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THE SACRIFICE MOST AGREEABLE TO GOD

Source: Gospel According to the Spiritism, X: 7, 8 - Mateus, V: 23-24

THE SACRIFICE MOST AGREEABLE TO GOD

7. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy
gift (Matthew, 5: 23 & 24).

8. With the words "First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift," Jesus teaches that
what is most agreeable to God is the sacrifice of our resentments and that before Man asks for pardon he should
first have pardoned others and made good any damage caused to his fellow beings.
Only then will the offerings be acceptable to God because they will come from a heart expunged of all evil
thoughts. Jesus explains this in the material sense of offering gifts because the Jews of those days offered
sacrifices, so it was necessary that His words conform to the customs of the time. The true Christian however,
does not offer material gifts to God, since all sacrifice has been spiritualism, and with this the precept has gained
even more strength. He offers
His soul to God and his soul has to be purified. Thus, upon entering the temple of God, Man should leave all
feelings of hate and animosity outside, including evil thoughts against his fellow men.
Only in this manner will the angels take his prayers and place them at the Feet of the eternal Father. This is
what Jesus was teaching when He said: "Leave then thy gift before the altar and go first and be reconciled with
thy brother if you wish to be agreeable to the Lord."

CONSIDERATIONS:
God, is not that much interested in our material offers, but in those of the heart, but in those of justice, but in
those of peace, but in those of love some for the others, consequently if God valued his people for the presents or
offerings, whoever offered Him the more, would be more worthy and would be privileged, and the offer would
cover his lacking, even those he may have offended the neighbor.
God does not act like this, God is not Materialistic, as many want Him to be, considered the fashion of
nowadays, the person's value is given, according to the contribution to the Church, Mission, Institution or some
any other else, therefore it is not:
"Who has a thousand real, who has five hundred? Come depositing for the Lord! Afterwards please do come
by order the others to the front so that all may contribute, and, do not forget that to steal of the tithe it is to steal to
God, and do not forget that nobody can deceive God, because God knows how much one can give or to
contribute"!.
Well then, Jesus alerted that the pleasant sacrifice to God, it is when a person on doing his offering
remembers oneself, that he offended somebody, God is happy if the person will apologize, and make peace with
the offended, there yes, it is to love the neighbor as himself.
Jesus would already have advised the men of the Temple, whose responsible motivated a law or dogma, in
which if the sons or daughters paid certain contribution to the Temple, they were exempt of looking after the
parents. 2
Let us take advantage of this warning of Jesus to say: “we will not fall in substituting spiritual duties with
tributes of money, in order to exempt ourselves of spiritual duties, seen as if it is to each one that the responsibility
of his progress 3 relapses, who is wrong, is the very person."
The agreeable sacrifice to God comes from the heart, it is not with money that one pays, as a result I heard to
speak that there are people who make promises, to God or Saints, after that: one pays to somebody to
accomplish the promise, for that they say that there are: “payers of promises", or even of sacrifices.
There are also charitable people, very famous for being charitable, but not with their money, but with the
money of other people; they exercise and organize parties or dinners to raise funds, and they get their objective.
But even so, it is not the same thing, that if it had been with their own money, however we should admit, that
the person can only enter with his work talent, which has merit, and in that case we will thank him/her for that!
1
Study ‘O sacrifício mais agradável a Deus’,given at Centro Espírita, Joana d’Arc, on 04/
11/ 2008.
2
Matthew, XV: 3-5
3
The Spirits’ Book, Q. 779.

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Let us see in the Spirits’ Book a question about charity, 886:

Charity and Love of the Neighbour.

886. What is the true meaning of the word charity as employed by Jesus?
"Benevolence for every one, indulgence for the imperfections of others, forgiveness of injuries."
Love and charity are the complement of the law of justice; for, to love our neighbour is to do him all the, good
in our power, all that we should wish to have done to ourselves.
Charity, according to Jesus, is not restricted to alms-giving, but embraces all our relations with our fellow-men
whether our inferiors, our equals, or our superiors. It prescribes indulgence on our part, because we need the
same ourselves; it forbids us to humiliate the unfortunate, as is too often done.
How many, who are ready to lavish respect and attentions on the rich, appear to think it not worth their while
to be civil to the poor; and yet, the more pitiable the situation of the latter, the more scrupulously should we refrain
from adding humiliation to misfortune. He who is really kind endeavours to raise his inferior in his own estimation,
by diminishing the distance between them.

