Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hearing about Jesus, Herod seemed to regret his having had John the Baptist put to death. The festive event described in today’s Gospel gives the account of that death as well as a good character analysis of Herod. Sociable but weak; sensual, easily manipulated by others, blindness as to who was really the man-in-charge.
It was the fear of the crowd that forced him to arrest John and the fear of his party-goers that forced him to put John to death. Was that his decision? It was the decision of Herodias and fear of her forced him to assent to her command.
The martyr John might seem to demand the center stage in my contemplation of this Gospel today. But I should look more closely at Herod asking myself how we might have much in common. For example, his being more concerned by what people think than what God thinks; by being subjected to the sweet talk of Herodias, preventing him from doing good and causing him to do evil.
Resolve: After giving some time analyzing Herod, I’ll turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary on this first Saturday of the month, and ask her, the patroness of our country, to obtain the grace necessary for our political leaders to govern with justice and charity while avoiding the weaknesses of Herod.