47. The Maccabees: Courage and Faithfulness unto Death (1 & 2 Maccabees)

In the 2nd century BC, the Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to impose Greek culture and religion on the Jews, forbidding their faith and profaning the Temple. Faced with this oppression, the family of Mattathias and his five sons, known as the Maccabees, rose in heroic resistance. They were not fighting only for their political freedom, but above all for the freedom to follow God's Law and maintain their identity as the chosen people.

The books of the Maccabees present us with accounts of great spiritual strength, such as the martyrdom of the elderly Eleazar and that of the mother with her seven sons. They all preferred to die rather than betray their faith, witnessing to their hope in the resurrection of the dead, a truth that shines brightly in these books. Judas Maccabeus, the military leader, finally succeeded in recovering and purifying the Temple of Jerusalem, an event that Jews still commemorate in the feast of Hanukkah.

These heroes of the faith teach us the importance of consistency. In a world that often pressures us to forget our values, the Maccabees remind us that there are things more important than physical life itself: faithfulness to God and to the truth. They are a model of courage for the Church, especially when we must defend our religious freedom and our Christian commitment in the face of "fashions" or ideologies that try to turn us away from the Gospel.