33rd Week, Saturday, Nov 22; Saint Cecelia
1 Maccabees 6:3-13 / Luke 20:27-40
Antiochus dies grief-stricken; He paid dearly for his sins against Israel.
When the United States announced the inauguration of a space program, program officials were swamped with letters. Many of them were from people offering to sacrifice their lives for the cause. One letter was from an ex-convict in Houston, Texas. He began by saying that he had a high IQ and was all alone in the world. Then, after offering himself as a guinea pig, he said, "Perhaps in this way I will be able to truly atone for my mistakes.” Antiochus didn't atone for his sins in his lifetime. It wasn't until the hour of death that he realized how foolish he had been.
***
What are we doing to atone for our sins? What sins are we especially sorry for? “When we lay our faults at God's feet, it feels as though we have taken wings.” Eugenie de Guerin
***
We are told in the first reading about the end of King Antiochus IV. After he had failed to rob the temple of Artemis in Mesopotamia and heard about the restoration of Jerusalem and its Temple, he died in discouragement.
***
The ambition of man can be so astounding and amazing, and can even have no bounds. Man has even gone out of his world and gone to the moon and even explored the solar system. Yet he may have gone so far out of himself that he may not be able to see what is so near and so important to him.
In the 1st reading, we heard how king Antiochus had great ambitions in his military campaigns. But when everything fell apart, he also fell into a lethargy from acute disappointment and melancholy until he understood that he was dying.
He regretted the wrong he did, especially the wrong he did to God in Jerusalem. He regretted, but was it too late? We too have our ambitions in life and plans for the future. But are these plans just about the future or are they about eternity?
***
As Jesus said in the gospel, God, is not God of the dead, but of the living. If our lives and our plans are all just about ourselves, then we may not know who the God of the living is. King Antiochus is showing us a very important lesson today. Don't wait till it is too late and end up regretting it. Because it might be for eternity.
***
“God is the God of the living,” says Jesus. He calls back to life those who die; death is overcome since Jesus rose from the dead. The witnesses of the first reading are put to death by the mighty of this earth because they contest the abuse of power, but God raises them up. The resurrection is the core of our faith, not only as a promise to live on in God’s joy after death but already now as a power of building up one another in human dignity, justice, peace, and serving love. We cannot die forever, because God cannot stop loving us.
***
The Gospel passage of today affirms the truth of the resurrection. Jesus says that our God is God “not of the dead, but of the living; for to Him everyone is alive”. This statement of the Lord confirms life beyond death and gives us a realistic vision of the future. He tells us that life in the future will be different from the present. Marriage and giving in marriage are necessities of earthly life. In the resurrection, we are in the presence of God, and life in the presence of God is a life of bliss with no other desire to be fulfilled. Hence today we are invited to strengthen our belief in Jesus’ resurrection and our own resurrection.
***
Prayer
God, source, and purpose of all life, you have committed yourself to us, with a love that never ends. Give us the indestructible hope that you have prepared for us life and happiness beyond the powers of death. May this firm hope sustain us to find joy in life and to face its difficulties and challenges resolutely and fearlessly, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
***
Saint Cecelia
Feast Day November 22
For centuries St. Cecelia has remained one of the church’s most beloved saints. Parents give their daughters her lovely name, which means “lily of heaven.” However, all we know about Cecelia comes from a fifth-century legend that has no historical evidence to support it. Except that two young men featured in the story, Valerian and Tiburtius, were known to have been martyred in the third century and buried in the catacombs. However, no catacomb grave or contemporary writer validates the fascinating tale of St. Cecelia.
However, the story still charms and inspires us. Cecelia, a patrician maiden, dedicated her virginity to Christ, but her father betrothed her to Valerian, a young pagan. Forced into marriage, Cecelia determined to keep her commitment. According to the legend:
As the wedding day approached, she fasted for two or three days. On her nuptial day she wore a hair shirt next to her flesh, concealed by her gown of cloth of gold. She sang in her heart to God alone, saying, “O Lord, let my heart and my body be undefiled.” That night, when with her spouse she sought the secret silences of the bridal chamber, she spoke to him as follows: “O sweetest and most loving youth, there is a secret that I may confess to you, if only you will swear to guard it faithfully.” Then Valerian swore that no necessity would make him betray it in any way. Then she said: “I have for my lover an angel of God, who guards my body with exceeding zeal! If he sees you but lightly touch me for sordid love, he will smite you, and you will lose the fair flower of your youth. But if he knows that you love me with a pure love, he will love you as he loves me, and will show you his glory!”
Then Valerian, guided by the will of God, said: “If you will have me believe you, show me the angel! If I find that he is really an angel, I shall do as you ask me!”
We might wonder if bad breath from fasting and the stink of the hair shirt might not have been enough to protect Cecelia from Valerian’s touch. However, the youth followed Cecelia’s directions and sought baptism from Pope Urban I. Upon his return Valerian saw Cecelia’s angel, who crowned both of them with floral wreaths. Then Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, was also converted. The two new Christians were soon beheaded for burying the bodies of those who had been martyred.
Cecelia herself was condemned for refusing to worship the gods. An attempt to suffocate her in her own bathroom failed. So a soldier was ordered to behead her, but he bungled the job. Cecelia lay dying for three days, during which she bequeathed her property to the church.
The Cecelia legend may be purely fictitious, but this fiction conveys truths that stimulate our faith. St. Cecelia testifies to the supernatural realities that penetrate our lives and invite us to live for God alone no matter what it costs.
