Embedded Files
1 Maccabees 3:1-41 Judas Maccabeus and his army were victorious despite being outnumbered and poorly equipped due to their nobler cause (“for our lives and our laws”) and the support of God himself. In a just war, the death of enemy combatants is an unfortunate consequence of legitimate self-defense. (CCC 2263, 2265)
Ch 3:42-60 Judas and his forces prepared for battle with prayer, repentance, and guidance from the books of the Law and prophets. Judas organized his forces with the bravest soldiers and left their fate to the will of God. (CCC 1431, 1490, 1492)
Sirach 7:1-17 An important part of the growing in virtue is the determination to reject sin by voiding its near occasions. Moreover, in addition to rejecting evil, everyone must form many good moral virtues through the habitual repetition of good acts. The Commandments spell out the minimum standards needed to stay within the purview of God’s will. As St. John Paul II wrote, “The commandments of love of God and neighbor does not have in its dynamic any upper limit, but it does have a lower limit, beneath which the commandment is broken” (Veritatis Splendor, 52). Christ’s teachings perfected the Mosaic Law by going beyond the mere avoidance of sin; in fact, his counsels are intended to lead to heroic sanctity. Especially in the Beatitudes, he revealed the potential moral greatness of the human person. (CCC 2032, 2054, 2336, 2863)
Ch 7:18-36 This book was written in a time and culture when families lived in close contact as extended, multigenerational societies. Family ties were very important since the majority of the day was spent with family members. Today, this close proximity with extended family is seen less, especially in developed countries. However, the Church still teaches that the family is of inestimable value since it is entrusted with the education and formation of children. The family is thus referred to as the “domestic church,” a school of prayer and charity through which parents and grandparents pass along their heritage of faith to their children. (CCC 1658, 1666, 2204, 2685)
Ch 7:27-28 The responsibilities of parents to their children is so great that children are bound to offer their parents deep respect and obedience. (CCC 2215-2230)
Ch 8:1-19 These counsels provide examples of prudence in action, which presuppose sound deliberation and judgment. It is easy to see the connection between each proverb and a particular Commandment. (CCC 1788)
Ch 9:1-19 Although many of the proverbs regarding relationships between men and women provide sound advice, others reflect the patriarchal nature of Jewish society in the era in which this book was written. Christ and the Church he founded support the rights and special roles of women, both in the family and within society. (CCC 1938, 2387)
Proverbs 22:8-9 A common theme in Scripture is the reward for generosity, whether it be expressed in love of God, acts of piety, or deeds of charity toward our neighbor. As St. Paul wrote, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully...And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work” (2 Cor 9:6, 8). (CCC 1968, 2373)
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
GOSH!!
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
SO GOOD!!
We obviously know that is NOT A GUARANTEE
BUT...
We also know that there is something GOOD and NECESSARY and REQUIRED to train children in the WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Now, anyone can turn away from righteousness
EVERY ONE OF US can turn away from the Lord to sin
BUT…
There is something so good about LAYING THE FOUNDATION
IN FACT…
The foundation of a lot of the laws and worldview of the United States is based off of the book we have been reading for the last 284 days
So there is goodness there, the foundation
People in this country can either live up to that foundation and BUILD FURTHER ON IT
OR…
We can abandon those foundations
The way our country goes, the way our families go, the way we ourselves can go
We might have been raised in the Church
We might have rejected what we were raised in
AND YET…
HERE WE ARE NOW!!
We might NOT have been raised in Church and this might be the first time we are really hearing the foundations of the way a person can live a life that is WISE and GIVES GOD GLORY
If that makes any sense...😉
Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”
Fr. Mike mentions a friend he’s never meant, Dave Ramsey
This verse relates to DEBT and how painful and devastating it can be
It’s so deadly to get into debt like this
Of course, so many people seem like they have no choice
BUT…
Proverbs gives us this wisdom that says, “Ok, if you do that, it is very dangerous.”
Now we know that already
But maybe if we read Proverbs 22 we would have known that beforehand
GOSH!!
It’s so interesting to try and take these maxims of the Book of Proverbs or the Book of Sirach and try and apply them universally
Someone could say, “Well I needed to do this or I needed to do that.”
Or you could raise your children in the way of righteousness and they don’t follow the way of righteousness
We know that it is not always a hard and fast rule
But it seems true though
That is wisdom
That is a wise thing
Now on to Maccabees
Judas the Hammer (Valentine 😉) is doing well and fighting for the freedom of the people of Israel
Word gets around to Antiochus that Judas is THE DUDE
So Antiochus sends Lysias, a distinguished man in charge of the king’s affairs, to go to battle with thousands of troops against this small force of Judas Maccabeus and his Jewish soldiers
What happens?
Just like every other story when the people of Israel FAST, PRAY, and HUMBLE THEMSELVES BEFORE THE LORD…
They realize that it’s NOT THEIR OWN POWER
It is NOT THEIR OWN MIGHT
BUT…
It is the MIGHT OF THE LORD
It is the POWER OF GOD HIMSELF
And they have this great moment of VICTORY
IN FACT…
We will find even more trusting in the Lord that results in this victory over the next couple of chapters
Now we know THAT IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE
Sometimes the Lord ALLOWS us to call upon his name and ALLOWS us to fall into EXILE, to be defeated and brought to a place of captivity
SO THAT HE CAN TEACH US
SO THAT HE CAN CORRECT US
SO THAT HE CAN JOIN OUR SUFFERINGS TO HIS
So there is a PROMISE there
BUT…
In THIS story, God BLESSES them
He blesses their revolt against the Greeks
Now on to Sirach
GOSH!!
