FEBRUARY 4, 2011
DAILY PRAYER WITH REGNUM CHRISTI
GRACE'S LAST STAND AND ULTIMATE VICTORY
February 4, 2011
Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 6:14-29
King Herod heard about it, for his fame had become widespread, and
people were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;
that is why mighty powers are at work in him." Others were saying,
"He is Elijah"; still others, "He is a prophet like any of the
prophets." But when Herod learned of it, he said, "It is John whom I
beheaded. He has been raised up." Herod was the one who had John
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. She had an opportunity one
day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers,
his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias's own
daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his
guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish and I
will grant it to you." He even swore (many things) to her, "I will
grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She
went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She
replied, "The head of John the Baptist." The girl hurried back to the
king's presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once
on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was deeply
distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish
to break his word to her. So he 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. When his disciples
heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you and all that you taught
as it has been passed down to us through your Church. I hope in you,
knowing that you will never send me out of your presence. Only by
sin could I cut myself away from your loving hands. Although I am
weak, I trust that you will keep me close. Lord, I love you and long
for my love for you to grow, for you deserve so much better than my
measly offering. Yet I know, too, that you are pleased with my desire
for you.
Petition: Grant me, O Lord, an honest and sincere heart.
1. "It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up." The
verdict of conscience always makes itself known. Herod's guilt
regarding John the Baptist's murder is projected into the present as
a haunting memory. Those who have radically rejected God, though
they might possess great power or wealth, great intelligence or
ability, are ultimately the most insecure people on earth. When true
goodness appears in their life, it presents itself as a threat. It
condemns them and alienates them from themselves. All this is but a
reflection of their state of soul before God. Such is the power of
man's conscience: it imposes its painful sentence long before the
person ever reaches the ultimate tribunal of justice. Like Christ,
we can only remain silent before the Herods of the world, praying
that they break their resistance to grace.
2. "He was very much perplexed yet he liked to listen to him..."
"Fear the grace of God that passes never to return." In the lives
of all persons, even the wicked, enough goodness is given them to be
saved, enough such that God can offer them the truth of salvation
within the scope of their freedom. Such graces last for only a time,
not forever. These moments cannot be treated as moments that
temporarily pacify our conscience, only to permit us to continue in
our sin and resistance to living a holy life. Herod feared John, knew
he was a holy man and felt the attraction of his words, but he did
nothing to respond to it. You cannot play around with God and win.
Herod loses and attacked what he knew he should love. This tragedy
must teach us to be sincere and never imprison the voice of God in
our soul, but to let it reign in our life. We must use our freedom
to respond to God's voice, breaking the chains of human respect or
fear of sacrifice that bind us to darkness.
3. He Was Beheaded in Prison The last honor Christ could offer a
faithful apostle, who has stood firm in the truth against the twisted
provocations of evil around him, is--in some sense--a "full"
participation in his Paschal Mystery. What began as testimony by
proclaiming conversion, John now concludes with testimony to the
victorious hope the blessed possess in Christ. This is never clearer
than in a martyr's death as intimated in this passage from the Book
of Wisdom:
For though in the sight of men they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little,
they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them (Wisdom
3:4-6).
May we accept today the hard road of fidelity so as to be
"disciplined a little" and be found worthy of the hope that is "full
of immortality."
Conversation with Christ: Let me experience, dear Jesus, the glory
of your martyrs through many small acts of fidelity—to my
conscience, to my mission and to the service to souls. Heroic and
filled with hope, may I accept a sentence of love and not fear any
path you set before me today. May I be like one who has died and yet
lives the blossom of a holy life that will never end.
Resolution: I will work to be sincere in all I do, and use the
sacrament of confession as a place of constant conversion and
openness to God's will.
meditation.regnumchristi.org

St. Joseph of Leonissa (1556-1612)
Joseph avoided the safe compromises by which people sometimes undercut the gospel. Born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples, Joseph joined the Capuchins in his hometown in 1573. Denying himself hearty meals and comfortable quarters, he prepared for ordination and a life of preaching. In 1587 he went to Constantinople to take care of the Christian galley slaves working under Turkish masters. Imprisoned for this work, he was warned not to resume it on his release. He did and was again imprisoned and then condemned to death. Miraculously freed, he returned to Italy where he preached to the poor and reconciled feuding families as well as warring cities which had been at odds for years. He was canonized in 1746.
Comment:

Saints often jar us because they challenge our ideas about what we need for "the good life." "I’ll be happy when. . . ," we may say, wasting an incredible amount of time on the periphery of life. People like Joseph of Leonissa challenge us to face life courageously and get to the heart of it: life with God. Joseph was a compelling preacher because his life was as convincing as his words.

Quote:

In one of his sermons, Joseph says: "Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel. This is what St. Paul says to the Corinthians, ‘Clearly you are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart’ (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our heart is the parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because ‘my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe’ (Psalm 45:1)."
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx