16 November 2021 - homily for Tuesday of the 33rd week in Ordinary Time - 2 Maccabees 6:18-31

     This week, we hear from the 1st and 2nd books of Maccabees in our first readings at Daily Mass.  Today and tomorrow, from 2nd Maccabees, we hear about the heroic martyrdoms of people who refused to compromise the fundamental principles of their Jewish faith, leading them to sacrifice their lives as martyrs for the faith.  Today we read about Eleazar.  He was a respected teacher of the law in Ancient Israel, a gracious elderly man of great dignity. When he was forced to eat a piece of pork, which was forbidden by Jewish law, he spat out the piece of meat. He was ready to die with honor than to disgrace the Jewish faith.  Do we try to adhere to the values of our Christian faith, or are we ready to abandon our faith in order to fit into society and to be accepted and approved of by our brothers and sisters? 

      Just like Eleazar in our first reading, the saints were called by God in different ways to live out their faith with integrity and dignity.  Today we celebrate St Hugh of Lincoln on his feast day.  Hugh was a monk in a Carthusian monastery in France in the 12th century.  The Carthusians are one of the monastic orders that observe a strict vow of silence.  At the age of 40, he was asked to open a Carthusian monastery in England.  He earned a great deal of respect from the people when he made sure that the poor who were displaced by the building of the monastery were justly compensated for their land. Later, in 1186, he was appointed Bishop of Lincoln in England, where he showed a special love for the sick, the poor, and the lepers of his diocese.  One story about him recounts how he personally shielded a group of Jews from an angry mob.  Being originally from France, Hugh was sent on several diplomatic missions to France to represent the English king.  At the time of the English Reformation in the 16th century, Hugh of Lincoln and Thomas Beckett were the two best known saints in that country.  Hugh is the patron saint of sick children, sick people, shoemakers and swans.  I thought: why would he be patron saint of swans?  There is a story about how a swan on the grounds of the bishop’s residence in Lincolnshire befriended him and guarded him as he slept.  The swan would follow him around and was his constant companion.  The swan would attack anyone who seemed threatening to the bishop. Let us unite our prayers with the prayers of St Hugh of Lincoln today.