17th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 31st July 2021 — Gospel: Mt 14,1-12
Memoirs of Conscience
As for Herod, his crime was finished but the memory lingered on. When he heard of Jesus’ activities, his conscience began to stab him and the entire episode returned to haunt him. He never realized that the memory of the prophet whom he had beheaded would keep coming before him. His mind was confused so much that he wrongly believed that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead. Instead of heeding his conscience, he was determined to kill Jesus just as he had killed John. In fact, some Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod wanted to kill Him (Lk 13,31-32). But Jesus was not disturbed by the report. He quietly withdrew from that area and went to a “lonely place.” On the other hand, Herod went against his conscience because he did not desire to change his old ways, i.e., sinful nature. The pride and vanity made him spineless and made him unable to resist the request for John’s head. Sin strives to silence the voice of conscience and the voice of God’s truth, but it never has the last word.
