When I was a
kid, there were times when I didn’t want to do something new, or eat a new
food, or go someplace new. My father’s
method for getting me to change my view was to say, “You don’t know what you’re
missing!” I could give the same advice
to some of my Protestant friends and relatives after my reflection today on the
2nd Book of Maccabees.
There are
several stories in the Catholic bible that were omitted from the Protestant
version during the Reformation. One of
them is Eleazar’s speech on the way to his death; it rivals accounts of
Christian martyrs for its beauty and depth of faith. Even in the face of torture and certain death,
he professed his desire to remain faithful to God’s commands. In the course of his bold profession of faith,
he revealed the mystery at work in the heart of every martyr: “I
am not only enduring terrible pain in my body . . . but also suffering it with
joy in my soul because of my devotion to him.” (2 Maccabees 6:18-31)
Pain in the
body, but joy in the soul. It’s the mystery
of the human heart that both can be felt at the same time. Two different, even contrasting felt
experiences at one and the same time. Without
a doubt, however, it’s the joy that is deeper, it’s the joy that “governs” and
takes the lead. Without that joy, there
would be no martyrdom, no witness to something or, rather, to Someone who makes
heroic suffering possible.
Though we
may marvel at such witness, we tend to distance ourselves from the experience. “Those people” who die for their faith seem so
far removed from our poor faith. Yet, in
simple ways, we can see this “down deep joy” at work. Many of us know (or have known) people
suffering with serious illness who through relationship with the Lord maintain
a genuine joy; here is a “pain in the body, but joy in the soul.” Others may lack a physical pain, but in the
circumstances of their lives they know mental anguish and stress; again, we’ve
seen the joy of faith that breaks through the pain.
The story of
Eleazar in Maccabees invites us to “go deep,” in search of the One who loves us
in the pain and promises to each of us, even with that pain, a “deep down joy.”
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