Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. (Mark 6:20)
I customarily do not post explicitly spiritual reflections here. However at this morning’s Mass with our students (the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist), it occurred to me to me that Herod could have profited from Ignatius of Loyola’s “discernment of sprits.” What does it mean to discern spirits? It means to take account of the “motions of the soul.” As the helpful folks as Loyola Press note,
These interior movements consist of thoughts, imaginings, emotions, inclinations, desires, feelings, repulsions, and attractions. Spiritual discernment of spirits involves becoming sensitive to these movements, reflecting on them, and understanding where they come from and where they lead us.
What we see in today’s gospel for the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist is that Herod took no such account. On the one hand he liked to listen to John the Baptist, and on the other hand what he heard perplexed him. If only he’d taken a few minutes to take account of what was going on spiritually, maybe he would have found a way to withstand Salome’s request!
No comments:
Post a Comment