Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Friday, 29 August 2014 Catholic Meditations

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Friday, 29 August 2014 Catholic Meditations
Meditation: 1 Corinthians 1:17 God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.
18-21 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,
I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.
22-25 While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”
The Passion of Saint John the Baptist
The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
Heavenly Father, we turn to you today and ask you to grant us forerunners like John the Baptist. Send out men and women who will go before the Lord to prepare his way. Raise up zealous missionaries who will break new ground for the gospel. Inspire men and women to seek you in desert solitude—to usher in your kingdom through fasting and prayer.
Father, we ask you to send new John the Baptists into the world—evangelists filled with the power of your Spirit from their earliest years. Through them, flood our malls and highways, our schools, homes, and office buildings with the good news of your promises. Send them into every country to transform the culture of death into a garden of life. Light the fire of your love in them, so that they can enkindle that fire wherever they go.
O Jesus, raise up new prophets like John the Baptist, who will speak your word courageously. Fill believers with the gift of prophecy and send them into the church to renew, revive, purify, and lift our hearts to heaven. Give these new prophets the sword of your Spirit to cut through the darkness and confusion in the world and reveal your light and truth. May your word issue forth as a powerful proclamation to every country, bringing humanity back to you, the Prince of Peace.
Merciful Father, grant us new John the Baptists who are willing to become martyrs for your word. Send them into the lands where sin has a foothold. Strengthen them to crush the head of the enemy and bring new life, even to the shedding of their blood.
Lord, we acknowledge that it’s not just about other people being raised up. May all your people be willing to lay down their lives so that a civilization of love may spring forth. Grant each one of us the grace to decrease so that Jesus may increase.
“Lord, make me as holy as John the Baptist was. Teach me to seek you first, shunning the riches of this world in favor of your heavenly treasures. Make my family holy in word and deed, a mini-church determined to serve the mission of Jesus. O Lord, may men and women and children everywhere come to love you and work to usher in your kingdom!” Amen!
Psalm 33:1-3 Good people, cheer God!
    Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
    Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
    give him a trumpet fanfare.
4-5 For God’s Word is solid to the core;
    everything he makes is sound inside and out.
He loves it when everything fits,
    when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
    in God’s affectionate satisfaction.
10-12 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense,
    he shoots down the world’s power-schemes.
God’s plan for the world stands up,
    all his designs are made to last.
Blessed is the country with God for God;
    blessed are the people he’s put in his will.
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.
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