Please read the passage before the homily.
Chapter seven tells the story of the martyrdom of seven sons and the mother. In chronological order each son gives witness to his faith in God and each day.
St Carlos Acutis is famous for telling his friends not to become photocopies of each other, but to be unique as God has made them called them. The mother of the seven sons in our reading famous for telling her sons to be like each other in their faithfulness to God.
By nature, we tend to be teammates. To be in our group one has to root for the Reds, not the Cubs, the Bengal not the Packers. We must all wear red, or green, or orange. We have our ingroups and our outgroups. If these groupings help us fulfill our lives towards God and the good of others, they serve a useful purpose. If they draw us away from God and our faith in God, they we should not be photocopies of one another. If they draw us towards God and the love of our neighbor, then we should stick together as did the seven sons in the reading for today.
The reading is one of the earliest to speak somewhat explicitly about resurrection from the dead. The mother counsels her children to remain faithful to God in hopes of receiving God’s mercy in the time of mercy. We still live in hope of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
November 21 , 2025: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37. 52-59
Please read the passage before the homily.