Maccabees

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Monday, 16 November 2015 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland, and St. Gertrude, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Virgins)

1 Maccabees 1 : 10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-64

From the descendants of Alexander’s generals there came a godless offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of king Antiochus, who had been held as hostage in Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Greek era (175 B.C.).

It was then that some rebels emerged from Israel, who succeeded in winning over many people. They said, “Let us renew contact with the peoples around us for we had endured many misfortunes since we separated from them.”

This proposal was well-received and some eagerly went to the king. The king authorised them to adopt the customs of the pagan nations. With his permission, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem in the pagan style. And as they wanted to be like the pagans in everything, they made artificial foreskins for themselves and abandoned the Holy Covenant, sinning as they pleased.

Antiochus issued a decree to his whole kingdom. All the peoples of his empire had to renounce their particular customs and become one people. All the pagan nations obeyed and respected the king’s decree, and even in Israel many accepted the imposed cult. They offered sacrifices to idols and no longer respected the Sabbath.

On the fifteenth day of the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, Antiochus erected the “abominable idol of the invaders” on the altar of the Temple. Pagan altars were built throughout the whole land of Judea; incense was offered at the doors of their houses and in the squares. There wicked men tore up the Books of the Law they found and burned them. They killed anyone they caught in possession of the Book of the Covenant and who fulfilled the precepts of the Law, as the royal decree had ordered.

But in spite of all this, many Israelites still remained firm and determined not to eat unclean food. They preferred to die rather than to make themselves unclean with those foods (prohibited by the Law) that violated the Holy Covenant. And Israel suffered a very great trial.

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Friday, 29 November 2013 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the kingdom of God is near, and it is approaching! Yes, that is the key message of the readings, especially that of the Gospel we heard today. And indeed, the kingdom of God is already here, with us, and dwelling in us. This is precisely as Christ had proclaimed to the people of the coming of His kingdom.

In the first reading, we heard about how Daniel showed his vision of the end of times, in which the Lord revealed to him of the difficult times that would come to the people of God. The beast was known to be the infamous Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, about one and a half centuries before the birth of Christ.

And that beast, king Antiochus, persecuted the people of God, those who still keep up their faith and devotion to the One, True God. The evil king enforced pagan rules and rites on the people, and many people apostatised their faith out of fear for punishment and death. The Temple and House of the Lord in Jerusalem was desecrated and made into a house of pagans.

Suffering was great at that time, under the reign and tyranny of the evil king, the loathsome beast on the horn, the one seen by Daniel. The people who kept their faith were tortured, imprison, and met their end in painful death. They were forced by the king to disobey the laws of God and to commit acts profane in the Lord’s eyes. Yet, there are many who resisted, and preferred death to disobedience.

But the Lord did not just leave His people in suffering without help or hope. For He raised the deliverance of the people through the Maccabees, who fought empowered by God’s providence and eventually liberated the people from the tyranny of the evil king Antiochus. The king himself was punished with painful death, with excruciating pain and endless suffering till the end of his life. That was when the beast in the vision of Daniel was punished and destroyed by the power of God.

That is a foreshadowing of the events that is to come, and I am sure you are all familiar with the Book of Revelation by St. John the Evangelist. For the devil too will, in much the same way, persecute the faithful ones, swaying many people to his side in rebellion against the Lord, in one final and futile attempt to defy the Lord’s will.

Jesus, the Messiah and Saviour of all mankind, will come at the end of time, in order to bring all creation towards Himself, and make everything good once again. The devil and all his followers, and all the filths and taints of sin He will destroy and cast into the lake of eternal fire, in damnation. Jesus who had once come into this world as the Son of Man, to suffer and die for our sins, will come again at the end of time as a victorious and triumphant King.

Jesus is the Son of Man seen by Daniel in His vision, the promised One who is given dominion over all things, including over us mankind. For, ever since we have rebelled against God through our forefathers’ sins, the devil who is lord of all evil has dominion, power and authority over us. In order to free us from our bondage to the evil one, a pure and unblemished sacrifice for the purification of our sins.

