You can always count on Father David Phillipson giving a first-rate sermon when he visits to substitute for Father Avis. This morning Father Phillipson reviewed the story of the Macabeean Revolt against Greek conquerors in the land of Israel in the middle 100s B.C.Father carefully constructed the ancient history lesson for us so that we could see some of the modern-day parallels of how a small number of persons (in this case, Mattathias, a rural Jewish priest, together with his five sons), fed up with their secular leaders interfering with the practice of their faith, led a revolt against the government's insistence that the Jews worship Greek gods. He also postulated how the people of Isreal were able to defeat the mighty governors of the society and earn a Jewish independence which would last for over a century. Father referred to the actions of the Greeks as the "first abomination of desolation", with the final provocation that of conducting a desolating sacrifice on the altar of the Jewish temple to false gods.
Our society is facing similar abominations in these times. We must be prepared, said Father, as Mattahias, to sacrifice all to resist the attacks on our faith. See the following posts.
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