Reflection for the Memoria of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist.

I'm sure many of us have some people that we do not like to meet or just have this feeling of...'arghhhh'...when we see them. There are many reasons for not wanting to meet them or the feelings of 'arghhhh' even when we see them. 

Now, let us look at those people in our life.......who are they? Why do we have this reaction when we see them? There is this one reason that I want to look at in today's reflection. We have this certain people in our life that we do not like to meet because they point out all our mistakes and wrong doings. And it hurts, and we feel disgusted to hear the 'truth' told about us. Most times we do not agree with them when they say things about us. Even if we agree, we do not acknowledge it in front of them. And the next time, if possible we try to avoid meeting them. 

Hmmm can they be our conscience? Is that the reason why we do not want to meet them? In today's Memorial of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (ref: Mark 6: 17-29), we see that this great Saint has been a 'conscience' to Herod the tetrarch. John the Baptist rebuked Herod for his incestuous and adulterous marriage to Herodias. Herod became murderer because he was afraid to stand for truth and did not want to repent. He is a murderer because he did not listen to his 'conscience'.

We pray today that we would be open to the criticisms, feed-backs and the 'truths' that others give us and we offer it all to the Lord in our prayers and discernment and make the necessary and right changes and improvement for a better living.

The Beheading of John the Baptist - by Rembrandt