32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Do We Hold Sacred?

As we end the liturgical year, you’ll notice that most of our readings speak to the end of times.

Today’s first reading does so, presenting to us a troubling narrative: the arrest and torturous execution of

seven brothers and their mother. To put this in context, this happened in a period of Jewish history, about

170 years before Jesus was born. 130 years earlier, Alexander the Great had conquered much of the world,

including present-day Palestine. Heirs of his Greek empire now ruled.

Unlike the Romans, who would soon follow as a conquering power—the Romans, who were tolerant

and allowed the nations under their rule to maintain their customs and religious practices—the Greeks

instead were insistent that things be done their way. This meant that Jewish customs and language were

to be abandoned, even if it meant violating the principles one held sacred. Do it or die.

The Books of First and Second Maccabees recount this period, and the Greek leader who held direct

authority over the Jewish people. His name was Antiochus Epiphanes. Against his oppression, a

movement began, starting with a family, the Hasmoneans: more commonly known to us as the

Maccabees. They refused to roll over and sacrifice the things they held sacred. They fought back. Today’s

first reading and the gruesome story it presents, comes from the midst of that tension.

But it made me think: To what length will we go—what are we willing to sacrifice—for the things we

hold sacred? And that begs a follow-up question: What are the things we hold sacred? What is it that we

hold so dear that we would sacrifice for it? I suspect many of us would say family is at the top of that list. I

get it, and it’s beautiful. Some might say it’s their home, their property. And on this Veteran’s Day weekend,

we realize that for some, it’s their nation. In the case of the Maccabees, and specifically in the case of the

family in today’s first reading, they held their religious principles—even dietary restrictions—so dear, that

they were willing to suffer and die. It makes me wonder: How dear do we hold to the things we believe

God has revealed to us through the teachings of our faith?

I ask this in consideration of the tension between our faith and the culture in which we live. Our

situation is different than the Maccabees, but then, not so much. The Jewish people had different values

and customs than their Greek oppressors. While some Jews adopted what the Greeks imposed, others,

like the Maccabees, refused to compromise. For us, in some ways, as we hold on to what our Christian

faith has always taught, the culture around us has become a sort of tyranny, telling us we must believe this

or that, if we are not to be radicalized and pushed to the side.

The customs of our culture may not even be something we agree with, yet because it’s so easy to

be carried away by our feelings and emotional responses, but also, because we just want to fit in and not

be at odds with the moral majority—we surrender. We’re even willing to sacrifice for it—maybe not our

lives—but instead perhaps the principles we once held.

These are good questions for us to consider, but there’s another important detail to the story of the

seven brothers and their mother. It’s their willingness to suffer and die, trusting in their belief in the

Resurrection. Dumfounding to us—and disturbing to our sensibilities—is the mother’s willingness to allow

her sons’ torture. But again, it forces a good question regarding ourselves and those entrusted to us: What

is the good that we ultimately want for ourselves and our loved ones? Is it to be successful in this life? Is it

to experience the maximum pleasure and comfort in this life? Is it to preserve this life at any and all costs?

Last month on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, I reminded those at Mass that the job of our

Guardian Angel is not principally to protect us from harm in this life and it’s not to ensure that we never die.

Their job is to escort us toward heaven and to protect our souls for heaven. Likewise, God doesn’t promise

us that no suffering will ever come our way, but He promises us eternal life, if only we too desire it, we

prepare our lives for it, and see it ultimately as true home for ourselves and those entrusted to us.

It was at our baptism that we became heirs of what Jesus one by being raised from the dead. We

became children of the Resurrection: a beautiful gift that too many of us would perhaps surrender for what

this culture demands of us. So, What do you hold as sacred? For what would you sacrifice? Is it primarily to

thrive according to this world or is it to receive what God holds in store for us? Are we foremost people of

this life or of the next?