“I swear that I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half my kingdom!” (Mk 6:23)

“I swear that I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half my kingdom!” (Mk 6:23)

Today’s Passage: Mk 6:17-29

Meditation:  I don’t know whether you call this type of behavior an addiction or not. This man may be mad after dancing.  We know for sure that when people are mad after something they cannot do anything on themselves. They are mere puppets in the hands of what they are addicted to. Earlier, “Herod was afraid of John because he knew that John was a good and holy man, and he kept him safe. He liked to listen to him, even though he became greatly disturbed every time he heard.” (Mk 6:20) What did it happen now? Now Herod forgot everything; he forgot the prophet John the Baptist, his teachings and even the fact that he himself is the king of a country. In the book of Hebrews we read, “See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single weal.” (Heb 12:16) Everyone who is after satisfying his bodily pleasures will be cheated and trapped in many ways by the Satan. King Herod was also cheated by his bodily pleasures; he could not distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. St. Paul says, “You do not belong to yourselves but to God; he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.” (1 Cor 6:19, 20) On this feast day of martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, I would like to meditate on my own shortcomings and failures; for I feel that I am as if before the mirror, St. John the Baptist. Today I am not reflecting on him, rather on myself.

        

Prayer:     Lord God, we thank you and praise you for your daily eternal bread. Lord, we understand today that often we are astray from you because we are after our own inclinations bodily pleasures. With St. Paul let us also be able to realize, “If I do what I don’t want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me,” (Rom 7:20) and “the wage of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23) Let us remember and pray, “Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil one.  Amen!  

Greetings:       Take courage God is with you! Have a nice and blissful Friday…