Exiit qui seminat

In this Sunday's readings we hear from the 2nd Book of Maccabees. 1st and 2nd Maccabees recalls the history of the nation of Israel after the death of Alexander the Great. Alexander (who had no sons) had his kingdom divided among his generals who continued Alexander's dream of Hellenizing the whole world by forcing conquered lands to embrace Greek culture. The Greeks desecrated the Temple by placing a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies. They erected gymnasiums to help assimilate Jewish youth into Greek ways of life.  Finally the Greeks forced the Jewish people to worship foreign gods with their refusal punishable by death. One such story of persecution is depicted in our first reading as we hear a mother and her seven sons being coerced to convert. The sons stay true to their faith and one by one are killed in front of their mother. One of the sons, before his death, spoke, "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." Dying for God and  or one's faith was, unfortunately, commonplace, not just in the Bible, but also in the life of the early Church.  Even today, there are many of our brothers and sisters who continue to be persecuted for their faith and their belief in Christ. The question that comes to mind and the one I ask myself, "Is there anything or anyone that would be willing to die for?" I would hope that I would give my life for my family or close friends, but would I be willing to give my life for God as He has done for me? I pray that I would have the faith and the courage to do so. It's the same question that the Lord asks each and every one of us.  What are we willing to die for? Is our faith and our belief in God one of those things? While we hope and pray that circumstances in this country would never get to the point of martyrdom, do we have a martyr's heart that's willing to die for Christ? Let us ask for the grace to have a sacrificial heart and a desire to offer everything we have, our entire lives for the sake of our Lord and Savior.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Rob Sinatra