1st Reading – 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested
and tortured with whips and scourges by the king,
to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. 
One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:
“What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? 
We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

At the point of death he said:
“You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life,
but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. 
It is for his laws that we are dying.”

After him the third suffered their cruel sport.
He put out his tongue at once when told to do so,
and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words:
“It was from Heaven that I received these;
for the sake of his laws I disdain them;
from him I hope to receive them again.”
Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage,
because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

After he had died,
they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. 
When he was near death, he said,
“It is my choice to die at the hands of men
with the hope God gives of being raised up by him;
but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.”

In 198 BC, Judea was conquered by the Seleucid Empire, one of the successor states to the empire of Alexander the Great. The Seleucid king, Antiochus III, did not interfere with the religious life of the Jews, but his son and successor, Antiochus IV, forced paganism upon all his subjects.

In 170 BC, Antiochus IV plundered the Temple and slew many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Two years later, he ordered all Jews to adopt pagan rites and customs, under pain of death. A statue of Zeus was placed in the Temple above the altar of burnt offerings, and an edict was issued ordaining the erection of heathen altars in every town. Many Jews abandoned their faith, but others preferred to suffer torture and death rather than transgress the law of God.

Today’s reading is one example of such bravery.

Continue reading “Nov 6, 2022: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)” →