Bearing Witness to Him Who Was, Is, and Always Will Be

During the reign of Licinius in the 4th century, forty Christian men refused to offer
worship to the pagan gods. As a consequence, the authorities ordered the men to be
stripped of their garments and thrown onto a frozen lake to die. Yet, any of the
condemned who denied the Christian faith would be offered a blanket and a hot bath in
return. One man wavered in his faith and left the lake only to perish upon impact with
the bath because of the extreme change in body temperature. However, the witness of
the other Christian men won the heart of one of the onlookers who then left his clothes
behind and filled the empty spot on the lake, thereby restoring the number back to forty.
This is the story of the forty Roman martyrs. (htps://www.loyolapress.com/catholicresources/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/the-forty-martyrs-of-sebaste/).

The Power of Witness

I share this because it speaks to the power of witness. Those men knew Christ. Today,
the Gospel retells the narrative of the death of St. John the Baptist. We know the story.
The prophet calls Herod out for his immoral lifestyle, and therefore, pays the price of
death at the hands of Herod’s unlawful wife, Herodias.

John is a remarkable figure and hopefully one who inspires us to also bear witness to
the presence of Jesus Christ. We know those familiar words: “It is not lawful for you to
have her,” John says (NABRE, Matt. 14:4). The Baptist is not afraid to live in the truth
because he knows the Truth.

But are we? Do we know the Truth?

Reactive Presence in the World

In his book entitled “The Relevance of the Stars,” theologian Lorenzo Albacete warns
the Christian against what he calls a reactive presence in the world. Put simply, this
means to act according to the standards of a world which has not “met Christ”
(Albacete, “The Relevance of the Stars” 119). When we react, he says we are “ignoring
Christ’s presence in the world and therefore our vision of what is real, and its
possibilities are flawed. We are reacting to what is there, instead of generating new
possibilities, accepting the limited hopes of a world without Christ, instead of generating
a new hope” (118-119). To react discounts the reality that Christ ever lived or still lives
and has already conquered the world (John 16:33).

For example, if we look at Herod’s actions, they reflect this attitude of reactivity. His
imprisonment and murder of John stem from an enslavement to Herodias and the
crowd. He lacks the capacity to live in the truth and therefore, bear witness to the Truth
because he has defined himself according to the surrounding culture — a culture that
has neither met nor wishes to encounter Christ.

Small Confrontations

Life may never confront us with the decision of a man’s life or even our own, like the
Roman martyrs. But it does confront us every day in small ways. John the Baptist’s final
victory in truth stemmed from his daily victory in truth.

Do our daily decisions reflect the reality that Jesus Christ is alive and in our midst? “Our
task is not to build a future; it is to give witness, to plant the seeds of a future that is
already present in Christ, which is being built by the power of his presence” (Albacete,
120).
Dearest Lady, witness to the Incarnate Word, pray for us.

[Readings: Jer 26:11-16, 24; Mt 14:1-12]