August 29th - The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Saint John the Baptist was called by God to be the precursor of His divine
Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve upon the
extraordinary graces which he had received in his earliest infancy, he was
directed by the Holy Spirit to lead an austere and contemplative life in
the
wilderness. There he devoted himself to the continuous exercise of devout
prayer and penance.
When Saint John was thirty years old, the faithful minister of the Lord
began to discharge his mission. Clothed with the garments of penance, he
announced to all men the obligation weighing upon them of wa****ng away
their
iniquities with the tears of sincere compunction. He proclaimed the
Messiah,
who was of his own age but whom he had never seen, when one day Jesus came
to be baptized by him in the Jordan. Saint John was received by the poor
folk as the true herald of the Most High God, and his voice was, as it
were,
a trumpet sounding from heaven to summon all men to avert the divine
judgments. Souls were exhorted by him to prepare themselves to reap the
benefit of the mercy offered them.
When the tetrarch Herod Antipas, in defiance of all laws divine and human,
married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip who was yet living, Saint
John the Baptist boldly reprimanded the tetrarch and his accomplice for so
scandalous an adultery. Herod, motivated by his lust and his anger, cast
the
Saint into prison. About a year after Saint John had been made a prisoner,
Herod gave a splendid entertainment to the official world of Galilee.
Salome, a daughter of Herodias by her lawful husband, pleased Herod by her
dancing, to the point that he made her the foolish promise of granting
whatever she might ask. Salome consulted with her mother as to what to
ask,
and that immoral woman instructed her daughter to demand the death of John
the Baptist, and that the head of the prisoner should be immediately
brought
to her on a platter. This barbaric request startled the tyrant himself;
but
governed by human respect he assented and sent a soldier of his guard to
behead the Saint in prison. Thus died the great forerunner of our blessed
Savior, some two years after his entrance upon his public ministry, and a
year before the death of the One he announced.
source: http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/08-29.htm
Saint Quote:
"When you think of going to mass on working days, it is an impulse of the
grace that God willed to grant you. FOLLOW IT." He did not say ignore it!
He
also said: "A saint has told us that one day at Mass he saw Jesus Christ
with His hands full of gifts, looking for souls to whom He might give
them."
But no one was there.
--St. John Vianney
Bible Quote:
31. Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said to them: Behold, we go
up
to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by
the
prophets concerning the Son of man. 32. For he shall be delivered to the
Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon: 33. And after
they have scourged him, they will put him to death; and the third day he
shall rise again. (Luke 18:31-33)
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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.
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