Herod's Weakness to Please Others at All Costs: Is It Our Weakness, as Well?

Today's Gospel, Matthew 14: 1-12, presents us with the anger of Herod and his wife toward John the Baptist, who confronted Herod with the fact that his marriage to his brother's wife Herodias was invalid. Herod would have killed John the Baptist outright but, out of fear of the people, who regarded John the Baptist as a a prophet, had him imprisoned instead.  At his birthday party, Herod's daughter performed a dance for Herod that absolutely delighted him. He swore to give her whatever she asked for.  Prompted by her mother, she said, "'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.'"  So Herod, not wanting to look bad to his guests, had John the Baptist murdered in his prison cell and his head brought to his wife on a platter, as she had requested! Herod's weakness to please others led him, in this case, to being complicit in the murder of John the Baptist.

How does our codependency upon others or our need to look good to others--to please them at all costs-- lead us to do that which is contrary to God's will for us?  In other words, in our compulsion to meet what we believe are other's expectations of us, how do we betray ourselves and do that which, otherwise, we would not do?  To what lengths are we willing to go to please another, even if it means violating our commitments to our family/our community/our parish/our employer?  Herod's codependency--his compulsion to please others--led him to be complicit in his wife's murder!

Lord, Your Spirit lives within us and guides us to the Truth. Help us be true to ourselves, to Your Spirit of Truth guiding us, and not be led astray by the desire to please another person not in tune with the truth of goodness within all of us.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Catholic Mass

 In today's first reading, Exodus 24: 3-8, the Israelites say to Moses: "We will do everything that the Lord has told us" to do. Moses puts this promise into writing and then, the next day, "he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel."  He offered sacrifices on this altar, pouring the blood of the sacrificed animals on the altar and some of their blood he sprinkled on  the people. As he sprinkled this blood upon them, he said: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his".  At the consecration of the bread and wine during a Catholic Mass, the priests says:  "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you" and "Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, (my emphasis) which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." And so, in Holy Communion we do  (my emphasis) take and eat and take and drink of the body and blood,. the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and transformation of ourselves into Christ Jesus!

What a gift offered upon our altars in every Catholic Church during the Sacrifice of the Mass,  offered in memory of Jesus's sacrifice made for us on Calvary.

Being Open to the Truth That I Need to Hear

 In today's first reading, Amos 7: 12-15, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, commands the prophet Amos to leave Bethel. He does not want him prophesying in his land: "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!"  In other words, a prophet is not welcome in Bethel--"  "...[I]t is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple,"  Amaziah proudly tells Amos. 

A prophet is someone, in my mind, who comes to tell the truth about a situation to which I may be blind. Cozy in my comfort zone, I may not want to be disturbed and especially not from someone who is carrying a message that I need to hear!

To whom might I say: "Off with you, visionaries"?  Or to whom might I refer as follows:  "Tell those religion people to leave my property"!  Or whom do I avoid because I do not want to hear what they have to say because they are speaking a truth that I really need to hear? These are the people who may be messengers from God.

Lord, open my heart to the truth that you send to me through your "prophets": a neighbor, a spouse, a child, a member from my parish (the priest, the minister, the deacon, a fellow parishioner), a co-worker, a neighbor!