The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Week XXXIII, Year I in Ordinary Time, 16 November 2021 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Luke 19:1-10
Once again, O God our Father, your words today are as timely as the news headlines, perfect in reminding us to remain faithful and true to you, most especially to be men and women of integrity, resisting all forms of pretense, of deceiving in purpose for whatever reason.
Teach us to be firm like your servant Eleazar who strongly turned down offers to save his life by pretending to eat pork as ordered by their pagan conquerors; he chose death than deceive and mislead the people, specially the young ones.
He (Eleazar) told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining: “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many young people would think a ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion. Should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age. Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myslef worthy of my old age.”
2 Maccabees 6:23-27
Teach us also to be like Zacchaeus, who despite his being a publican and a sinner, made no pretense of being good or holy before Jesus when he passed by the city of Jericho; he did not pretend to be tall or of any stature that he made the great effort to climb a tree in order to see Jesus passing; most of all, he shed all kinds of pretense in himself when he vowed to Jesus to repay people he had extorted money from.
We pray, dear God, for our nation, for our voters specially the young people to closely examine the integrity of every candidate running for office so we may choose men and women who are "models of courage" and "unforgettable examples of virtue" (2 Maccabees 6:31). Amen.
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