Word of the day

A reading from the Book of Maccabees
1 Mc 2:15-29

The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy
came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
Many of Israel joined them,
but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias:
“You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city,
supported by sons and kin.
Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command,
as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah
and those who are left in Jerusalem have done.
Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s Friends,
and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts.”
But Mattathias answered in a loud voice:
“Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him,
so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers
and consents to the king’s orders,
yet I and my sons and my kin
will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
We will not obey the words of the king
nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.”

As he finished saying these words,
a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all
to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein
according to the king’s order.
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal;
his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused;
he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king
who was forcing them to sacrifice,
and he tore down the altar.
Thus he showed his zeal for the law,
just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.

Then Mattathias went through the city shouting,
“Let everyone who is zealous for the law
and who stands by the covenant follow after me!”
Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons,
leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom
went out into the desert to settle there.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Jesus weeps, because we have chosen the way of war, the way of hatred, the way of hostility. This is even more glaring now that “we are approaching Christmas: there will be lights, there will be celebrations, trees lit up, even nativity scenes... all decorated: the world continues to wage war, to wage wars. The world has not comprehended the way of peace. (…) What remain are “ruins, thousands of uneducated children, the deaths of so many innocent people: so many!”. And also “so much money in the pockets of arms dealers”. It is a crucial issue. Once, Jesus said: ‘no one can serve two masters: either God or wealth. And, war is choosing wealth: ‘let’s make weapons, this way the economy will balance out somewhat’, and we continue with our interests. In this regard, there is a horrible word of the Lord: ‘accursed’, because ‘he said: blessed are the peacemakers!’. So those “who work for war, who wage wars, are accursed, they are criminals”. A war, can be justified — in quotation marks — with many, many reasons. But when the whole world, as it is today, is at war — the whole world! — it is a world war being fought piecemeal: here, there, there, everywhere. And “there is no justification. God weeps. Jesus weeps”. (…) It will be good for us too, to ask for the grace to weep for this world which does not recognize the way of peace, which lives to wage war, while cynically claiming not to do so. And, he added, let us ask for a conversion of heart. Right at the threshold of this Jubilee (…), that our jubilee, our joy may be the grace so that the world may once again find the capacity to weep for its crimes, for what it does with wars. (Santa Marta, 19 November 2015)