All this week we have been hearing read at daily Mass excerpts from the books of Maccabees. The setting was described on Monday; on Tuesday we heard of Eleazar; yesterday we heard of the mother and her seven sons; today it was Matathias; tomorrow the conclusion.
Wonderful stories of the Jewish people’s struggles during the Greek occupation. It leaves me with two thoughts.
The first is in the Scriptures it is written: Zeal for your house consumes me! Certainly, we cannot help but be struck by the zeal for the house of God, his Law and Covenant, that many of the Jews had at the time of the Maccabees.
The second comes from one small piece of yesterday’s reading in which we heard that by the Spirit of God the mother of the seven sons had a womanly heart and manly courage.
Food for thought as we approach the end of the Church’s liturgical year and as we approach all the challenges in today’s world that is increasingly growing hostile to the teachings of Jesus. Oh, would that all of us would develop a womanly heart and manly courage! A heart open, receptive, loving and reflective coupled with the courage to act boldly in engaging the culture of our time and transforming it.
The Apostles, after our Lord’s resurrection and ascension, and after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, boldly went forth with manly courage to preach the Gospel to a hostile world. They acted first, then reflected on their experience. The Church today is in need of such manly courage to balance its inward reflection. I think that spirituality of those charged with preaching the Gospel is too often marked only by the passive, receptive and reflective, lacking the outward, active, giving and expressive boldness indicative of courage.
Zeal for the house of the Lord.
A womanly heart coupled with manly courage.
The definition of a true disciple of the Lord. For Jesus himself lived all of this perfectly.
