KNOWLEDGE OF SELF AS FOUNDATION

THE BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

1 Thess 4:1-8; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,10-12; Mk 6:17-29

The Foundation of Holiness

We have reflected on the three stages of our spiritual life, which correspond to the identity of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. When speaking to his disciples, he revealed himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Since he is the divine bridegroom of all souls, he presents himself in these three forms as we journey to the marriage banquet in heaven, through the three stages. He presents himself as the way in our initial stage of purification. Hence, he admonishes us to walk the narrow path leading to heavenly life and joy. The purifications we must go through make the way a narrow one, making many souls not to travel the blessed path. The purification is such that we are required to own nothing before we enter the gate of heaven, for God will be our only possession therein. Purification, therefore, is about ourselves and who we are in God, without any worldly attachments. So, God intensifies his divine light in us to reveal our imperfections whenever the purification activity is predominant in our spiritual life. Our divine Master would always want us to begin our spiritual activities on a secure foundation of self-knowledge, making us well-disposed for higher stages of illumination and union. Our knowledge of self as nothing in relation to God, who is everything, prepares us to receive his will with deep humility.

The constant recourse to the knowledge of oneself as nothing and miserable is a secure mindset for traveling the path of salvation and a formidable weapon against evil spirits and their temptations. The humble knowledge of self that the Lord confers on us is a solid foundation on which he builds his spiritual edifice in us. We make great progress in spiritual life when the Lord blesses us with this knowledge. Saint Paul admonishes the Thessalonians to make progress in this chosen path to holiness. “Brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.” The more important instruction he gave them was the model of his life among them. He did not present himself to them, but Jesus Christ as the Saviour. He modelled Jesus Christ for them because he had a good knowledge of his own nothingness and Jesus as everything. The prerequisite knowledge of self protects us from the spirits of lust by admitting God within us at all times. “What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God.”

Since we acquire this knowledge of self in relation to our journey towards God, its presence inhibits any contrary journey of self to pleasure or pride. Paul refers to the movement of lust as characteristic of pagans in their ignorance of God. Saint John the Baptist was well-grounded in this knowledge of self. Hence, we celebrate him as the greatest prophet of the Old Testament and a link to the New. He sacrificed himself for the truth. “Herod sent to have John arrested, and had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married. For John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.’” The contrary was the case for Herod and Herodias. They were moved by lustful selves, as an indicator of the absence of faith in God. In the absence of this humble self-knowledge we gain in purification, the self will drives us in the place of the Holy Spirit. The outcomes are faithlessness, injustice, and lack of mercy for our brothers and sisters, as our Lord rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. The ego sacrifices all for its own gain and pleasure. Herodias sacrificed John to satisfy her lustful ways. “She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist.’” May the prayers of John the Baptist aid us to proceed always with a good knowledge of our nothingness.

Let us pray: O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death, grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.