Daily Gospel for Friday, 29 August 2014

Daily Gospel for Friday, 29 August 2014
"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'" (John 6:68-69)
The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist - Memorial
Saints of the Day:
THE BEHEADING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
Martyr
Memorial
St. John the Baptist was called by God to be the forerunner of his divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve the extraordinary graces which he had received, he was directed by the Holy Spirit to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness, in the continual exercises of devout prayer and penance, from his infancy till he was thirty years of age.
At this age the faithful minister began to discharge his mission. Clothed with the weeds of penance, be announced to all men the obligation they lay under of washing away their iniquities with the tears of sincere compunction; and proclaimed the Messias, who was then coming to make his appearance among them. He was received by the people 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, and to prepare themselves to reap the benefit of Vie mercy that was offered them.
The tetrarch Herod Antipas having, in defiance of all laws divine and human, married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, who was yet living, St. John the Baptist boldly reprehended the tetrarch and his accomplice for so scandalous an incest and adultery, and Herod, urged on by lust and anger, cast the Saint into prison.
About a year after St. John had been made a prisoner, Herod gave a splendid entertainment to the nobility of Galilee. Salome, a daughter of Herodias by her lawful husband, pleased Herod by her dancing, insomuch that he promised her to grant whatever she asked. On this, Salome consulted with her mother what to ask. Herodias instructed her daughter to demand the death of John the Baptist, and persuaded the young damsel to make it part of her petition that the head of the prisoner should be forthwith brought to her in a dish. This strange request startled the tyrant himself; he assented, however, and sent a soldier of his guard to behead the Saint in prison, with an order to bring his head in a charger and present it to Salome, who delivered it to her mother. St. Jerome relates that the furious Herodias made it her inhuman pastime to prick the sacred tongue with a bodkin.
Thus died the great forerunner of our blessed Saviour, about two years and three months after his entrance upon his public ministry, about a year before the death of our blessed Redeemer.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Medericus
Feastday: August 29
Death: 700
St. Medericus died in 700. Born in Autun, France, he entered St. Martin's monastery at thirteen and later was its abbot. He was a recluse in his last years. He is also called Merry. His feast day is August 29th.
The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist - Memorial
Book of Jeremiah 1:17 “But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
    Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don’t pull your punches
    or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.
18-19 “Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
    I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
    solid as a concrete block wall.
You’re a one-man defense system
    against this culture,
Against Judah’s kings and princes,
    against the priests and local leaders.
They’ll fight you, but they won’t
    even scratch you.
I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”
    God’s Decree.
Psalms 71:1-3 I run for dear life to God,
    I’ll never live to regret it.
Do what you do so well:
    get me out of this mess and up on my feet.
Put your ear to the ground and listen,
    give me space for salvation.
Be a guest room where I can retreat;
    you said your door was always open!
You’re my salvation—my vast, granite fortress.
4-7 My God, free me from the grip of Wicked,
    from the clutch of Bad and Bully.
You keep me going when times are tough—
    my bedrock, God, since my childhood.
I’ve hung on you from the day of my birth,
    the day you took me from the cradle;
    I’ll never run out of praise.
Many gasp in alarm when they see me,
    but you take me in stride.
12-16 God, don’t just watch from the sidelines.
    Come on! Run to my side!
My accusers—make them lose face.
    Those out to get me—make them look
Like idiots, while I stretch out, reaching for you,
    and daily add praise to praise.
I’ll write the book on your righteousness,
    talk up your salvation the livelong day,
    never run out of good things to write or say.
I come in the power of the Lord God,
    I post signs marking his right-of-way.
17-24 You got me when I was an unformed youth,
    God, and taught me everything I know.
Now I’m telling the world your wonders;
    I’ll keep at it until I’m old and gray.
God, don’t walk off and leave me
    until I get out the news
Of your strong right arm to this world,
    news of your power to the world yet to come,
Your famous and righteous
    ways, O God.
God, you’ve done it all!
    Who is quite like you?
You, who made me stare trouble in the face,
    Turn me around;
Now let me look life in the face.
    I’ve been to the bottom;
Bring me up, streaming with honors;
    turn to me, be tender to me,
And I’ll take up the lute and thank you
    to the tune of your faithfulness, God.
I’ll make music for you on a harp,
    Holy One of Israel.
When I open up in song to you,
    I let out lungsful of praise,
    my rescued life a song.
All day long I’m chanting
    about you and your righteous ways,
While those who tried to do me in
    slink off looking ashamed.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:17-20 Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. For John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias “adultery.” Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill him, but didn’t dare because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt—and yet he couldn’t stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back.
21-22 But a portentous day arrived when Herod threw a birthday party, inviting all the brass and bluebloods in Galilee. Herodias’s daughter entered the banquet hall and danced for the guests. She dazzled Herod and the guests.
22-23 The king said to the girl, “Ask me anything. I’ll give you anything you want.” Carried away, he kept on, “I swear, I’ll split my kingdom with you if you say so!”
24 She went back to her mother and said, “What should I ask for?”
“Ask for the head of John the Baptizer.”
25 Excited, she ran back to the king and said, “I want the head of John the Baptizer served up on a platter. And I want it now!”
26-29 That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John’s head. He went, cut off John’s head, brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and got the body and gave it a decent burial.
The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist - Memorial 
Commentary of the day:
Saint Bede the Venerable (c.673-735), monk, Doctor of the Church 
Hymn for the Martyrdom of John the Baptist ; PL 94, 630 
Forerunner in death as in life
The great forerunner of grace and messenger of truth, 
John the Baptist, Christ’s shining torch, 
Now becomes the preacher of eternal Light. 
The prophetic witness that he never ceased to show 
In his message, life, and all his mighty works, 
Is signed today by the blood of his martyrdom. 
He always went before his Lord: 
In birth he declared his coming to the world; 
By his baptism of sinners in the Jordan 
He foretold the one by whom baptism would be instituted; 
And by shedding his blood for him with love, 
John the Baptist also experienced beforehand 
The death of Christ our Savior, who gave life to the world. 
A cruel tyrant may well conceal him in a prison, bound with irons, 
Yet in Christ such chains could never bind a man 
Whose heart in freedom opens to the Kingdom. 
How could the darkness and torments of a dungeon dim 
Gain mastery over one who sees Christ’s glory 
And receives from him the Holy Spirit’s gifts? 
Willingly he gives his head to the executioner’s sword; 
How could he lose his head 
Whose Head is Christ? 
Happy is he who wins today his forerunner’s title 
By his departure from this world of ours. 
Today his death proclaims what he testified while living: 
Christ who comes and now is here. 
Could hell hold fast the messenger who escapes it? 
The just, the prophets and the martyrs are full of joy 
As they go with him to meet the Savior. 
All surround John with their praises and their love 
And, with him, beg Christ to come at last to those who are his own 
O great forerunner of the Redeemer, he delays no longer 
Who sets you free from death for evermore. 
Led by your Lord, 
Enter into glory with the saints! 
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