That is when Jesus came, as the Son of Man, the long promised Messiah. He was prophesied by the many prophets and servants of God throughout the ages. The Lord Jesus brought forth with Him, the salvation of mankind. Jesus revealed the great plan that God had crafted for the sake of our salvation. And He too revealed the imminent coming of the kingdom of God as I had mentioned.

Why did Jesus say that the kingdom is coming soon? And why did He mention that the generation would not pass before the coming of the kingdom? That is because, the kingdom of God was ushered into the world, and to all of us, precisely by a single important moment in the history of our world. That is none other than the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Himself. Through this singular event, the kingdom of God appears and is present to all of us, even today.

It is through the selfless and perfect sacrifice of our Lord that we receive this new life and the hope of salvation. Before the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no hope for us mankind, but with the death and resurrection of Jesus, a new hope had dawned. That is the kingdom of God made manifest into this world. And, the Lord Himself gave freely to all of us, His own flesh and blood, just as He gave them to His disciples at the Last Supper.

Remember the words of Jesus, that all those who eat the bread that is the Body of the Lord, and drink the wine that is the Blood of the Lord, will not die but live forever. That is because the Lord Himself, in His Most Holy Presence in the bread and wine we partake, comes and dwells in each one of us. Each of us essentially become the House of the Most High God, and consequently, we are all experiencing the kingdom of God, even now, in ourselves.

Yes, brethren, for we have received the Lord in the Eucharist, and consequently, our lives too have been transformed to mirror that of the kingdom of God. We are experiencing the kingdom even as we live day by day. And that is also the reason, why even though our lives will be difficult, and challenges scattered on our path, we should not be worried. The Lord Himself guides us along the way, and we ought to follow Him all the way to the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why, today onwards, let us uphold our faith in Christ and proudly walk forth as the children of God, and as His disciples. Do not fear evil and his forces, and rather, let us do our best to obey the will of God. May the Lord continue to guide us, provide for us, and help us so that we will eventually reach the glory of heaven, when the Lord Jesus comes again in His glorious Second Coming. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 18 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of Basilica)

1 Maccabees 1 : 10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-64

From the kings who followed Alexander (the Great), from their descendants there came a godless offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, who had been held as hostage in Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Greek era (175 B.C.).

It was then that some rebels emerged from Israel, who succeeded in winning over many people. They said, “Let us renew contact with the peoples around us for we had endured many misfortunes since we separated from them.”

This proposal was well-received and some eagerly went to the king. The king authorised them to adopt the customs of the pagan nations. With his permission, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem in the pagan style. And as they wanted to be like the pagans in everything, they made artificial foreskins for themselves and abandoned the Holy Covenant, sinning as they pleased.

Antiochus issued a decree to his whole kingdom. All the peoples of his empire had to renounce their particular customs and become one people. All the pagan nations obeyed and respected the king’s decree, and even in Israel many accepted the imposed cult. They offered sacrifices to idols and no longer respected the Sabbath.

On the fifteenth day of the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, Antiochus erected the “abominable idol of the invaders” on the altar of the Temple. Pagan altars were built throughout the whole land of Judea; incense was offered at the doors of their houses and in the squares. There wicked men tore up the books of the Law they found and burned them. They killed anyone they caught in possession of the book of the Covenant and who fulfilled the precepts of the Law, as the royal decree had ordered.

But in spite of all this, many Israelites still remained firm and determined not to eat unclean food. They preferred to die rather than to make themselves unclean with those foods prohibited by the Law, that violated the Holy Covenant. And Israel suffered a very great trial.

Alternate Reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilicas)

 

Acts 28 : 11-16, 30-31

After three months, we boarded a ship that had spent the winter at the island. It belonged to an Alexandrian company and carried the figurehead of Castor and Pollux as insignia. We sailed for Syracuse, staying there for three days and, after circling the coast, we arrived at Rhegium.

