Saturday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 30, 2022

Matthew 14, 1-12

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”  Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

The Church teaches that in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, we first need to find and understand its literal sense, the meaning intended by the biblical author through a consideration of the text in its original language, its historical context, and the context of the passage within the book or section of the book.  Thus, in looking at Luke 10, 25-37, we must note first that the Lord is telling a story, a parable.  He is not relating a historical fact.  Then we can examine what it meant to be a Samaritan at the time of Jesus, what inns of the time were like, and so on.  We can also peer into the Greek of the text to see what nuances we can find in the language of the story that would help us better understand it.  After determining the literal sense, we can read more deeply to discover the spiritual sense.  We can do this with the help of the Fathers, especially writers like St. Augustine and St. Jerome.  We can consult the works of St. Thomas and other medieval teachers, too.  Various Catholic editions of the Bible now in print offer these insights in the form of notes.  The spiritual meaning is the more fundamental reality of the text, presenting to us truths which we can learn by considering what lies beneath the literal sense.  In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we can understand the half-dead victim of robbers as the human race, despoiled of grace by the devil.  The Samaritan in the Son of God who raises the man up on his beast — that is, his Body — and takes him to an inn — the Church.  The wine and oil he uses on the man’s wounds are the Sacraments.

St. Albert the Great (d. 1280) taught at the .university of Paris and among his many books is a wonderful collection of his sermons on the feasts days of saints.  These are brief, direct, and filled with wisdom.  He preaches on the saint and also on the Scriptures used for the Mass of the feast.  In his sermon on the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, St. Albert teaches that we can understand the account of his death, in the spiritual sense, as the devil’s attack against the Christian.  He says that Herod signifies the devil, and that John the Baptist signifies the Christian in the world.  The devil attempts to destroy the soul of the Christian in five ways: sending (Mark 6, 17: “For Herod himself had sent”); apprehending (“and apprehended John”); binding (“bound him”); imprisoning (“and imprisoned him”); and beheading (Mark 6, 28: “And he beheaded him in the prison”).  The devil “sends” temptations to us.  He “apprehends” us through our consent to the temptations.  He conquers and “binds” us through our commission of sin.  He “imprisons” us when sin becomes a habit in us.  And he “beheads” us when we despair of ever repenting.  

St. Albert concludes his sermon with a prayer: “Brethren, pray that the divine mercy may snatch us from the chains and prison of the devil through our true repentance, lest Herodias — the envy of the devil — glory in our destruction, but rather that all the armies of the angels of God rejoice over our salvation.  Amen.”

The Holy Spirit has so caused the Scriptures to be written that untold riches remain to be mined even after thousands of years.  By finding these riches and adorning ourselves inwardly with them, we will persevere in time of temptation and comes into the presence of Almighty God.