, or valuable consideration, for the favour of God, but a qualification for receiving the tokens of that favour. (2.) The vows which we made when we were in trouble must not be forgotten when the trouble is over, but be carefully performed, for better it is not to vow than to vow and not pay. ”

“ Confirmation is not the renewal of vows. The renewal of vows is the final part of the preparation for Confirmation. It is that part of the preparation which takes place in public, as the previous preparation has taken place in private. Before Confirmation, the Baptismal vows are renewed "openly before the Church". Their renewal is the last word of preparation. The Bishop, or Chief Shepherd, assures himself by question, and answer, that the Candidate openly responds to the preparation he has received in {95} private from the Parish Priest, or under-Shepherd. ”

“ The vow which we made in baptism is sufficient by itself alone, and is more than all we could ever accomplish. [245] Therefore, all other vows may be abolished. Let every one who enters the priesthood, or a religious order, consider well that the works of a monk or a priest, how difficult soever they may be, are, in the view of God, in no respect superior to those of a peasant labouring in the field, or a woman attending to the duties of her house. ”

“ Certainly that offering will be acceptable to God which is offered in your name, and what a mark of faith and devotion is this! Other emperors, immediately upon a victory, order the erection of triumphal arches, or other monuments of their triumphs; your Clemency prepares an offering for God, and desires that oblation and thanksgiving should be presented by the priests to the Lord. ”

“ To all the above ties of justice and gratitude, by which we are bound to love and serve God, is superadded that of the sacred vow of baptism, by which we were solemnly dedicated to Him, and engaged to His service, and became heirs of His kingdom, which vow is also broken by sin augmenting its malice by the basest perfidy. ”

“ One vows to offer gold and silver vessels for the sanctuary when he comes, another to offer the tithe of his fruits, another of his property, another the best of his flocks, another consecrates his being; and no one is able to vow a great vow to the Lord, but he who has offered himself entirely to God. ”

“ Hence we resolved that we would accomplish the undertaking, though at the sacrifice of our all. We well understood that in order to attain to that position that would entitle us to this exaltation, it would be necessary to submit ourselves wholly to the mind and will of God. We felt in our hearts to consecrate our wives, our children and our property, if we had any, and our time and abilities, to the service of God. Had this law of consecration been presented at that time it no doubt would have been hailed with joy, as it was in exact accordance with the spirit of our covenants. ”

“ And tho’ there is no vow more religious than that of baptism, yet he that changes his habit, or his place, is sought after, apprehended, confin’d, and sometimes put to death for the honour of the order, as tho’ he had murder’d his father; but those whose lives are diametrically repugnant to their baptismal vows, in that they serve mammon, their bellies, and the pomps of this world, are in mighty esteem, are never charged with breaking their vow, nor upbraided, nor call’d apostates ”

“ Let men extol the obligation of a vow as much as they list, yet shall they not bring to pass that the vow annuls the commandment of God. The Canons teach that the right of the superior is excepted in every vow; [that vows are not binding against the decision of the Pope;] much less, therefore, are these vows of force which are against the commandments of God. ”

“ Tithing is one thing, and offerings are another. And when that is done, consecrate your property to the Church, and make strong the hands of our President, and he will handle and distribute it to the best advantage. We are to be tried in all things, like unto Abraham, and God even told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac. ”

“ People have become accustomed to looking upon vows as the exclusive monopoly of the Catholic Church and her religious men and women. Such things are rarely met with outside monasteries and convents, except in the case of secular priests. 'Tis true, one hears tell occasionally of a stray unfortunate who has broken away from a state voluntarily, deliberately, chosen and entered upon, and who struggles through life with a violated vow saddled upon him. But one does not associate the sacred and heroic character of the vow with such pitiable specimens of moral worth. ”

“ Let me say to the brethren who are and who contemplate connecting themselves actively and entirely with this holy Order, that the Priesthood was bestowed upon you, as upon the Son of God himself, for no other purpose than that, through sacrifice, you might be proven, that, peradventure, at the last day, you might stand approved before God, and before perfect and holy beings and that, in order to merit this divine approval, it may be necessary to forget self and individual aggrandisement and seek the interest of your brethren. ”