On the following day, a south wind began to blow, and at the end of two days we arrived at Puteoli, where we found some of our brothers who invited us to stay with them for a week. And that was how we came to Rome.

There the brothers and sisters had been informed of our arrival and came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he gave thanks to God and took courage.

Upon our arrival in Rome, the captain turned the prisoners over to the military governor, but permitted Paul to lodge in a private house with the soldier who guarded him.

Paul stayed for two whole years in a house he himself rented, where he received without any hindrance all those who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught the truth about Jesus Christ, the Lord, quite openly and without any hindrance.

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Thursday, 21 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus, our Lord, has been the harbinger of a new covenant between us and God, just as God had established His covenant with Abraham in the days long past. He made the covenant with Abraham because of Abraham’s great faith and love for God, and obedience to the point that he was willing to offer his own son, the promised son God had promised him, to be offered as sacrifice without hesitation. For his great faith, love, and obedience, he has been rewarded with God’s promise that he will be the father of a great nation and that his descendants be as countless as the stars, and his descendants will last forever.

This covenant made the people of Israel, God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through whom God repeatedly renewed and reiterated His covenant with Israel. Yet, despite the constant proof of His love and His obedience to the covenant that He had made, the people of Israel, after their liberation from Egypt’s slavery, constantly were in rebellion against God, and were unrepentant, despite the numerous prophets and signals He had brought to the people over the centuries.

They rebelled against Him, and murdered His prophets, and smeared their blood on the streets of Samaria and Jerusalem, that eventually made God abandoned the kingdoms that His people had chosen to make, starting with Saul, and ended with Zedekia in Judea, and were brought away to the seventy years in exile in Babylon. He, however, did not forget at all the covenant He had made all those years ago with Abraham. He remembered the covenant perfectly, and He brought His people back to their homeland.

Yet, they still rebelled and many years passed where the people of Israel abandoned God. Remember the Book of Maccabees, and the story of the struggle of the Maccabees against their Greek overlords who imposed pagan gods over the people of Israel, which saw many readily threw away their love and obedience to God and His covenant. Yet, God always remained true to His covenant at all times, and as we knew, that God has sent His one and only deliverance to His people, and this people counted it not only that of Israel, but that of all the descendants of Adam, all mankind He had created.

That salvation came through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Word of God, who is one with God the Father in perfect unity, and He is the only one worthy on heaven and earth, to end the chains of slavery of sin, to end the corruption of Satan and all his evil plans, and to bring all creation, all mankind, back towards God who loves them so much. Jesus Christ, is the harbinger of a new Covenant, in place of the covenant that God had made with Abraham.

No, not to replace that covenant, but rather to perfect that covenant. A new covenant not only to show God’s love and undying care for His people, but also to bring them to be once again fully reunited against Him. That love and that covenant came about and was fulfilled, as we remember it, in the events surrounding the Holy Week, in which the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated every year. Through Christ’s suffering, death, and finally resurrection on the third day in glory, He made the new covenant fulfilled, which He gave to us, through His Precious Body and Precious Blood.

Remember the words when the Blood of Christ in the chalice is elevated at the Mass at the consecration, “Take this all of you and drink for it, for this is the Chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins, do this in the memory of Me.” Indeed, the Body and Blood of Christ that He had offered through His sacrifice and death on the cross marked the new Covenant God made with all of us.

If we remain true to this Covenant and remain faithful to this Covenant, God will definitely also bless us, and will keep true to the Covenant, for He is ever faithful and ever loving. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today pray for one another, that we will continue to keep our faith, hope, and love in God, and remain true to our part in this new Covenant of Christ. Remember this every time we take in His Body and His Blood at the Mass. May God remain with us always, and bless us, with eternal life. Amen.