HEROIC WOMEN WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US

Gospel Luke 19:11-28
First Reading 2 Maccabees 1, 20-31

"The mother was the most amazing one of them all, and she deserves a special place in our memory." 2 Maccabees 7:20

Wow, this story in 2 Maccabees is amazing! I encourage you all to read it. What I gathered from the reading is this mother of seven boys had such great faith that she witnessed all of her sons tortured to death because she taught them to stand up for God and to refuse to obey the Kings orders. She saw Eternal life as the most important aspect of her sons lives, even so, that she witnessed their deaths knowing this life was short and that they would spend eternity together. As mothers, do we have this much faith? Think of Mary watching her son being tortured and hung on a cross. How does our faith compare to the great women who have gone before us? Use to, a woman's greatest work was raising her children and tending to their eternal salvation. Nowadays, children are put on the back burner because there are too many distractions for women. I am looking at some Thanksgiving decorations I have hanging in my kitchen window. In the picture, the Pilgrim woman has children surrounding her while she holds a tray of pies & cookies. This image is laughed at in our society today. Pilgrim women would be considered weird or beneath the almighty woman of society. Somewhere, somehow, the woman has gradually changed roles & the lives she has been graciously given to care for have taken backseat. I heard on Catholic talk radio yesterday that a woman is a the sacred tabernacle of life. I was really taken back by that statement. We are sacred tabernacles of life here on earth. After our children are born to this life, the sacred tabernacle reigns in our arms as we hold our babies, in our eyes as we look lovingly onto our children, in our smiles as we bring laughter & happiness to our children, in our feet as we lead our children on the path to eternal life. So as the sacred tabernacle of life, our main goal should be welcoming our children into our sacred tabernacles by being present to them. If children do not have their sacred tabernacle in their presence, they become lost. We remember during this time of Thanksgiving, the pilgrim women who lovingly welcomed her family and friends into her sacred tabernacle by preparing such a feast of thanksgiving for all of them. What beauty & example we have in the simplicity of the Pilgrim life and it is a reminder of the simplicity that God yearns for all of our lives today. What wonderful role-models we have in these women. Just as the mother in Maccabees witnessed her sons dying to eternal life, we are to work for nothing more than seeing to our children's salvation through our presence, our prayers, our faith, and our examples.

So today, as we can easily get caught up in the distractions of this materialistic, self serving world, let's remember the heroic women who have gone before us. They were not out searching for worldly pleasures, they suffered willingly for their family and saw to the most important task they were given....making sure their children made it to Heaven.

Have a blessed Wednesday!