COLLECT
O God, who in martyrdom
have brought true faith to its highest expression
graciously grant
that, strengthened through the intercession
of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More,
we may confirm by the witness of our life
the faith we profess with our lips.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
R.) Amen.
A READING FROM THE SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES
(I am glad to suffer because the awe which he inspires in me.)
Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the Law,
a man already advanced in years
and of most noble appearance,
was being forced to open his mouth wide
to swallow pig’s flesh.
Those in charge of the impious banquet,
because of their long-standing friendship with him,
took him aside
and privately urged him
to have meat brought of a kind
he could properly use,
prepared by himself,
and only pretend to eat the portions of sacrificial meat
as prescribed by the king.
“Such pretence”
he said
“does not square with our time of life;
many young people would suppose
that Eleazar at the age of ninety
had conformed to the foreigners’
way of life,
and because I had played this part
for the sake of a paltry brief spell of life
might themselves be led astray on my account;
I should only bring
defilement and disgrace
on my old age.
Even though for the moment I avoid execution by man,
I can never,
living or dead,
elude the grasp of the Almighty.
Therefore if I am man enough to quit this life here and now
I shall prove myself worthy of my old age,
and I shall have left the young a noble example
of how to make a good death,
eagerly and generously,
for the venerable and holy laws.”
With these words he went straight to the block.
His escorts,
so recently well disposed towards him,
turned against him after this declaration,
which they regarded as sheer madness.
Just before he died under the blows,
he groaned aloud and said,
“The Lord whose knowledge is holy sees clearly that,
though I might have escaped death,
whatever agonies of body
I now endure under this bludgeoning,
in my soul I am glad to suffer,
because of the awe which he inspires in me.”
This was how he died,
leaving his death as an example of nobility
and a record of virtue not only for the young
but for the great majority of the nation.
The word of the Lord.
R.) Thanks be to God.
responsorialpsalmcatholic 