THE BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, THURSDAY OF WEEK 21 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Happy those who are persecuted
in the cause of right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MT 5:10

JEREMIAH 1:17-19

My Soul's Beloved,

The battle belongs to You we are but Your soldiers, Your servants, ready to carry out Your commands and go out into the world to battle the Enemy. We put on Your armor Lord and we are invincible. You supply all our needs. You fit us for battle. You empower us with Truth and we are emboldened by faith.

Like all the prophets of old culminating with the greatest of all prophets John the Baptist, we will be rejected, we will be persecuted, we will be scorned and maligned, we will be threatened and every effort will be made to silence us, but we know that this world is passing. Those who stand firm to the end will share in Your glory and victory. In the end, Lord, we know that the battle belongs to You and You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The victory is won, the devil is in the final death throes and has unleashed the last of his evil forces which will soon be spent. Until then O Lord keep us safe in Your love. 

‘Brace yourself for action.
Stand up and tell them
all I command you.
Do not be dismayed at their presence,
or in their presence I will make you dismayed.
‘I, for my part, today will make you
into a fortified city,
a pillar of iron,
and a wall of bronze
to confront all this land:
the kings of Judah, its princes,
its priests and the country people.
They will fight against you
but shall not overcome you,
for I am with you to deliver you –
it is the Lord who speaks.’

PSALM 70(71):1-6,15,17

My lips will tell of your help.

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;

  let me never be put to shame.

In your justice rescue me, free me:

  pay heed to me and save me.

Be a rock where I can take refuge,

  a mighty stronghold to save me;

  for you are my rock, my stronghold.

Free me from the hand of the wicked.

It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,

  my trust, O Lord, since my youth.

On you I have leaned from my birth,

  from my mother’s womb you have been my help.

My lips will tell of your justice

  and day by day of your help.

O God, you have taught me from my youth

  and I proclaim your wonders still.

My lips will tell of your help.

MARK 6:17-29

My Soul's Beloved,

Good and holy men and women are anathema in the world we live in and so it has been since the beginning since Cain slew his brother Abel. Just as You were a Sign of Contradiction so too are we who are called by Your Name or at least we ought to be. We cannot run with the wolves and hunt with the hounds, once we have taken a stance to stand for You then we must be prepared to go all the way to the Cross following You every step of the way.

Those who are in love with sin, with the world, and the flesh are the greatest enemies of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty and they will not rest until they do all in their power to extinguish these Godly virtues. But it is like fighting windmills for good has overcome evil and vanquished it all we need to do is stand firm against the final onslaught of the Enemy. 

Those who sleep with the Enemy like Herodias want their sins to be condoned but John the Baptist would have none of it. He was unafraid to name their sin and shame them by calling them out publicly for breaking the law and in doing so he made an implacable enemy of Herodias. 

As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

Herod was a weak man who cared for the good opinion of Herodias as well as of his peers and that was his downfall. He knew John to be a good and holy man yet he gave into Salome's request (at the instigation of her mother) and asked for the head of John the Baptist. The spineless man could not refuse her as he had sworn before his guests to give her anything she asked for and although he was deeply distressed as St. Mark tells us, he did what she asked.

Pilate too knew that You were innocent and yet, to appease the crowds, he gave You up to Your enemies, to be crucified. The world continues to hound, torment, persecute, punish, imprison, and put to death those who stand on the side of Truth. Lord Jesus Christ Son of the Living God, in a world that is being overwhelmed by darkness, grant us the courage, the grace, and the strength to be light and salt in the world. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and we will, like St. John the Baptist, be unafraid to speak the truth despite the consequences.