Reading 1
Heb 13:1-8
Let brotherly love continue.
Do not neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,
for you also are in the body.
Let marriage be honored among all
and the marriage bed be kept undefiled,
for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.
Let your life be free from love of money
but be content with what you have,
for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.
Thus we may say with confidence:
The Lord is my helper,
and I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.
Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Ps 27:1, 3, 5, 8b-9abc
Responsorial PsalmR. (1a)
The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
For he will hide me in his abode
in the day of trouble;
He will conceal me in the shelter of his tent,
he will set me high upon a rock.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Gospel
Mk 6:14-29
King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread,
and people were saying,
“John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;
That is why mighty powers are at work in him.”
Others were saying, “He is Elijah”;
still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.”
But when Herod learned of it, he said,
“It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.”
Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison
on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.
John had said to Herod,
“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers,
and the leading men of Galilee.
His own daughter came in and performed a dance
that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”
He even swore many things to her,
“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom.”
She went out and said to her mother,
“What shall I ask for?”
Her mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”
The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,
“I want you to give me at once on a platter
the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner
with orders to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter
and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Meditation: Hebrews 13:1-8
“Let mutual love continue.” (Hebrews 13:1)
Has this ever happened to you? The doorbell rings, and when you answer it, your heart drops because you have just opened the door to someone you don’t like very much. It’s not that you actively dislike this person, it’s more that your personalities don’t match, and the relationship takes a lot of work on your end. Your first instinct is to act as if you’re too busy for conversation, even though you aren’t. You know you should be more generous, but you just can’t seem to find it in yourself.
The author of Hebrews talks about mutual love—the very thing that Jesus commanded at the Last Supper, when he told his disciples: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34). So how do we do it, especially in situations like the one described above? Trying to conjure up the right amount of good will may work for a time, but we will eventually lose our energy. And we sense, too, that being completely honest and telling our would-be friend to leave us alone is both hurtful and wrong. In the end, we simply don’t have what it takes to put these words into practice.
And that’s exactly what God wants us to know! The love that Jesus commanded and that Hebrews exhorts us to is a love that can come to us only as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us that it is easy to love those who treat us well— even the pagans do that (Matthew 5:46-47). But it takes nothing short of divine intervention to find the strength to love those people who are different from us, who have mistreated us, or who just plain rub us the wrong way. The only one who loves perfectly, the only one who can make room in his heart for everyone, is Jesus. And it is only by surrendering to him that we will find ourselves able to treat everyone with respect, honor, and love.
Do these words challenge you? Good! Let that challenge move you to seek the Lord more fully. Tell him that you need his love. Tell him that you want to become more like him. Let go of even the small judgments and prejudices you have so that you can look on everyone in the same way—as beloved children of God worthy of great respect, honor, and love.
“Jesus, reduce me to love!”
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