Martyrs, Eternal life, Heaven and Hell
32nd Sunday per annum C
Today’s first reading from
Maccabees is harrowing yet also very moving and deeply impressive. The
Jewish martyrs were willing to receive torture and even death rather
than renounce their faith in the LORD. They could easily have lied, and
avoided suffering and an early death. There is a certain worldly logic
that suggests that lying, or pretending to renounce the LORD, is
obviously a lesser evil than the suffering they endured and the death
they went to. Many Jews chose to renounce their faith rather than suffer
the fate of a martyr. (continued here)