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Actually who does charity be it in whatever kind that might be, that is good, once it shows that one has
entered in the' narrow road' of the spiritual life, because one is overcoming selfishness, the evil which assaults us
constantly, or do we want everything for us. Subsequently in charity there is a good sign of moral progress.
Let us love one another for love is of God, 4 since Jesus is personified in charity saying: “Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”. 5

As for sacrifice let us see in the Spirits’ Book, question, 669:

Sacrifices.
669. The custom of offering human sacrifices dates from the remotest antiquity. How can mankind have
been led to believe that such an enormity could be pleasing to God?
"In the first place, through their not having comprehended God as being the source of all goodness. Among
primitive peoples, matter predominates over spirit. Their moral qualities not being yet developed, they give
themselves up to the instincts of brutality. In the next place, the men of the primitive periods naturally considered
that a living creature must be much more valuable in the sight of God than any merely material object; and this
consideration led them to immolate, to their divinities, first animals, and afterwards men, because, according to
their false ideas, they thought that the value of a sacrifice was proportioned to the importance of the victim. In your
earthly life, when you wish to offer a present to any one, you select a gift, the costliness of which is proportioned
to the amount of attachment or consideration that you desire to testify to the person to whom you offer it. It was
natural that men who were ignorant of the nature of the Deity should do the same."
-The sacrificing of animals, then, preceded that of human beings?
"Such was undoubtedly the case."
-According to this explanation, the custom of sacrificing human beings did not originate in mere cruelty?
"No; but in a false idea as to what would be acceptable to God. Look, for instance, at the story of Abraham. In
later times men have still farther debased this false idea by immolating their enemies, the objects of their own
personal animosity. But God has never exacted sacrifices of any kind; those of animals, no more than those of
men. He could not be honoured by the useless destruction of His own creations."

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4
I John, 4: 7.
5
Matthew, 25: 40.

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 As regard to what did happen to Abraham the occurrence is mentioned in the Bible in the
book 'Genesis', chap. XXII: 1-13: -
God orders Abraham to kill his son Isaac
1- - It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and Said unto him, Abraham: and he
Said, Behold here I am.
2. - And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the montains which I will tell thee of.
3. - And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him,
and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went into the place of which god
had told him.
4. - the on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5. - And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
worship, and come again to you.
6. - And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his
hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7. - And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, my father: and he said. Here am I, my son. And he
said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering.
8. - And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together.
9. - And they came to the place which God had told him of; And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the
wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10. - And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11. - And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and Said, Abraham, Abraham: And he Said,
here am I.
12. - And he Said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13. - And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his
horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son,

***
The man in accordance his notion of the Divinity, has always wanted to please God, one sees that since far
old times, for instance of Abraham's time, they tried to offer sacrifices to please, to appease or to gain favours
from their gods.
And, suddenly Jesus teaches us, to please God with our heart, with justice, with understanding, with peace,
with friendship, with charity, this is one to another, and so we please God.
It is obviate that the biblical passage of God asking to Abraham his son, it was to develop Abraham's faith,
because the habit of the people was of offering to God sacrifices, and God always accompanied, the man's
development patiently, in view of the fact that the spiritual development only moved forward with the material
development, and still nowadays the man's mentality, has advanced only a little bit timidly,
Due to the progress of science and the intellectual developments, which provoked the arrival of the hour of
Spiritism, to come to develop the knowledge of the spiritual life, once it would have arrived the hour of the spirits,
to come to help the man, with the permission of God, and fulfillment of Jesus words: “I have yet many things to
say unto you , but ye cannot bear them now". 6
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Let us see in the Gospel According to the Spiritism, VI: 3 and 4:

THE PROMISED CONSOLER

3. If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him; but ye shall know him; for he dweleth with you, and shall be in you. But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John, 14: 15-17 & 26).4. In this passage from John,

