At times it is human for us to envy the "big" people of this world, those who seem to have everything they want, including money and power. If somehow we are oppressed by them, our feelings turn to hatred, and we revenge.

In the first reading, King Antiochus oppressed the Jews but was hated by them. They wanted God to work His justice against him. Antiochus, learning that his armies had been defeated, realized that he was about to die in disgrace and alone.

We should never envy those who seem to be mighty in this world, nor wish evil upon them. Justice belongs to God alone and we must allow Him to work out His justice in His own way. More positively, we ought to realize that God favours those, who in simplicity and humility depend completely on Him.

No matter what our problems may be during life, the crucial point will come at the moment which Antiochus feared and which we should welcome, the moment of death. Death means a leap into the arms of God who is the God of the living. As children of God, we are children of the resurrection. Death is not an end but a beginning - a beginning of the passage to that state in which we are alive in God.