Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as with the sorrowful day of the beheading of St. John the Forerunner!

The Evangelists Matthew and Mark narrate for us in detail the events of the sorrowful and needless death of John the Baptist. (Today we heard the words according to Mark, while the excerpt from Matthew is usually read at the All-Night Vigil on the eve of the feast). In these
Gospel narratives we hear of nothing exalted or wonderful, but only about that which is awful. We heard about drunkenness, fornication, lack of self control, thoughtless and idle words, envy, hatred, superstition, and murder. We heard not about saints or radiant people, but about a sinful and repugnant family. Upon hearing such things, we are left with an unpleasant and melancholy disposition of the soul. What is still more unpleasant is that those passions about which we heard in today’s Gospel reading exist in the world which surrounds us up to the present moment. Alas, at times they make themselves known in our own personal lives.

After hearing such things, so as to give us hope and so that we not fall into a deep depression, both Gospel excerpts finish with short words about Christ. Today we heard how the Apostles, when they learned about the death of John the Baptist while they we still preaching the Kingdom of God throughout Palestine and healing the sick and possessed, gathered around their Teacher and told Him everything that had transpired. In the Gospel according to Matthew we read that Christ, when He heard of the death of His friend, departed to a desolate place to be alone and to grieve. When the people found where Jesus was, they went to Him, and He in turn came out to them and began to heal the sick.

In such a way, both Gospels show us how to act in difficult and sorrowful moments. First, as St. Matthew writes, we can leave the turbulent world, full of temptations, and can seek some solitude, so as to better see our own spiritual state. This type of mindful spiritual state will help us do that which St. Mark writes about, that is, to gather ourselves around Christ and to bring to Him our anguish, sadness, and sorrow. Without a doubt, seeing this, the Lord will come out and comfort us.

Through the prayers of St. John the Forerunner, may we receive from Christ the Saviour peace and consolation!

priest Alexis