Today’s reading: 1 Maccabees 1:10-63
The Live Pure movement is established by God in order to help young people live their lives in purity, as part of the defense and promotion of the culture of life.
Today’s scripture reading about the suppression of Judaism in Palestine by Antiochus Epiphanes is very descriptive of what is happening in the world today with the culture of death [Please see From the Servant General, The Culture of Life (Part 4), issued today]. We who are pro-lifers are afflicted, with the situation going from bad to worse.
How do we resist the onslaught? How do we persist in our advocacy for life?
First, we must “resolve in (our) hearts not to eat anything unclean.” (1 Mc 1:62). Nothing that is impure is to enter our minds and our hearts. We are to guard our eyes. Further, nothing impure is to stem from our minds and our hearts. Nothing unholy is to come out of our mouths. Our whole body is to be a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Thus we have the aspects of the LivePure covenant.
* I WILL FREE MY MIND. I will keep my mind clean from impure and lustful thoughts. I will keep my eyes away from pornography, as it degrades me.
* I WILL SPEAK WITH GRACE. My speech will be gracious at all times. I will not tell or laugh at green jokes, nor share and listen to stories which evoke sexual thoughts and behavior.
* I WILL BE CHASTE. I will treat my body for what it truly is – the temple of the Holy Spirit. I will not engage in masturbation, fornication or homosexual acts.
Second, we must be ready to give our all in order to live out our covenant. We should prefer “to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant” (1 Mc 1:63a). One’s covenant is a sacred commitment to God. It is not to be taken lightly. One must try to live it out vigorously and fully.
To live pure is to not allow anything to keep one from living a holy life. One would rather die than be defiled with the unclean things of the world. This certainly speaks of martyrdom. But for us today, it would speak more about dying to self, as we give up on the things of the world that would tempt us to violate our covenant.
Third, we should be open and active in our defense of the culture of life. We should not be “driven into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.” (1 Mc 1:53). We are not to retreat into our pro-life enclaves or hide in places of refuge where we will not be assaulted by the anti-life forces, but go out into the world and fight for the culture of life. We are not to be driven out of our societies by the enemy, but we are to frontally engage the enemy in this life-and-death spiritual war.
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