CAUSE OF TRIBULATIONS

SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, RELIGIOUS

1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-46; Ps 119:53,61,134,150,155, 158; Lk 18:35-43

The Time of Trial

All the prophecies of the end of the people of Israel as the type of the Church of Jesus Christ foretold a time of trial and difficulty, when the faith of the people would be tried and purified as if in a furnace. The cause of these trials is the laxity that the people develop with time in their worship of God and the observation of his commandments. Because time introduces lukewarmness into people’s religious observances, the worship they offer God falls short of His divine Majesty. The lukewarmness makes them drift gradually away from the presence of God and fall into idolatry without knowing it. The lack of attendance to God creates an opening for various demonic spirits to creep in and hijack the attention of the people. God, who is a jealous God, permits the trials and tribulations to reawaken the attention of the people to their religious obligation. Because of the proneness of our fallen human nature to external or sensible things and pleasures, each of us diminishes in our religious favour very often. The providence of God would usually permit some trials to wake us or call us back to his presence. The trials would always be for our benefit if we recall our attention and faith in God and confess our sins in humility.

The first reading is a typical example of such a trial that came to the people of Israel at the turning point of their vocation to God. The apostasy of many and the trials that followed were revealed to the prophet Daniel and others. The turning away of some people of Israel from God happened when a proud and sinful king arose in the Greek Empire. “It was then that there emerged from Israel a set of renegades who led many people astray. ‘Come,’ they said, ‘let us reach an understanding with the pagans surrounding us, for since we separated ourselves from them, many misfortunes have overtaken us.’” These renegades led other people, who accepted their proposal. “This proposal proved acceptable, and a number of the people eagerly approached the king, who authorised them to practise the pagan observances.” All these were recorded to help us understand that everything happens according to the plan and foreknowledge of God. They subsequently turned away from their religion and religious obligations as required by their holy covenant with God. This prompted King Antiochus Epiphanes to proclaim one religion under his empire. He fulfilled what was foretold in the vision of Daniel about the abomination of desolation above the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem. “The king erected the abomination of desolation above the altar; and altars were built in the surrounding towns of Judah and incense offered at the doors of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law that came to light were torn up and burned.” It was a terrible time for those whose hearts were with God.

In such times of terrible trials and persecutions, a faithful soul can only seek God’s face within, and prayer becomes like a breath of life for a drowning soul. Just like Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who needed the help of Jesus Christ. “When he heard the crowd going past, he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. So he called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.’” Typical of such moments of trials and difficulties, Jesus seemed not to have heard his cry until he persisted in calling out to him for help. According to our Lord in the Gospel of yesterday, the 33rd Sunday, our persistence and endurance would win us salvation in his name. The life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary gives us a good example. Her persistence in search of God’s face won everlasting renown for her, which is different from the worldly fame and wealth she gained through birth. She was the daughter of the King of Hungary. She was given in marriage to Ludwig, the Landgrave of Thuringia, by whom she had three children. She meditated on heavenly things very often, so that when she lost her husband, she embraced poverty and built a hospice to care for the poor by herself. She died in 1231, lived only for 24 years. May her prayer gain us the grace of true devotion to God

Let us pray: O God, by whose gift Saint Elizabeth of Hungary recognised and revered Christ in the poor, grant, through her intercession, that we may serve with unfailing charity the needy and those afflicted. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.