Today's readings present a typical biblical theme - God casts down the mighty and lifts up the lowly. The pagan king, Antiochus, was sitting on top of the world. Greedy for even more wealth, he had begun to encounter opposition and then started to lose battles. He died in shame and despair.

We are ordinary people. We are not the powerful rulers of nations nor are we the beneficiaries of mighty economic empires. We can even be considered oppressed by the enemy of inflation which really affects, not the wealthy, but the poor and those of moderate income. We are the lowly of this world. We should see today that God lifts up the lowly. He will do so, not by lifting us out of our economic problems or freeing us from the attacks of prejudice. He will do so by raising us from the dead to a life of glory.

In the Mass, Jesus takes two simple things, bread and wine, and lifts them up by transforming them into His Body and Blood. His body and blood become our spiritual nourishment and will in turn transform us into the glorified Christ. The Eucharist will lift up these lowly bodies of ours from the grave and we will become like the angels, no longer liable to death, sorrow or humiliation.