The Psalmist proclaims that God will blot out the names of the wicked forever. In the reading from Maccabees, we have a concrete example of a wicked man's name disappearing from history as ordinary people remember it. Scholars, of course, know the name and deeds of King Antiochus, and the average will have heard of Alexander the Great. But the vast majority of ordinary people will not know anything of Antiochus - his name has been blotted out.

St Ignatius teaches us that the devil tempts us in three stages. First of all he tempts us to avarice, then to the desire for honours and then to pride. It is through pride that a person falls into great sin. Antiochus was avaricious for the great treasures in the temple at Elymais. If he had managed to steal those treasures, no doubt he would have arrogated to himself the honours given to Alexander the Great. As it was his failure wounded his pride causing him great grief and a total loss of health. Many wicked leaders have ended their life like him dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land. Evil bears its own intrinsic punishment.