Sunday 6 November 2022

Today is Sunday the 6th of November, beginning the 32nd week of Ordinary time.

Salt of the Sound sings, ‘When I Survey’.

When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

Today’s reading is from the Second Book of Maccabees.

2 Macc 7:1-2,9-14

It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and thongs, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, ‘What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.’ And when he was at his last breath, he said, ‘You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.’

After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, ‘I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.’ As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

After he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. When he was near death, he said, ‘One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!’

Today’s passage is just part of a horrific story of seven brothers being tortured and killed in front of their mother for not conforming to the arbitrary rules of an unjust king. What first strikes you as you hear it?

Clearly, the writer expects us to be impressed by the bravery and constancy of these young men. What do you make of their reactions to their own sufferings?

What do you think that the king, who has ordered these tortures, makes of the brothers’ response?

In the course of this passage, each of the brothers speaks of his hope of being raised to life by God in heaven after his death. Notice how this colours your own response to the story as it is read again.

Today, people continue to be tortured and killed for their religious faith. You might like to speak to God about this as the prayer time comes to a close.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.