In reading the book of Maccabees, we are presented today with the admirable example of that good woman who, from her deep faith, encourages her children to be faithful to God, overcoming temptations, flattery and torture that tried to divert them from faith in God. Whether or not to eat certain foods is not important in itself; what is important is fidelity to the faith that those faithful believers who live in the midst of the pagans, like those who persecute and torture them, have in God and in Christ, his son. The reading we have done highlights in this episode, above all, the faith that the protagonists show in the resurrection and in the afterlife. The same lesson that we will find in the gospel. Saint Paul in the second reading also encourages the Christians of Thessaloniki, in Greece, to persevere on the path of faith, which is also a source of edification for all communities, thus transforming us into apostles for those who see. He warns them, on the other hand, that good times await them, but persecutions and the constant temptation of the pagan world around them. The Apostle also tells them that the Lord who is faithful will give you strength and will free you from the evil; and he ends by telling them that the Lord directs your hearts towards the love of God and patience in Christ (2 Thess 3, 3-5).