zeal - 33rd week thursday

Today we read once more from the book of Maccabees.  In the book we are told that a certain Jew came forward to offer sacrifice on the altar of a pagan god on orders from the king.  Mattathias, filled with zeal, sprang up and killed the Israelite upon the altar.  We admire the zeal of Mattathias for his courage, dedication and faithfulness to the laws of God but in the light of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ it is wrong to do violence to people who follow a different path.  As Pope Francis has said in the light of recent events of terrorism and extremism, it is a blasphemy to commit violence in the name of God.

But what is this virtue which we call zeal?  Zeal is fervor for our salvation and for the salvation of others, out of love of God. There is passion for the things of God, there is cheerfulness in doing the work of God, there is excitement in propagating God's message, there is diligence, there is seriousness in doing our work for God.  In other words there is love, fervent love.  Mattathias has zeal but zeal can turn violent when this is not founded in fervent love.

Today let us ask for zeal, to be on fire for the Lord – not to remain sluggish and lazy, not slothful nor lethargic.  As the psalms would say, quoted in the gospel to describe the passion and fervor of Jesus, “zeal for your house consumes me.”