Saints + Scripture

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist (circa 1 B.C.-A.D. 30), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius by the client Galilean "king" Herod Antipas: Baptist-link ūnus, Baptist-link duo, Wikipedia-link Baptist, & Wikipedia-link Passion.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Today honors the anniversary of his martyrdom. Besides Our Lord & Our Lady, St. John the Baptist is the only one whose birth & death are thus celebrated. Today's Gospel relates the circumstances of his execution. He had the courage to blame Herod to his face for the scandal of his illegal union with his sister-in-law Herodias, whose husband was still alive.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Sabina, Martyr (died 126, of Rome), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian, atop whose house now sits the Basilica of Saint Sabina: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Basilica.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Richard Herst, Martyr (died 1628; also spelt Hurst, Hayhurst), martyred in the reign of the Anglo-Scottish king Charles I: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Dominik Jędrzejewski, Priest & Martyr (1886-1942), martyred in the reign of the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, one of the One Hundred Eight Blessed Polish Martyrs: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link CVIII & Wikipedia-link CVIII.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter three, verses six thru ten, sixteen, seventeen, & eighteen;
Psalm One Hundred Twenty-eight, verses one & two, four & five;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seventeen thru twenty-nine.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the death of John the Baptist. Herod had arrested John, from whom Jesus had sought baptism, and put him to death. The arrest and death of John the Baptist were signals for Jesus.

Immediately after the arrest, Jesus withdraws to Galilee and commences his own ministry of preaching and healing. Are these two events just coincidentally related? Hardly. Jesus read the arrest of John as a kind of signal that he was to begin.

We must remember that Jesus, like any Jew of his time, would have read the world through the lens of the Sacred Scriptures. They were the interpretive framework for everything. It was a commonplace of the Prophets and the Psalms and parts of the Torah that the era of the Messiah would be preceded by a time of tribulation, when the opponents of God would rise up to counter God’s purposes.

Jesus saw this in the arrest of John. This great national figure, this prophet to Israel, was arrested and eventually killed by the enemies of God—and he took it as a signal that his own Messianic work should begin.

Video reflection by Jem Sullivan, Ph.D.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Mass Readings—Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter one, verses seventeen, eighteen, & nineteen;
Confer Psalm Seventy-one, verse fifteen(a/b);
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seventeen thru twenty-nine.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"This is the flame that Jesus wanted to bring down upon the earth, the one He ardently desired to see enkindled: the fire of His charity, of the justice that He taught & sanctified, of His love for all."
—Pope St. John XXIII (1881-1963, feast day: 11 October)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"Jesus, your arms are the elevator which will lift me to heaven!"
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And in our hearts take up Thy rest;
Come with Thy grace & heavenly aid
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made."
—St. Hrabanus Maurus (780-856, feast day: 4 February)

Commentary: Lyrics from the hymn Veni creator spiritus.