"Welcome to Year 3"
'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 Forerunner, & Wikipedia-link Passion.
Commentary: Wayback Machine. Son of Ss. Zechariah & Elizabeth [23 September].
Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:
The day commemorates the martydom by beheading of Saint John the Baptist [also 24 June] on the orders of Herod Antipas through the vengeful request of his step-daughter Salome & her mother Herodias. 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.'Tis also the festival of Saint Sabina of Rome, Martyr (died circa 126), 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 Saint Eadwold of Cerne, Hermit (died circa 900, also spelt Edwold): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Brother of St. Edmund the Martyr [20 November].
'Tis also the festival of Blessed Richard Herst, Martyr (died 1628; also spelt Hurst, Hayhurst): 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 (A.K.A. the One Hundred Eight Martyrs of World War II): Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link Polska & Wikipedia-link Polska.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
The First Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter three, verses seven thru thirteen;
Psalm Ninety, verses three, four, & five(a); twelve & thirteen; & fourteen & seventeen;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seven 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.Video reflection by Monsignor James Vlaun: 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, verses one & two, three & four(a), five & six(a/b), & fifteen(a/b) & seventeen;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter six, verses seven thru twenty-nine.
The Book of Genesis, chapter forty-five, verses sixteen thru twenty.
Commentary: Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brothers (Genesis, 45:16-20).
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."Saint Quote o' the Day
—Pope St. John XXIII (1881-1963, feast day: 11 October)
"Every moment comes to you pregnant with a divine purpose; time being so precious that God deals it out only second by second. Once it leaves your hands & your power to do with it as you please, it plunges into eternity, to remain forever whatever you made it."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
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