Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.(Mt 5:10)
Caravaggio, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)[1]
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In today’s gospel we heard: “I want you to give me at once
on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” Then: “So he [the King] promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother.” What Herodias did with the head of Saint John the Baptist we do not know. Whatever she did, it must have been nothing short of awful!
A friend of mine, now recently ordained to the Catholic priesthood after having been an Anglican chaplain, is also a biographer. In his book Songs of Ascents published by Ignatius Press, he recounts when he was teaching his own teenage son how to read the Bible. He said: “How do you explain 2000 pages of love and brutality to a fifteen year old?” Today’s Gospel is one of those pages of love and brutality that can leave anyone speechless. So is obviously, and even more, the Passion of our Lord, of whom the Baptist is just a figure. It presents to us the love of John the Baptist for truth and God’s commandments, and the brutality of a corrupt king and his corrupt concubine, and a no less demanding vicious daughter.
Words of St. Matthew
The Alleluia verse introduces us to this graphic gospel with the words of Saint Matthew: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven, (5:10). One challenging question for us would be: how ready are we to be persecuted for the sake of justice? To give up our life as John the Baptist did is a tough predicament, but a necessary one. Are we ready if we had to? Perhaps not our physical lives but our daily lives of testimony to the Truth who is Jesus Christ.
In the convoluted world we live in, tired of wars and injustice, many Christians are persecuted just for being Christians, and they give up their lives experiencing the brutality of the world and the love of God. What do we do to stop violence and murder? How do we respond to these challenges?
May Saint John the Baptist make us courageous to be living testimonies to the Truth and to support those who suffer persecution.
God bless you all.
Author: The Contribution of Cornelio Fabro to Fundamental Theology. Reason and Faith, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: htps://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9315-2
Poesía Sacra, Quemar las Naves, and Desde Fossanova, IVE Press: htps://ivepress.org/
[1] htps://primematters.com/foundations/enrichment/caravaggios-beheading-saint-john-baptist, accessed August 26, 2024.
