From today’s reading...
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.”
We're staying in 2 Maccabees 7 and going deeper into the story of the torture and execution of the seven sons and their mother who was...
Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage,..."
As the father of seven this story hits home. I can see how I might be tempted to tell my youngest, after watching my first six children suffer and die, to accept the king's offer of an easy life...just eat some pork...claim allegiance to a bull or a crow or a tree...cross your fingers as you do it...we both know you don't mean it...save your, what, flesh...and let your soul rot in hell as you lead others on the same ruinous path?
That's where my stubborn, pig-headed anger takes over and I hope I could be like Jesus on the cross who prays...
Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
But I know a not-small part of me would want to escape and exact a revenge upon my oppressors tenfold what they have done to me.
I would want to destroy them so completely that there would be no one left to even tell my story to their ancestors.
I know that to a greater or lesser degree I have that seed of vengeance in me. I'm literally angered as I type this, which tells me I'm still a work in progress.
But I take some small comfort in knowing that even this holy mother of seven "derided" the cruel king...so maybe I'm at least allowed to feel and project at least a little derision against those who seek our bodily ruin.
However, it was not derision or hate that controlled this holy mother. She knew that ultimately her children were not hers. It was the "Creator of the universe" who brought them into "existence in (her) womb, "who gave (them) the breath of life," and "who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed."
She knew that the same Creator who gave them life would restore their lives because they regarded God's law as more important than their comfort, well being, and their very lives.
Follow their example.
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.