20240829 TRAGEDY OF A DEAD CONSCIENCE
29 August 2024, Thursday, The Beheading of St John the Baptist
First reading |
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 |
You have been enriched in many ways in Christ
I, Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who are called to take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ; for he is their Lord no less than ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.
I never stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will keep you steady and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is faithful.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 144(145):2-7 |
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendour and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
They will speak of your terrible deeds,
recount your greatness and might.
They will recall your abundant goodness;
age to age shall ring out your justice.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt5:10 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy those who are persecuted
in the cause of right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
The following reading is proper to the memorial, and must be used even if you have otherwise chosen to use the ferial readings.
Gospel | Mark 6:17-29 |
The beheading of John the Baptist
Herod sent to have John arrested, and had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married. For John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.’ As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.
An opportunity came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee. When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me anything you like and I will give it you.’ And he swore her an oath, ‘I will give you anything you ask, even half 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 straight back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, here and now, on a dish.’ The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her. So the king at once sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
TRAGEDY OF A DEAD CONSCIENCE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JEREMIAH 1:17-19; MARK 6:17-29 ]
There is no greater tragedy in humanity than one that has lost its soul. Indeed, when we look at humanity today, instead of becoming more civilized and morally upright, an over exaggerated notion of human freedom has resulted in a humanity that no longer has a conscience over what is right and wrong. This is promoted by the world which champions moral relativism and individualism, where the choice of the individual’s rights overrides the rights of the common good. There is no consensus on truth and morality, and humanity appears to have lost its conscience.
The prophet Jeremiah was called to awaken the conscience of his people. He was forewarned at the beginning of his ministry that his efforts would be futile because the people would not repent of their sins and rebel against God. All the same, Jeremiah was called to proclaim the truth and be the conscience of the nation. We can be sure that such a calling was an unenviable task. His mission was to warn the people of the threat of invasion by Babylon and exile unless they repented. “Brace yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Do not be dismayed at their presence, or in their presence I will make you dismayed.” He was not just a prophet of doom but his mission was doomed to fail. He was fiercely opposed, not just by the people but by the court officials and temple priests as well. He was arrested for treason and dumped in a well, surviving on one loaf of bread a day.
It was an extremely daunting and lonely task because even his loved ones abandoned him. He was hated by his own family who wanted him dead because he was deemed unpatriotic for asking the people to surrender to Babylon to avoid disaster. He brought shame to his family. (cf Jer 11:19) “All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. ‘Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.'” (Jer 20:10) In carrying out this task, Jeremiah underwent much inner struggles and self-doubt about what he was asked to do. He even cursed the day of his birth. (Jer 20:14,17f)
But he remained steadfast in his calling and was faithful to the Word of God even when the whole nation was against him and misunderstood him as an agent of Babylon. He foresaw the disaster ahead of Judah and he remained true to his word. Indeed, the Lord had already warned him of his suffering but at the same time, God was true to His word in protecting him and eventually vindicated him. “I, for my part, today will make you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze to comfort all this land: the kings of Judah its princes, its priests and the country people. They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you – it is the Lord who speaks.”
Today, when we celebrate the memorial of the Beheading of John the Baptist, we are reminded how Jeremiah foreshadowed what John the Baptist had to pay for the price of truth as he also sought to awaken the conscience of His people, particularly King Herod. He was a man true to himself and true to the Word of God. Like Jeremiah, he lived a difficult life, a life of austerity and penance in the silence of the desert, hearing attentively to the Word of God. Without fear or favour, he called the people to repentance, including the religious leaders. (Lk 3:1-10; Mt 3:7) He was not cowed into silence even with King Herod and Herodias when he called them out for committing adultery. Without mincing his words, he reprimanded Herod saying, “It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.”
This courageous act of testimony to the truth caused him his life. Herodias “was furious with him and wanted to kill him.” Herodias had no conscience. She was blinded by her selfish desire and pride. This made her vindictive, and her hatred for him was so deep, she plotted to dispose of John the Baptist for good. Her evil heart was comparable to Queen Jezebel, the evil wife of King Ahab, the evil king in Israel. The Queen manipulated King Ahab’s weak temperament by conniving to kill Naboth for his vineyard. So too, Herodias conceived a devious plan to force the hand of King Herod to have John the Baptist executed by taking advantage of his weakness – lust. She had her beautiful daughter dance before him on his birthday and he was so delighted that he offered her anything she wanted. She then asked her daughter to demand for the head of John the Baptist on a plate, and Herod fell right into her trap.
Things come to this stage only because we fail to take care of our conscience when it is still sensitive. Herod was a weak man, and like most men, tempted to the sin of the flesh. He was also indecisive. On one hand, his conscience was stirred by the preaching of John the Baptist. “Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” He is just like many of us when our conscience is still alive but weak. We go to Church every Sunday and we feel guilty after hearing the homily. We want to change but the moment we leave the church; Satan gets the better of us. We find ourselves too weak to resist temptation. But deep in our hearts we know that we are not doing the right thing.
The danger for those of us whose conscience is weak, but still capable of being stirred by the Word of God, is that over time, we may stray too far to come back to God. By resisting the Word of God, our conscience will be violated by further temptations. This was the case of Herod. He had no intention to execute John the Baptist, but because of his weakened conscience, further dulled by intoxication by wine, and an ego boosted by the presence of his guests, he made a rash promise to his daughter which he found difficult to retract, even though such a request was evil. Indeed, we are told that his conscience was conflicted. “The king was deeply distressed, but thinking of the oaths he had sworn and his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her.” This word “distress” meant he was in genuine grief. The other only time Mark used this word to describe someone in distress was when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane. (Mk 14:34) So we can imagine the pain that Herod felt because he knew that John was truly a good and holy man but he had been deceived by Herodias, or rather, he allowed himself to fall victim to her ploy. Cumbered with his pride and ego, and afraid that he would be laughed at if he broke his promise, he “at once sent one of the bodyguards with orders to bring John’s head.”
And so we become dead to our conscience. Herod was no longer able to distinguish between right and wrong, between honouring a request that is good and not evil. We read later in Luke’s gospel that at the trial of Jesus, he wanted to see Jesus only to have Him amuse him. (Lk 23:8-11) There was no longer any trace of conscience or respect for the holy man when earlier on, we are told that he felt guilty when he heard about Jesus, who reminded him of how he killed John the Baptist. (Mk 6:14-16) This is a reminder for us all that if we do not guard our conscience, we will come to a stage when we are totally desensitized and unable to hear His word any more. We saw what happened at the Olympic games, when a so-called Christian country made a parody of the Eucharist before the world. There is no conscience or respect for the Sacred, or the faith of 2.4 billion believers. What can we say of Christianity in Europe today and of the future!
That this episode is sandwiched between the Mission of the Twelve (Mk 6:6-13) and the return of the Twelve who were invited to spend time with Jesus to reflect on their mission (Mk 6:3-32), is a warning to the disciples of the Lord that the proclamation of the Good News will be met with resistance by people and we will have to suffer in sharing the Word of God. Even our loved ones will hate us and marginalize us, not to say of the world and our colleagues, because we are not one of them. We will be pressurized into succumbing to their worldly values because we are afraid to be unpopular, like King Herod. And this happens when our conscience is dead. Let us therefore keep our conscience alive by filling our minds with the Word of God.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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