Choose the Faithful Path

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

By Colleen O’Sullivan

It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat port in violation of God’s law.  Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord... (S)he exhorted each of them in the language of their ancestors with these words:  “I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.  Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.”  (2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-21a, 22-23)

Piety

O Lord, you are the center of my life

I will always praise you

I will always serve you

I will always keep you in my sight

(refrain from “Center of My Life” by Paul Inwood)

Study

Dear Mrs. X,

I don’t know you; in fact, I don’t even know your name, but I’ve read the story of how your life ended.  As a mother, didn’t you want to save your sons’ lives. as well as your own?  Didn’t you want to go on living together?  Was a piece of pork more important than the survival of your family?

-       Wondering

Dear Wondering,

I don’t know you, either, but I would guess you may not be of my faith.  You see, we were taught:  “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!  Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:4b-5)  That foreign king wanted us to eat the meat forbidden to Jews as a sign that we renounced our God.  No, I didn’t want my sons to die.  I didn’t want to die.  I was a good mom and we were a happy family.  We found ourselves in the most horrendous situation imaginable. But what kind of life would we have had together if we had turned our backs on the One who created us and breathed life into us?  The guilt would have destroyed us.  It would have been a living death.  We chose to be faithful.

I don’t know your life circumstances.  I hope you are never put to the test as we were.  But I know everyday life is full of many pieces of pork, little temptations to forget the God you serve.  And small betrayals add up to huge ones.  Always love the One who called you into being and sustains you above anything or anyone else.  Many times a day you may be called to choose; I hope and pray you will always choose the faithful path.

-       Mrs. X

Action

Loving God with all our heart, our soul and our strength isn’t easy. There are many other people, activities and things competing for our love as well.  Take a few minutes in prayer to review the last 24 hours.  Where do you think Jesus would see himself as having been part of your life – first, last or somewhere in between?