I AM NO SINNER
Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
It is so very hard to face up to our own sins, admit we have sinned, and do our best to change. We don’t even like having our attention drawn to a mistake, like leaving the house keys in the door lock - outside. It’s embarrassing. We like to appear perfect to others, even though we know privately we are not.
Herodias was living in public sin with King Herod. Everybody knew it. But John the Baptist spoke out against the King and Herodias in the hearing of crowds. She wanted him shut up, and when she saw the opportunity, put Herod between the proverbial “rock and hard place.” He had sworn an oath before his guests to give Herodias’ daughter anything she asked. And requesting as her mother bid her the head of John the Baptist on a platter, he felt trapped. He did not want to take back the oath, and he did not want to kill John. Life was considered cheap in those days - the other guy’s life - so John was beheaded.
The act haunted Herod. If there was ever any sinful act that affected him more, it was this one. Sin carries within itself its own misery for the one who commits it, for the one continuing to live in the state of it.
Don’t let that happen to you. Make a clean break with any wrong you do. Admit it, reject it, try to change your attitude, and get on with a better life. You will not only be happier in eternity, you’ll be happier here - now!
