Reparation Without Counting the Cost

Divine Appeal Reflection - 274

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 274: "...you must do reparation without ceasing and without thinking what this will cost you."

To repair without counting cost is to step into the mystery of Calvary as a people united to Our Adorable Jesus. He did not pause to weigh the agony of Gethsemane, to calculate the scourging, or to measure the heaviness of the Cross. He did not weigh whether His love would be acknowledged or repaid; as Our Divine Master, He loved to the end, pouring Himself out without reserve, as at the Last Supper and on the Cross (cf. Jn 13:1). This is the pattern we are invited into. When He asks us to do reparation “without thinking what this will cost you,” He calls us to abandon our instinct of self-preservation and to surrender as one body, sharing in His extravagant generosity. We are not reckless in doing so; rather, we are holy when we entrust everything to Him. As His Church, we are invited to let ourselves be “spent” for others, confident that God’s abundance will always exceed our poverty. When we repair without counting, we become a continuation of His offering, allowing divine love to pour over the wounds of humanity. Together, we discover that in giving beyond measure, heaven multiplies grace far beyond what we could ever imagine or record.

Our human tendency is to calculate. We weigh risks, balance costs, and measure sacrifices, believing this ensures security. But such calculation poisons love and stifles reparation. If we offer only what is comfortable, useful, or safe, we do not yet love as Christ loves. The call to repair “without thinking what this will cost you” confronts our instinct for self-protection. The widow who gave her two small coins (cf. Mk 12:41–44) did not calculate survival first; she trusted God and offered her whole livelihood. Her unmeasured gift has echoed for centuries. We too are asked to imitate that total trust. Saints throughout the ages show us the way: Maximilian Kolbe stepping forward to die for another prisoner, missionaries leaving homeland and comfort, families remaining faithful in hidden fidelity—none paused to weigh the cost. Their “yes” was complete, and so their witness remains eternal. Our Adorable Jesus now calls our generation to this same surrender. We must believe that giving everything is safer than giving halfway, because what is entrusted to Him without reservation is multiplied in His kingdom where nothing of love is lost.

When we calculate, we lose joy. A heart that gives with one eye fixed on cost soon grows weary, resentful, and embittered. But a heart that gives freely tastes the secret nourishment of divine joy. Parents know this when their sacrifices for children, though exhausting, are softened by love rather than sharpened by complaint. So too, as the Body of Christ, our sacrifices become radiant when united with Our Adorable Jesus. He Himself revealed the hidden nourishment of surrender: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (cf. Jn 4:34). When we repair without calculation, we share His food. What exhausts the world becomes strength for the faithful, for love transfigures burdens into communion. Every penance embraced for another soul, every prayer lifted in hidden silence, every fidelity guarded in obscurity is Eucharistic bread for the Church and consolation for the Sacred Heart. Divine charity transforms trial into offering, sacrifice into song, and hidden suffering into a hymn that sustains the Body of Christ. Thus, reparation without counting is not sterile endurance, but a banquet of joy where our tears and wounds are transfigured into seeds of eternal life.

To repair without thinking of cost is to entrust ourselves to divine abundance. God never allows His children to outgive Him. Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, and his act of trust was rewarded with a covenant blessing for generations (cf. Gen 22). Mary gave her fiat without hesitation, and heaven filled her emptiness with the Word made flesh. The apostles abandoned their nets and families, and were entrusted with the Kingdom itself. So too, when we give our lives without measure, Our Adorable Jesus multiplies our offering into rivers of grace that touch countless souls. Our tears, hidden sacrifices, and unmeasured prayers are never forgotten; they are written in heaven’s treasury. As a Church, when we live reparation without calculation, we become a prophetic sign to the world enslaved by comfort and ease. We reveal that the true economy of love is not barter but gift. Together, we become living channels of grace, emptied of ourselves yet overflowing with Christ. The more we give, the more we are filled; the more we lose, the more we discover God Himself. In this divine exchange, the measure of our love is love without measure.

Prayer

O Adorable Jesus, teach us to repair without counting cost. Free us from fear, hesitation, and self-concern. Let our hidden sacrifices console Your Heart, our prayers draw mercy upon the world, and our surrender strengthen the Church. May our only measure be love, and our joy, Your Cross. Amen

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.