Choosing to be faithful

Today’s Scripture passage is about a Maccabean mother and her seven sons who refused to violate the law and were put to death. Each of the sons were tortured as their mother watched. When her youngest son was faced with accepting the lavish gifts the king would bestow on him if he obeyed, the mother encouraged him to remain strong in his faith.  Though none of us will likely be faced with torture or death, yet every day we are invited to die to self and rise with Christ in small, heroic ways.  For instance, the Spirit invites us  1) to stand up for another who is being bullied by gossip, 2) to not entertain ourselves or other others by gossiping ourselves, 3) to tell the truth when tempted to be deceptive,  4) or,  when another is promoting her/himself with grandiose descriptions of how better his/her way is from ours, we can choose the way of humility rather than bringing this person down by countering  with our own personal grandiose accomplishments.  To realize by our behaviors that any good we do is God acting through us is an attitude that will give us the courage to sing God’s praises and “die” to singing our own, being the queen/king others worship and choosing to worship only God.  Will I, like the seven sons and the mother, serve God or self today in the little things that contribute to heroic choices made out of humility and from a stance of faith?