Sartuday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (August 4, 2018): Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest

Today’s Readings:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Psalm 69: 15-16, 30-31, 33-34
Matthew 14:1-13
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080418.cfm

USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_08_04.mp3

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus
and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.
He has been raised from the dead;
that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison
on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,
for John had said to him,
“It is not lawful for you to have her.”
Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,
for they regarded him as a prophet.
But at a birthday celebration for Herod,
the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests
and delighted Herod so much
that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.
Prompted by her mother, she said,
“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,
he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.
His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,
who took it to her mother.
His disciples came and took away the corpse
and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

Reflection for Saturday: Die for the Truth

In what ways have people tried to behead you? Let’s put that another way: Who is your head? As a Christian who desires to follow the ways of the Lord, Christ is your head of course. Who has tried to separate you from Christ? Or from the truths that Christ taught?

Perhaps there are family members who don’t like having you in their lives because of the strength of your faith. By cutting you out of their lives, they are in effect trying to cut Jesus out of their lives. Perhaps it is a family member or friend who wants you to make moral compromises; we live in a world that is increasingly pressuring Christians to accept the lies about worldly ways that contradict the ways of God. Perhaps it is a co-worker who has affected your reputation on the job by making false accusations against you, because you refuse to be afraid of being known as a faithful follower of Christ.

But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. 

This Saturday’s responsorial Psalm is a great prayer for when we feel afflicted by persecution, as are many of the Psalms. And the key verse is the revelation of the cure for such pain: We praise God despite and in the face of the sufferings inflicted upon us by those who do not agree with us about our faith. Not only does praise make demons flee, it also lifts are spirits. If we have to force ourselves to overcome sadness or feeling hurt by praising God, then force ourselves we must do.

I love what Graciela, GNM’s Director of Online Ministry, writes about this theme:

The passion of John the Baptist

In this Saturday’s Gospel reading, we see a man, passionate for the Truth, in full action! Not only preaching, but demonstrating, with his way of living, what a life of total surrender to the Lord is like. He even dressed himself in camel skin, ate honey and grasshoppers! That is passion!

But even more. His love and his passion led him not only to announce the Savior, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, with his life and his words, but to denounce the lie, the corruption and the sin, right in the face of the very sinner: the tetrarch Herod, a corrupt official who abused his power, and his wife Herodias, who hated John because he constantly reminded the king that it was not “lawful” to have her, since Herodias was his brother’s wife.

Of course, such “indiscretion” was not going to go unpunished. Faced with such brazenness, Herod sent him to prison to silence him and thus no longer listen to his criticisms. But he did not succeed! (They will also try to silence Paul in the same way, some years later, but this won’t succeed either.)

John the Baptist, although he was in prison, remained an accusatory “presence”. His very existence was a constant reproach, not so much for Herod because, in spite of everything, he was fascinated by the words of John (see Mark 6:20), but for Herodias, who, filled with hatred, was looking for a way to kill him.

John was passionate, and nothing mattered more than the Truth. His personal encounter with Jesus in his mother’s womb, his relationship with God and his life of prayer made him a man totally devoted to his Lord, to his God, to Truth! For him the Truth was the most beautiful and worthy of being loved. And it is because of that Truth that he died.

Saint Bede, a monk of the 9th century (Hom. 23: CCL122, 354), said: “… John was not ordered to deny Jesus Christ, he was only ordered to silence the truth.”

A person passionate about the Truth cannot keep it quiet. Truth is his guide, his light, the air he breathes. He can only live to serve the Truth and surrender to it. And Jesus Christ is the Truth.

How passionate are we for the Truth? How passionate are we for Jesus Christ? There are places in the world where Christians are being sacrificed, where they are being beheaded, like John, for following Jesus Christ. This may not be our extreme reality, but how much of a martyr we are sometimes for following that Truth!

Those of us who are passionate about Jesus Christ, the Truth, will always be persecuted and some people will want to silence us — often our own family members! Our mere presence is upsetting to many. More than one person would like to make us disappear from the earth so they can feel free to continue with their abuses, corruption, and sins.

But just like John the Baptist and Paul and so many others who could not be silenced even when beheaded, they won’t be able to shut us up either. By the grace and strength of God, we must be the torch always on, the right word to announce and denounce. But also, as the Master taught us, we must do it while loving them. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to love those who want to keep us quiet, to teach us to give our lives and pain for those who do not love us, because he loves us all equally.

May we say as our Lord taught us: “Forgive them, Father. They do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23, 34).

How can we know when to speak the truth boldly and when to keep quiet? Especially on matters of Christian faith, salvation through Jesus Christ, and moral values! That’s the topic of this video, based on John 5:31-47.

© 2018 by Terry A. Modica

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