1 Maccabees 2:1-13. This is a lament of Mattathias, father of five sons, including Judas Maccabeus. Mattathius saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem and laments that he is living at the time when all of this is happening. Why does he have to witness it? It's terrible! The temple has been defiled, babies are killed in the streets, children are slain by the swords of enemies, nations have plundered Jerusalem, all of her beauty and riches has been taken into captivity and exile; she is a slave, no longer free. He asks why he and his family should live any longer.

We know the story of this family. Mattathias himself stands up to the evil of his time, and his sons become great warriors who liberate their people. So that is why he is alive at this time - to be the change, to teach the right ways, to set an example, to affect future generations and the future of Jerusalem. Decay happens gradually and people, as they live through it, see it as inevitable, the way things have to be. But when we finally wake up and look around and see the decay around us, as Mattathious does here, we have a choice. We can either give up and despair, or start right then to fight back.

At times of great challenge, God raises up people who won't fall into despair, who do not accept the desolation, to use as his instruments of change. For those of us asking ourselves now why we are alive to see all of the struggles of our country, our world, and our Church - this is the answer.

We are alive at this time not to give in to despair, not to accept the decline as inevitable, but to be the change.