The Holocaust, or whole burnt-offering, might be an ox or sheep or pigeon or turtle-dove, according to the abilities of him who offered it. Its blood was to be shed, and the whole body was afterwards to be burnt upon the altar. So Christ offered Himself a holocaust to God; there was no part of His human nature that was not sacrificed for the sins of men. All the faculties of His Soul, every thought and wish and inclination, every nerve and fibre in His Body, all were offered to God and consecrated to Him. Try to realize the extent of this sacrifice.

In this offering Christ left us an example. If we are really to tread in His footsteps, a partial offering is not enough. As long as we keep anything for ourselves and deny it to God, there is rapine in our holocaust--that is, we keep back part of what we profess to sacrifice entirely to God, and such an offering cannot be acceptable. Is there anything which I consciously still keep back from God?

First of all the blood of the holocaust was to be shed; and the blood, as we read in Holy Scripture, signifies the life. We must therefore dedicate our lives to God before we can belong wholly to Him. Hence the virtue of religious vows. If we are not called to these, at least we are called to make the service of God the end and aim of our daily life. Is this the character of my life?