In Ch 7 we have Advice for Right Conduct
There are so many wise things here
Sirach 7:15, “Do not hate toilsome labor, or farm work, which were created by the Most High.”
We talked about this so many times, all the way back to the first chapters of Genesis where we recognize the GOODNESS OF WORK
GOSH!!
Sirach 7:17, “Humble yourself greatly…”
Sirach 7:18, “Do not exchange a friend for money…”
There’s a song called “Old Friends” and there is a line that says, “You can’t make old friends. You can only make new friends. So you gotta hold onto those old friends.”
Sirach 7:19, “Do not deprive yourself of a wise and good wife…”
Sirach 7:20-21, “Do not abuse a servant who performs his work faithfully, or a hired laborer who devotes himself to you. Let your soul love an intelligent servant; do not withhold from him his freedom.”
We talked about this when it came to the Laws of Israel, this indentured servitude
Not real chattel slavery that is demeaning and takes away someone’s dignity
But INDENTURED SERVITUDE
If there is someone who has done good work, then do not withhold from him his freedom
This next section is SO GOOD
Sirach 7:22, “Do you have cattle? Look after them…”
Sirach 7:23, “Do you have children? Discipline them…”
Sirach 7:24, “Do you have daughters? Be concerned for their chastity…”
Sirach 7:25-26, “Give a daughter in marriage; you will have finished a great task. But give her to a man of understanding. If you have a wife who pleases you, do not cast her out…”
Sirach 7:27, “With all your heart honor your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother.”
There are these domains of relationship in our lives
Cattle
Children
Daughters
Parents
Wives
These are DOMAINS OF RESPONSIBILITY in our relationships
There is something powerful about realizing, “Ok, I have to honor these relationships. And I have to honor those people that God has blessed me with.”
Everything from the cattle to the people I work with to family members, young and old
In Sirach Ch 9 we have a section about guarding one’s soul when it comes to LUST
The Sacred Writer is talking to his son so he is going to make it very clear that he is a FATHER speaking to a SON
Sirach 9:3, “Do not go to meet a loose woman…”
Sirach 9:4, “Do not associate with a woman singer…”
OK not just ANY women who sing, because there are a lot of GREAT woman who sing
Sirach 9:5, “Do not look intently for a virgin…”
Sirach 9:6, “Do not give yourself to harlots…”
This next one is good...
Sirach 9:7, “Do not look around in the streets of a city, nor wander about in its deserted sections.”
You can picture a person wandering about in the “seedy part of town”
You will not find anything but TROUBLE
Sirach 9:8, “Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman, and do not look intently at beauty belonging to another.”
Sirach 9:9, “Never dine with another man’s wife, nor revel with her at wine; lest your heart turn aside to her, and in blood you be plunged into destruction.”
Let’s not beat a dead horse, but it’s SO WISE
There are so many people Fr. Mike talks to
Both college students and older adults who have entered into disaster in their personal lives when it comes to the SIN OF LUST
OR the sin of being unfaithful to the person they’re dating or married to
“This is what I did. I pursued this. I should have been more vigilant.”
That idea of wandering about deserted sections of a city and thinking that I can escape from there unscathed
SO WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THERE?
We can say the same thing about DON’T LOOK AT DESERTED SECTIONS OF THE INTERNET
DON’T LOOK AT DESERTED SECTIONS OF TELEVISION!!
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO FIND THERE?
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK THERE!!
YOU ARE JUST GOING TO FIND DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!!
There is something really powerful about letting the Lord speak to us RIGHT NOW ABOUT THIS
“Maybe God is calling me to actually not just stop from sinning. Maybe he is calling me to stop the things that LEAD me to sin.”
NEAR OCCASIONS OF SIN
Another LAST THING….
GOSH!!
Read this with your eyes as well as with your ears…
Sirach 9:10, “Forsake not an old friend, for a new one does not compare with him.”
It’s worth saying again
Yeah, there’s so many more pieces of wisdom
GOSH!!
FULL!!
The Lord has FILLED us today with WISDOM and WE NEED TO REFLECT ON THESE
ALL OF THESE THINGS
The ones we said, and the ones we haven’t pointed out yet
We need to go back and PRAY WITH THEM
SIT WITH THEM
WRITE THEM IN YOUR JOURNAL
WHAT ARE THE INSIGHTS THAT I WANT TO CAPTURE AND NEVER EVER FORGET?
I WANT TO LIVE THESE OUT!!
BUT…
It takes GRACE to LIVE THESE OUT
It takes GRACE to BRING THESE THINGS TO PRAYER AND LET THE LORD SPEAK TRUTH TO US
FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER SO THAT ALL OF US CAN BE HOLY AND NOT JUST HEAR THESE WORDS BUT ACTUALLY ACT ON THEM
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you for this gift. Thank you for telling us our story, maybe our story in Maccabees that we don’t even know. And also thank you for giving us your wisdom, that we can meditate on your Law day and night. We can meditate on your wisdom at all times. And we can grow in wisdom with the wise. We thank you and praise you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse