Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
This reading from the Book of Maccabees is likely hard for many of us to stomach – let alone understand why it’s in the liturgy. Suffice to say, that the extinction of right worship by an aggressive power left few options for an oppressed people. In our own time and country, freedom of speech and conscience allow for more reasoned discussion.
However, the reading does tell us something about zeal. We tend to think of jealousy as merely a bad thing. But the root words for zealous and jealous are the same. In the example of a married couple, there is an appropriate jealous exclusivity, we might say. They are owed a love, loyalty, and intensity that is not given equally to other persons. This does not contradict St. Paul’s famous statements about the nature of love as not being jealous (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4) but rather affirms that the two become one flesh and no one may separate them (Matt. 9:6).
The same is true for right worship and zeal. “I am a jealous God,” says the Lord who delivered Israel from slavery (Exodus 20:5). Just as we would not allow adultery or emotional unchastity to corrupt a marriage, so the one God cannot tolerate other gods. This is why within the Church we must acknowledge limits of tolerance, that not simply any spiritual practice or theological idea or behavior can be found in the deposit of faith. Our primary stance in zeal, then, is not in violent attacks on other persons, but on combatting the smoke of Satan corrupting true Faith.
Our gospel shows a different kind of zeal, with our Savior weeping over those who are blinded by sin or misled by false teaching. His zeal is for all to come to know the truth and be saved in the communion of His Church. Jesus seeks disciples after His own heart to draw others to His Kingdom by means of “human cords” (Hosea 11:4).
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections