For the next week, we will be reading from the two books of Maccabees except on those feasts that have their own readings. These two books are not part of the Jewish Bible; consequently, they are not included in the Protestant Bible either. We refer to them as part of the “Apocrypha” or as “Deuterocanonical.” Generally speaking, the word “apocrypha” is used to describe documents of unknown authorship which are not part of a particular canon. In this instance, it refers to the fact that while these books are part of the Septuagint, they are not part of Hebrew Bible. Since it is part of the Catholic Bible, we call it “deuterocanonical.”
The word “Maccabees” simply means “hammer.” It refers to a Jewish hero who helped the faithful Jews to resist the influence of the Gentiles who had subjected them and who had tried to replace the dietary laws and commandments with a more “general” mode of living, a mode of living that would see the Jews easily acculturated with the Gentile society.
The reading we have today simply sets the stage for the stories we will hear during the rest of the week. Antiochus Epiphanes has conquered the Hebrew people. Some Jews have blended in with the Gentiles and have abandoned the dietary laws and the practice of the commandments of the Law, in particular the first commandment which prohibits the children of Israel from worshipping other gods.
The Church uses this book as we come to the end of the liturgical year to highlight the need to remain faithful to our faith even in difficult circumstances. As is the case with all such literature, the general theme is that since we are children of a faithful God, then we in turn need to remain faithful to Him.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator