Tag: Saint Augustine

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

From the responsorial psalm: “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 6:17-29)

Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

Reluctant to execute John, Herodias looked for an opportunity to have him killed. During a banquet celebrating Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter, also known as Salome, danced for Herod and the guests. At this, Herod promised to grant her any wish, even up to half of his kingdom, and she got what Herodias prompted her to ask for—the head of John the Baptist on a platter. John spoke out boldly against King Herod’s immorality and was brutally executed, also foreshadowing Jesus’ rejection, passion, and death for the sake of bearing witness to the truth. For the sake of proclaiming truth through the Gospel, how far does the Lord call us to go?

God, help me be recognize the true cost of discipleship in picking up my cross and confronting the Evil One as I face the spiritual battles the world presents. Guide me in my choices, not to serve immoral ends but to remain in your grace and to trust the judgment of others to your justice and mercy. Although he knew John was a holy and righteous man, Herod chose to please his wife and guests and have him killed. Help me see, Lord, your gifts of truth and goodness shining through the darkness and penetrating the gray areas where human judgment is prone to fail. “God is faithful,” Saint Paul says, “and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Saint John the Baptist, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed are you who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways! For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 23:27-32)

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”

Jesus continues to denounce the scribes and the Pharisees with a series of woes, expressing grief over self-obsessed religious leaders who are guilty of hypocrisy and murderous intentions. Like the scribes and Pharisees, God made all of us in his image, pure and beautiful. Yet, sin corrupts and death destroys that image, producing “dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.” Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees—and all who hear him—away from false displays of virtue and toward conversion, back to the beauty and goodness by which God first formed us in the image of love. As Saint Augustine said, “Inasmuch as love grows in you, so in you beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”

God, the harsh words that Jesus directed to the scribes and Pharisees are not isolated in time and space but are for all people across the ages. Guide me away from false piety and show me Jesus your Son, present in the scriptures, in the real presence of the sacraments, and in the Body of Christ, the Church. That is where genuine relationship is, in the truth of the person of Christ. For the sake of your glory, Lord, open my eyes to my own shortcomings and make clear to me today how to turn to you more and more. Saint Augustine, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.