Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(II Maccabees 7:1.20-31; Luke 19:11-28)
One of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century was the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations overcame cultural and ideological barriers to forge an agreement among all the countries of the world on the claims that all people could make of their governments. However, the system of rights and responsibilities has not always been honored by its signees. Even the United States for a number of years after the declaration’s passage permitted widespread racial discrimination.
One right at the very core of the freedoms expressed in the Universal Declaration is that of practicing one’s religious beliefs. Taken seriously, religion is more than a matter of personal choice and definitely not a whimsical fancy. Religion entails the following of one’s conscience where God speaks to the person. It is also constructive of a good society. All religions worthy of the name guide their adherents to virtue. Where religion is repressed, people become discontented and want to rebel
The pious story in today’s first reading tells of a vicious ruler who tries to suppress Jewish practice in Israel two centuries before Christ. Many Jews went along with the barbarism, but not all nor, perhaps even the majority. Those who did buy into the tyranny possibly thought, like many do today, that religion does not matter as long as there is food on one’s table. The mother and her seven sons knew better. Because they believed that violating a commandment of God is worse than death, they willingly accepted the latter. Their sacrifice anticipated that of Jesus who likewise died in obedience to God. However, Jesus’ martyrdom was greater in a real sense than all others. Although he lived a completely righteous life according to the Jewish Torah, he suffered not just the outrageous decision of the political regime but the contempt of the religious leaders in his land.
