Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow after me!

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our first reading from Maccabees, we hear of Mattathias and his devotion to his faith in the true God as understood by the Hebrew people. His love and devotion for God was more important to him than the anything else in his life, even to the point of leaving all his possessions in the city rather than stay in Modein to worship a false god and face certain death. God, as understood by Mattathias, was the God found in the Hebrew scriptures, the Torah. This is the one true God as understood by Mattathias. To worship any other god would be heresy. So, rather than obey the kings command to sacrifice to false gods, he chose to leave everything behind in order to be obedient to God’s Will. He remained focused on the one true God.

Mattathias is an example of how we are to live out our own lives in the practice of our faith as understood in the Catholic Church. We are called, like Mattathias, to be obedient to God’s law, no matter the consequences. God and His laws are to be more important than the secular things of this world.

While we may not be called to the same violent actions as Mattathias, we can be called to a similar spiritual "zeal" to stand up for our faith and values in a world that often pressures us to compromise. We are called to reflect on where we stand in relationship to God, others, and ourselves, and to act with courage. 

We are called to love God with all our minds, hearts and soul, and our neighbors as ourselves. This is very countercultural. Today’s society pushes for love of goods and objects rather than love of God. Society pushes us to “worship” things first, rather than to develop that relationship with God. That is what drove Mattathias to leave all behind. He wanted to do God’s Will rather than to cave into what society was pushing him to do.

As we approach Advent and start to prepare for the celebration of the birthday of Jesus, let us remain focused on our faith and relationship with God. Let us turn to God often in prayer for the times we may fall short in doing his Will. Let us also pray for those people we encounter that reject God and act out in ways that are violent towards all we hold dear. Praying for those people who act in hateful ways towards us and our faith is what the Lord is expecting us to do. Prayer can bring healing to them and help them discover that God truly loves them.

Lord God, we ask your blessing upon all of us and on all who are struggling with issues of anger and hostility. We pray for peace and healing upon those who are struggling this day and need to know your loving kindness towards them. Amen.