(Latin: sacrificium, sacrifice)
In a less rigorous or a figurative sense, a sacrifice is any offering made to God with a view to honoring Him, such as acts of virtue, almsgiving, and prayer. In true or rigorous sense is the offering to God of a sense-perceptible substance, which is either really or symbolically destroyed, or at least transformed and withdrawn from profane use; and this offering must be made by a duly authorized person in recognition of God's Infinite Majesty and man's absolute dependence on Him. This definition contains generic and specific elements. By its generic element, sacrifice is an external act of the virtue of religion (by which God is honored on account of His transcendent excellence) and belongs to the cult of latria. It is clear that the external act derives all its moral value from a corresponding act of the human will. By its specific elements, sacrifice is marked off from other acts of the virtue of religion.
