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Dear Sister and Brother in
the Lord:
On June 24 we celebrated the Birth of John the Baptist; this week on
Wednesday we celebrate the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist and his
entry into eternal life. Besides our Lord and our Lady, St. John the
Baptist is the only one whose birth and death are thus celebrated.
Today's Gospel relates the circumstances of his execution. He had the
courage to blame Herod to his face for the scandal of his illegal union
with his sister-in-law Herodias, whose husband was still alive.
Herodias contrived to make
Herod imprison him and took advantage of an unexpected opportunity to
obtain through her daughter Salome, the beheading of the saint. His body
was buried in Samaria. In the year 362, pagans desecrated the grave and
burned his remains. Only a small portion of his relics were able to be
saved by monks and sent to St. Athanasius at Alexandria. The head of the
saint is venerated at various places. That in the Church of St.
Sylvester in Rome belongs to a martyr-priest John. Also in the Dominican
church at Breslau the Baptist's head is honored.
There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as
a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life
for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but
only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died
for Christ.
Does Christ not say: "I am
the truth"? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he
surely died for Christ. Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he
bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and
by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer. Such was
the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present
life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the
freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men. He
was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing
witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and
shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ.
To endure temporal agonies
for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John;
rather, it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy
would be his reward. Since death was ever near at hand, such men
considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of
eternal life by acknowledging Christ's name. Hence the apostle Paul
rightly says: "You have been granted the privilege not only to believe
in Christ but also to suffer for his sake." He tells us why it is
Christ's gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: "The
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed in us."
Let’s give our minds and hearts to the Lord!
Father Joe
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