Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

59 Holy Eucharist is never absent on the altar of a material temple, so He is never absent in a heart that is devoted to Him.” 13 The altar of the human heart is the symbolic place of God’s permanent residence and therefore, every Christian should care “with the greatest zeal” that the altar is always clean and devoted only to Him 14 . It is a place to make spiritual sacrifices. In this context, St. Stanislaus explains what sacrifice made on the altar of the heart is pleasing to God and he proposes a formula for a daily offering ( oblatio quotidiana ): “Pleasing is the offering of the afflicted, when he par- ticularly blesses God in it, whether his affliction is imposed upon him for his sins or for the merit of his eternal glory. [...] Pleasing is the contrition of the repentant sinner, [...] Pleasing is the prayer of a humble creature, [...] Pleasing is the praise on the lips of priests, [...] Pleasing finally, yes, indeed most pleasing, are the poverty, chastity and obedience of Religious men and women, because it rests on the counsel of Christ.” 15 Above all, how- ever, the value of the Christian sacrifice depends on whether it is offered in unity with “all the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the most Blessed Virgin and of all those in heaven, and of the righteous who dwell on earth,” 16 and whether it results from a pure intention and from love. According to St. Stanislaus, true love has its own characteristics. “This Love is pure, holy, fiery, heavenly; it flows from the fountain of eternal Love.” 17 Therefore, in the image of the Eucharist, where consecrated bread and wine become the Body and Blood of our Lord, the sacrifice made by a Christian as his daily oblatio becomes a spiritual sacrifice – supernatural, pleasing to God, and accepted by Him as a share in the merits of Christ, for the salvation of the world. In the symbolism of Templum Dei Mysticum , love plays the role of the priest authorized to celebrate the Eucharist. “Unless the sacrifices of the Mystical Temple are offered by the Love-Priest, they are displeasing to God, and he completely rejects them.” 18 The sacrifice may be any hu- man act, any good intent, a suffering, longing or renunciation; basically, everything that a man consists of and lives by. The proposed Practice of Daily Sacrifice shows an attempt to itemize all spheres of human exist- 13 S. Papczyński, Templum Dei Mysticum (TDM) , p. 28, Stockbridge, 2005. 14 Cf. ibid. 15 Cf. pp. 30-31. 16 Ibid., p. 32. 17 Ibid., p. 36. 18 TDM , pp. 37-38.