THE DEATH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

HERE we may pause awhile in meditation on the glorious end of St. John the Baptist. When the impious Herod and his infamous adulteress had perhaps already plotted the death of the Baptist, that they might escape the reproaches due to their criminal activity, it happened that at a public entertainment, Herodias, the wretched fruit of their incestuous bed, danced so much to the satisfaction of Herod, that he promised her for a recompense the head of John; and in consequence of this grant, he was beheaded in the prison. Behold here, how great a man is put to death, and how basely and ignominiously he is murdered by the iniquity of a reigning tyrant. Oh, great God, how did you suffer this? What can be the cause of the death of so great a man, one of such perfection and sanctity as to be taken for Christ?

But if you would digest this well, consider first the baseness and barbarity of his murderers, and then meditate on the singular greatness and eminence of John, and you will find fresh matter for surprise. You have already seen above, the many and great encomiums bestowed upon him, by our divine Saviour; now hear what applauses St. Bernard gives him in his panegyric on him: “That Mother and Mistress of all Churches, the Roman Church, of which it is said, I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not, received her consecration and badge in honor of St. John the Baptist, next after the name of our Saviour; It was indeed fit that the singular friend of his beloved spouse should pass thither when she was to be raised to her sovereign dignity.

Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded, but the preference of dignity was still given to the precursor. The purple of Rome is the blood of martyrs; the sovereign honor belongs to that holy patriarchate. Still, John is everywhere greater, singularly wonderful in all things, and above all. Who was ever so gloriously proclaimed? Who was so amply replenished with the Holy Ghost in the womb of his mother? Whose nativity does the Church solemnize except his? Who was ever so known to converse so sublimely? Who was the first preacher of penance, and The Kingdom of Heaven? John. Who baptized the King of Glory? John. Who plainly revealed the sacred mystery of the Trinity? John. To whom did Christ ever give testimony but to John? And finally, to whom, after Christ and his Mother, does the Church pay so much honor as to John?

John is a patriarch, nay, the last, and head of all the patriarchs. John is a prophet, nay, more than a prophet ; for him, whose coming he foretells, he points out with his finger; John is an angel, and the chosen among angels; our Saviour testifying it of him, saying: “Behold I send my angel, etc.” — (John 1). John is an apostle, and the first of apostles and their prince; and the first of God's messengers; John is an evangelist and preacher of the gospel; but the first in that office: John is a virgin, nay, the illustrious pattern of all virgins. The title-spring of purity, and mirror of chastity: John is a martyr, and the encouragement of other martyrs, and the soul of martyrdom from the birth to the death of Christ: he the voice calling out in the wilderness, he, the fore-runner of the judge, and the herald of the DIVINE Word.

He is Elias, and till his coming, the law and the prophets were so many lamps that beamed forth brightly and warmly their beneficent influence. I pass over in silence the proficiency he made in angelic perfections, by which he not only imitated every degree of that heavenly hierarchy, but even emulated the highest in seraphic wisdom and virtue." Thus far St. Bernard. Now hear that holy archbishop of Ravenna, St. Peter Chrysogonus, in a panegyric on the day of his decollation:

"The life of the Baptist," says he, "is the school of virtue, the mastership of life, the plan of sanctity, and the model of justice, etc." If, therefore, you compare the excellence of merit, and eminence of dignity in John, with the littleness and groveling baseness of those who beheaded him, you cannot help being surprised. What, shall a common executioner, the basest of the human race, be empowered to take away the life of so great, so good a personage, as if lie were the meanest and most execrable highwayman or murderer!

Behold him, then, with reverence and concern: how readily he-stoops his neck to the command of this vile and reprobate butcher; how humbly he bends his knees, and giving thanks to God, lays his neck on the block, and patiently receives on it the repeated strokes of the barbarous executioner. Thus departs the Baptist, that intimate friend, near relation, and familiar servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh what confusion is this for us, who, at the least visit of a trivial adversity, lose all sight of patience? John, innocent John, meets death, and such a death, with cheerfulness; and we, stained with the spots of sin, and worthy the divine indignation, are unable to sustain the least contradiction or indignity, though but in bare words. Our Saviour was absent from the city, when John was beheaded, though still in Judea.

But when his death was published, our divine Lord wept for him, as did his disciples, and the Blessed Virgin, who had nursed him in his most tender infancy, and who still loved him with extreme affection. Our blessed Redeemer, however, consoled her, with telling her, that it was expedient that he should die for the defense of the justice of his heavenly Father, that he would soon receive the reward of his suf¬ferings in heaven: and that it was not the will of the Almighty to protect his saints from death, since they are not designed for this world: their kingdom and country not being earthly but celestial; that John was freed from the chains of the body, and the powers of death had no more force to retain him on earth, or to detain him from the kingdom of heaven, whither lie would soon be transferred to reign with the Father. He then exhorts his Blessed Mother to be of good heart, as all was well with her beloved Baptist. Soon after this Christ retired from these parts to Galilee.

Dwell, gentle reader, on the preceding subjects, endeavor to render yourself present to them, contemplate them devoutly, and when you have completed your meditation on these heads, as God shall be pleased to inspire you, proceed to others, and follow your blessed Saviour, step by step, whithersoever he goes.