Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:
The Church, having celebrated the earthly birthday of St. John the Baptist on 24 June, 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.Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:
Scripture tells us that many [persons] followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps in anticipation of some great messianic power. John never allowed himself the false honor of receiving these [persons] for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. When the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus: "The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, & as he watched Jesus walked by, he said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God.' The two disciples heard what he said & followed Jesus" (John, 1:35-37). It is John the Baptist who has pointed the way to Christ. John's life & death were a giving over of self for God & other people. His simple style of life was one of complete detachment from earthly possessions. His heart was centered on God & the call that he heard from the Spirit of God speaking to his heart. Confident of God's grace, he had the courage to speak words of condemnation or repentance, of salvation.'Tis also the festival of Blessed Richard Herst, Martyr (died 1628, also spelt Hurst), martyred in the reign of the 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 Führer Adolf Hitler, one of the One Hundred Eight Martyrs of World War II: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link CVIII.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The First Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter two, verses one thru eight;
Psalm One Hundred Thirty-nine, verses one, two, & three & four, five, & six;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seventeen thru twenty-nine.
Commentary: Quoth the missalette: "The Gospel for this memorial is proper," meaning the same Gospel passage is read for both the weekday & the full observance of the memorial.
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.Video reflection by Father Pat O'Keefe: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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.
Mass Readings—Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter one, verses seventeen, eighteen, & nineteen;
Psalm Seventy-one, verse fifteen(a,b);
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seventeen thru twenty-nine.
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