St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Leviticus 25:1, 8-17

Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:

  When seven Sabbaths of years have passed, that is, seven times seven years, there shall be the time of the seven weeks of years, that is forty-nine years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month sound the trumpet loudly. On this Day of Atonement sound the trumpet all through the land.

Keep holy the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom for all the inhabitants of the land. It shall be a jubilation year for you when each one shall recover his property and go back to his family. In this fiftieth year, your year of Jubilee, you shall neither sow nor reap the aftergrowth, nor gather the grapes from the uncultivated vines.  This Jubilee year shall be holy for you, and you shall eat what the field yields of itself without cultivation.

In this year of Jubilee each of you shall recover his own property. When you sell something to your neighbor or buy something from him, do not wrong one another.  Ac­cording to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy it from your neighbor and according to the number of years left for ­harvesting crops he shall sell to you.  

 When the years are many the price shall be greater and when the years are few the price shall be less, for it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another but you shall fear your God, for I am Yahweh, your God.

 

Ps 67:2-3, 5, 7-8

O God, let all the nations praise you!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Matthew 14:1-12

At that time the news about Jesus reached King Herod.  And he said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. John has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”  Herod had, in fact, ordered that John be arrested, bound in chains and put in prison be­cause of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.

 For John had said to him, “It is not right for you to have her as wife.”   Herod wanted to kill him but he did not dare, because he feared the people who regarded John as a prophet. On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst of the guests; she so delighted Herod   that he promised under oath to give her anything she asked.  The girl, following the advice of her mother, said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a dish.”

 The king was very displeased, but because he had made this promise under oath in the presence of the guests, he ordered it to be given her.   So he had John beheaded in pris­on and his head brought on a dish and given to the girl. The girl then took it to her mother.  Then John’s disciples came to take his body and bury it. Then they  Went to take his body and bury it. Then they went and told Jesus. then and to bring the news to Jesus.

   

Gospel Reflection：

Herod is reminded of John whom he had beheaded because of a promise he made to Herodias’ daughter in front of the leading men of the kingdom. He could not backtrack caught by his own oath in front of others. In the Mediterranean world, to have face is very important.

Shame is something abhorred. That is why Herod’s hand was tied during that time by his pride. He gave in to the request and lived a life of regret thereafter. It is worse already because he has to live with the guilt of his actions. Now it is even more since the specter of John is confronting him alive in the person of Jesus.

And so let us not rush in doing things that may lead us to unending regrets all the days of our life. For we will live insecure lies that will make us jump nervously every time the ghost of our guilt comes to visit us unbidden.