6
John, 16: 12.

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Jesus promises another consoler: the Spirit of Truth, which the world did not yet know because it was not
sufficiently mature to be able to understand. This is the consoler sent by the Father to teach mankind all things
and to call to mind all that Christ had said.
Therefore, if this Spirit of Truth was to come at a later date to teach these additional matters, then it was
because Christ had not told everything. If the Spirit of Truth was to come to remind us of what Christ had said that
is because it had been forgotten or not properly understood. Spiritism has come at the predicted time to fulfill
Christ's promise. Presided over by the Spirit of Truth, it calls Man to observe the law and reveals all manner of
things so making understandable what Jesus had said only in parable form. Christ himself had given the warning:
"Listen all those who have ears to hear." Spiritism has come to open man's eyes and ears because it speaks
without figuration or allegory, so lifting up the veil which had been intentionally cast upon certain mysteries.
Finally, then, it has come to bring supreme consolation to the disinherited of this Earth and to all who suffer by
showing them the just cause of their suffering and the useful purpose of all pain.
Christ said: "Blessed are the afflicted for they shall be consoled." But how can anyone feel fortunate if they do
not know why they suffer? Spiritism shows the cause of suffering to be in past existences and in the destiny of this
planet, on which Man makes atonement for his past. It explains the object behind suffering by showing it as a
salutary process which produces a cure and also as a means of purification, both of which guarantee future
happiness. From this it is possible for Man to understand that he deserves all his sufferings and to believe that
this is just. He also learns that his suffering and pain will help him to progress and so is able to accept it without
complaining, just as a worker accepts the work which will guarantee his salary. Spiritism gives Man an
unshakable faith in the future so that he is no longer troubled by this consuming doubt within his soul. He is also
enabled to see things from on high, which makes the importance of his earthly vicissitudes disappear on the vast
and splendid horizon which Spiritism sets before him. The prospect of the happiness which awaits therefore gives
him patience, resignation and courage to continue to the end of his path.
In this manner Spiritism realizes what Jesus said of the promised Consoler, by bringing knowledge of those
things which allow Man to know where he came from, where he is going and why he is on Earth; so attracting
mankind towards the true principles of God's law and offering consolation through faith and hope.

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We take to understand then, that we should not seek exclusiveness before God, offering - Him sacrifices to
solicit benefits, once He makes to rain on all, be good or bad 7 and He does not act as man, since He reads the
heart of the people and a broken heart He will not despise. 8

Let us see the Psalm, 51:16 and 17: -:

16. - For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightgest not in burnt offering.
17. - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

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It is interesting to notice that each people, each nation, each society, each individual has progressed their
knowledge of God, by heir own stepping, the simplest reason, it is that God gave the free will to everyone, but
demands that the most advanced help the less advanced, to this gave Jesus example, in other words, he showed
the need when he says: 'Go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature', 9
Shall we say then, that Jesus' disciples, were sacrificed, being donated of themselves in favor of their
neighbor, and that many after them, also have donated one selves, they were and they are sacrifices, on behalf of
the neighbor, which God will not avoid rewarding, and it is in the delight of God, and if God be with us, let us live a
good humble faith, taking delight in our God Father and Savior.

May God be with us, as formerly, today and always.

7
Matthew, 5: 43.
8
Psalm, 51: 16, 17.
9
Mark, 16: 15.

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 . “He who is really kind endeavors, 10
To raise his inferior in his own estimation,
By diminishing the distance between them.”

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Actually who does charity be it in whatever kind that
might be,
That is good,
Once it shows that one has entered in the' narrow
road' of the spiritual life,
Because one is overcoming selfishness,
The evil which assaults us constantly,
Or do we want everything for us.
Subsequently in charity there is a good sign of moral
progress.
Let us love one another for love is of God, 11
Since Jesus is personified in charity saying:
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren,
Ye have done it unto me”. 12

10
Extract from the study ‘The sacrifice most agreeable to God’, given at the Spirit
Center, Joana d’Arc, on 06/ 11/ 2008.
11
I John, 4: 7.
12
Matthew, 25: 40.

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