This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
What a tragedy, the final days of St. John the Baptist. The life of the last and, if we are to take Christ’s words literally, the greatest prophet (cf. Mt. 11:11), was tragically and needlessly cut short on the ridiculous whim of a man utterly enslaved to his vacillating and nonsensical passions of lust, fear, and vanity.
How much John could have done to bring the nation of Israel to its true Lord, Savior, Messiah, Jesus Christ, if Herod had been even a slightly less absurd little man, and had pointed with honesty to John’s wisdom as a signpost for his nation.
Or at least, John’s death could have been itself more glorious and significant if Herod had opposed him publicly for his difficult stances, if John had been able to give greater testimony to the truth under persecution from a worthier opponent.
But no, a sniveling king puts him to death secretly in prison to please a dancing girl at one of his parties.
And yet, this is the wisdom of the Gospel, this is glory and power of the chosen of God of whom St. Paul speaks in the first reading, and whom today’s psalm sings as blessed.
It is time for us Christians to stop dreaming of Palm Sunday, and to embrace the glorious ignominy of the cross, where our true power lies. In our comfortable world of today, we must constantly remind ourselves that our joy and happiness do not lie here. Even if we are not imprisoned or suffering agony, we can live this wisdom by sacrificing ourselves for others in the state to which Jesus Christ has called us today, whether it is eminent or mundane, stimulating or tiresome, apparently important or apparently trivial. We can give our life as He did, as John did, today, and it is by this gift of self that we add actual grace, through the power of Christ’s own sacrifice, to the economy of salvation.
It is counter-intuitive. It makes no sense. And yet, it does; it is foolishness to the world, and yet it is the wisdom of God, who has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that you cannot adopt His mindset, His wisdom, on your own. Beg Him for the gift of the Holy Spirit that is the gift of wisdom, His wisdom. Ask Him to see how your life, today, can be glorious and fruitful in the light of that wisdom. And trust Him to make it so, even in the midst of your weakness.
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