Happy Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary!

Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes,
a man of advanced age and noble appearance,
was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork.
But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat,
and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture,
as people ought to do who have the courage to reject the food
which it is unlawful to taste even for love of life.
Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately,
because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat,
and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrifice prescribed by the king;
in this way he would escape the death penalty,
and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him.
But Eleazar made up his mind in a noble manner,
worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age,
the merited distinction of his gray hair,
and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood;
and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God.

He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining:
“At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense;
many young people would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar
had gone over to an alien religion.
Should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life,
they would be led astray by me,
while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age.
Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men,
I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty.
Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now,

I will prove myself worthy of my old age, and I will leave to the young a noble example
of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws.”

Eleazar spoke thus, and went immediately to the instrument of torture.
Those who shortly before had been kindly disposed,
now became hostile toward him because what he had said
seemed to them utter madness.
When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said:
“The Lord in his holy knowledge knows full well that,
although I could have escaped death,
I am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging,
but also suffering it with joy in my soul
because of my devotion to him.”
This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of courage
and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.

This text struck me mainly due to the rule about pork.  Many people don’t stop to think or ask themselves, “why” did God give this rule!?

We know today that to safely eat pork it must be cured correctly and cooked thoroughly!  It can contain parasites,  that make us sick, sometimes to the point of death.  The people in the Old Testament times did not know this, yet.  So to protect His people God told them not to eat pork because He knew that it was not processed in a way that it could be safely eaten!  In the New Testament Jesus, after the Ascension tells Peter that he can eat pork!  By this time people had learned how to cure and thoroughly cook pork so one could eat it safely!  God was taking care of His people!

I don’t often hear people give the correct reasons why God gave His laws.

When we are children we don’t always understand why our parents have certain rules for us.  When we get older we understand many of the rules and why they are there.  It can sometimes be hard to get children to follow the rules that we have to help keep them safe.  They want to understand first and sometimes they are not ready to understand, kind of like the people in the Old Testament.  God gave the rule to keep them from getting sick.  They needed to follow the rule even though they did not understand why God gave the rule!  Hopefully as the children mature they see the rules as there to protect them!  Also we Christians don’t always see the point of the rules God gives to us!  We need to learn where we can as to the benefit of following God’s law, but also follow when we don’t understand, we will see everything clearly one day!

Reflection:  Do I try to set an example of virtue for people around me to follow!?

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!