Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales
January 24, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Hebrews 10:1-10
In his Letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul lays out the significance of Christ’s self-sacrifice for us. He situates this sacrifice of Christ given “once and for all” in contrast with the repeated sacrifices of “bulls and goats.”
For Paul, the ongoing nature of the practice of the law is just “a shadow of the good things to come.” Like a shadow, it has the same basic form of what God desires for us, but isn’t the whole picture.
Jesus Christ is the true image–not a shadow. Jesus proclaimed “Behold, I come to do your will, O God.” Jesus faultlessly demonstrated the will of God and is the true image of perfection for us. By accepting Christ Jesus and conforming ourselves to him, we have no need for repeated sacrifice. We have been consecrated to God’s will in him.
