Today we celebrate the
Passion of Saint John the Baptist. The Gospel reading relates the circumstances
that led to his beheading. We have the contrast of two persons: one who is in
sync with the will of God, who, in the words of Micah 6:8, does “what is right,”
loves “loyalty” (to God and to one’s
faith) and walks “humbly” with his God. Herod, Herodias and their daughter, on the
contrary, are in sync with this world’s values, are blinded by their egos and
guided by selfishness and sin.
All of us face the same
challenges: to listen to the good spirits within us or to follow bad spirits,
to be alert to that which is of God or that which is not of God, that is, the
voice of selfishness, maliciousness, evil inclinations, that of pleasing the crowd and clinging to a decision
that we have come to know, in our heart of hearts, is not of God’s making. We can choose to avoid embarrassment when we
are wrong and follow through with poor choices or humbling ourselves to do what
is right when others are clamoring for us to follow ways contrary to the
Commandments and to Gospel living.
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