Jeremiah 26, 11-16: First reading is from a sermon by the prophet Jeremiah in the temple. He’s warning them that the temple will be destroyed. So there is this confrontation between Jeremiah and the authorities of Judah. He declares his innocence like Christ and is eventually saved by the intervention of the king. 

In the Gospel of the day we have the account of the death of John the Baptist (Matt 14, 1-12). Now Herod is in his own party, so he is in his own element. The wine is flowing. He has nobody to guide him. He has already a pretty hedonistic attitude, and this leads to the beheading of John the Baptist. Titian has a spectacular painting of the moment when Salome gives the head of John the Baptist to her mother, Herodias. It dates to around 1515 and I remember seeing it with excitement in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. Lord, let me not be afraid of the cross, or what people call the cross.

The seal of Opus Dei: the Cross at the heart of the world. It is not like a medal that encircles the cross, or restricts its extent, or where it ought to be. The circle is not just a circle. It is a globe.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Jesu, meine Freude", BWV 227.

Thumbnail: Titian, "Salome with the head of John the Baptist," 1515, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome.

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