From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 29th - The Martyrdom of John the Baptist   
      
   On June 24th we celebrated the birth of St. John the Baptist; today we   
   celebrate his martyrdom. In the first chapters of the Gospel of Luke we read   
   about the birth and ministry of John the Baptist. His role was, "...a voice   
   that cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord..." He preached a   
   message of repentance, conversion and the coming of the Messiah.   
      
   As we see in the first chapters of Matthew, Mark and Luke, many listened to   
   John's message and sought to repent, but there was one who feared him   
   greatly. Luke 3:19-20 tells us:   
      
   "But Herod the tetrarch, whom he criticized for his relations with his   
   brother's wife Herodias and for all the other crimes Herod had committed,   
   added a further crime to all the rest by shutting John up in prison." the   
   Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14:5-12 goes on to tells us that Herod didn't   
   stop there. "...He had wanted to kill him but was afraid of the people, who   
   regarded John as a prophet. Then during the celebrations for Herod's   
   birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and so   
   delighted Herod that he promised on oath to give her anything she asked.   
   Prompted by her mother she said,' give me John the Baptist's head, here, on   
   a dish.' The king was distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and   
   of his guests, he ordered it to be given her, and sent and had John beheaded   
   in the prison. The head was brought in on a dish and given to the girl who   
   took it to her mother..."   
      
   What a contrast this paragraph provides us. John was a man totally focused   
   on the mission given him of announcing the Good News of the coming of the   
   long awaited Messiah. He did not fear to speak out against hypocrisy,   
   immorality and the wicked actions of his day, even in the face of death.   
   Herod was known to kill anyone who displeased him even his own brothers and   
   children so John certainly knew the risks he faced. But he saw truth,   
   integrity and salvation as more important than his life.   
      
   Herod was a man steeped in wickedness, no desire, no matter how perverse   
   could be left unfulfilled. If anyone thwarted him, he just had them killed   
   to get what he wanted. History showed him to be a man with an insatiable   
   desire for power and wealth. The murder of a just man in order to appease   
   his pride and self image was irrelevant.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is a characteristic of the spirit of God to work with gentleness and   
   love; and the surest way of succeeding in whatever we undertake is to   
   imitate Him.   
   -St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote   
   23 As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the   
   fruit of honour and riches. 24 I am the mother of fair love, and of fear,   
   and of knowledge, and of holy hope. 25 In me is all grace of the way and of   
   the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.  (Ecclesiasticus   
   24:23-25)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those born of   
   woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother's womb and didst lead a   
   most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy will to retire into the   
   wilderness, there to devote thyself to the practice of austerity and   
   penance; obtain for us of thy Lord the grace to be wholly detached, at   
   least in our hearts, from earthly goods, and to practice Christian   
   mortification with interior recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O most zealous Apostle, who, without working any miracle on others, but   
   solely by the example of thy like of penance and the power of thy word,   
   didst draw after thee the multitudes, in order to dispose them to receive   
   the Messiah worthily and to listen to His heavenly doctrine; grant that it   
   may be given to us, by means of the example of a holy life and the exercise   
   of every good work, to bring many souls to God, but above all those souls   
   that are enveloped in the darkness of error and ignorance and are led   
   astray by vice.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O Martyr invincible, who, for the honor of God and the salvation of souls,   
   didst with firmness and constancy withstand the impiety of Herod even at   
   the cost of thine own life, and didst rebuke him openly for his wicked and   
   dissolute life; by thy prayers obtain for us a heart, brave and generous,   
   in order that we may overcome all human respect and openly profess our   
   faith in loyal obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our divine   
   Master.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   V. Pray for us, Saint John the Baptist,   
   R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.   
      
   Let us pray.   
      
   O God, who hast made this day to be honorable in our eyes by the   
   commemoration of blessed John, grant unto Thy people the grace of spiritual   
   joy, and direct the minds of all Thy faithful into the way of everlasting   
   salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Imprimatur: + Francis Spellman, Archbishop of New York, May 30, 1951.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)