Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s gospel, we hear the story of how King Herod came to kill St. John the Baptist. Herod was holding John in prison but not killing him. However, Herodias wanted him dead, so she used Herod’s promise to Herodias’ daughter to accomplish this. And so, the daughter asked for the head of the Baptist as her reward for her dancing. We here in Matthew’s gospel that this request distressed Herod. However, it is Mark, in his account of this story who explains why. According to Mark, King Herod liked to listen to John the Baptist, though his words perplexed the king.

I believe we can see in this something more than a king’s enjoyment of another man’s words. I believe that God was pulling on Herod and calling him to conversion. We certainly don’t see Herod respond positively to God’s grace in this instance. And from what we know of the rest of Herod’s life, there doesn’t seem to be a response to grace recorded for Herod (which does not mean that it didn’t happen). What we can draw from this is that God doesn’t give up on anybody but continues to try to draw them to Himself. Here we should remember St. Dismas, who was crucified at the side of Jesus. He waited until the end of his life to respond positively to God’s grace, yet he was promised Paradise by Jesus himself.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB