The Lost Art of Sacrifice: A Spiritual Guide for Denying Yourself, Embracing the Cross, and Finding Joy - Paperback

by Vicki Burbach (Author)

The Lost Art of Sacrifice leaves behind the soft sentimentalism that many today wrongly associate with Christianity, calling readers to remember - and to embrace - Christ's unambiguous challenge in Matthew 16: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

In these powerful pages, author Vicki Burbach contrasts - as Jesus did - our selfish worldly culture with the way Christians are called to live, illuminating the essential role that sacrifice must play in every worthy human life. Not content with explaining the importance of sacrifice and singing its praises, Burbach ends each chapter with practical, down-to-earth suggestions to help readers cultivate the art of sacrifice in their lives, so that each may find a way to follow Christ as He commands us.

Best of all, she shows that not only is it critical that we each undertake ever more sacrifices, large and small, as we go about our daily lives but that doing so is the path to joy: great joy today and immeasurably greater joy hereafter.

Front Jacket

Jesus taught that if we are to call ourselves Christians, we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him. But what does denying ourselves look like? How exactly must we carry our cross? And what does He mean when He says we must lose my life in order to save it?

In these pages, Vicki Burbach explains that while Christ's words are challenging, he isn't asking us to pick up our cross because he is vindictive or twisted, nor because He wants to see us suffer. It's because sacrifice is the greatest manifestation of love, and He created our souls in order to love and be loved.

In our materialistic and secular world, we have lost the art of sacrifice - an art that connects us with the very root of our souls. That's why this book is so vitally important today.

Author Biography

Vicki Burbach is the author of How to Read Your Way to Heaven: A Spiritual Reading Program for the Worst of Sinners, the Greatest of Saints, and Everyone in Between. Her work has been featured in the National Catholic Register, on Catholic Exchange, on Big Pulpit, and at The Catholic Education Resource Center.She created and led for six years a spiritual reading book club at spiritualdirection.com, she has been a guest on many EWTN shows, and she currently blogs at her website, pelicansbreast.com. Burbach lives in the Midwest with her husband and six children.