杏MAP导航 at Audience: Elderly Christians must uphold honour of faith for youth
By Devin Watkins
At the weekly General Audience, 杏MAP导航 Francis focused his attention on the Biblical figure of Eleazar, as recounted in 2 Maccabees 6:18-31.
The 90-year-old man鈥攅xtremely old at a time (c.170 BC) when life expectancy averaged around 40鈥攚as ordered by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes to eat pork, which was forbidden by Jewish Law.
The king鈥檚 subjects offered to let Eleazar eat another meat and pretend it was pork, thus saving his life through what they called an unimportant gesture.
Eleazar, however, refused to even consider breaking God鈥檚 law and give scandal to the young people looking on. He was therefore killed for disobeying the king.
Trading faith for a 鈥榝istful of days鈥�
杏MAP导航 Francis held up the honorable witness of Eleazar as an old man, and spoke about the relationship between 鈥渢he faithfulness of old age and the honor of faith.鈥�
鈥淭he honor of faith occasionally finds itself under pressure鈥攕ometimes violent鈥攆rom the dominant culture, which seeks to weaken it by treating it as an archeological endeavor, old superstition, or out-of-date practice,鈥� he said.
The 杏MAP导航 noted that Eleazar offered a powerful witness of faith in his explanation of why he refused to eat meat sacrificed to idols.
Living the faith consistently
The 杏MAP导航 pointed out that the elderly Eleazar upheld the importance of consistency in the faith, even in old age.
The practice of the faith is too important for life to be set aside when it becomes inconvenient, he added.
鈥淚f an old person who, due to their vulnerability, were to accept to treat the practice of the faith as irrelevant would lead young people to believe that faith has no real relationship with life,鈥� he said.
Seduction of gnosticism
杏MAP导航 Francis went on to consider an ancient heresy鈥攇nosticism鈥攖hat still offers a seductive invitation to young people today.
Gnosticism, he said, considers faith only a spirituality, or force of mind, to hold on to, but which has no real connection with daily life.
He added that gnosticism turns the Christian faith into an ephemeral belief and empties it of true witness.
Yet, said 杏MAP导航 Francis, our Christian faith must always pass through the Incarnation of the Son of God.
Restoring honor to the faith
The 杏MAP导航 said modern societies belittle the practice of the faith through cultural irony, considering faith something for the old to practice.
The elderly, he concluded, have the important mission to 鈥渞estore honor to the faith鈥� because faith is a sign of strength and not of weakness.
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