Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests (Mk 6:22).

Mark paints a word picture of a family: Herod, Herodias, and their daughter: ancient manuscripts differ as to whether she was Herod’s or Herodias’ daughter. Also, two times, in Mk 6:22 and 6:28, she is referred to in the Greek as korasion, meaning a young woman, as young as twelve years old (Donahue, 198). The setting is the banquet hall of Herod, the tetrarch or prince of Galilee. His high officials, military commanders, and the elites of Galilee were all gathered to celebrate Herod’s birthday. This is a royal, opulent family.

The daughter comes out to dance for Herod. Her dance delights Herod and he grants her anything she wants. Following the counsel of Herodias, she asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The reason for this request was because Herodias held a grudge toward John because he stated that it “is illegal for you to be married to your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18). Herod was distressed at the daughter’s request, but granted John’s death sentence to save face before his honored guests. The execution was swift, the head of John was brought on a platter, given to the girl, who then brought it to her mother.

Now, as I was reading this account again on the USCCB link posted below, I glanced to the right side of the web page at an advertisement for a book called, The Fragrance of Family Life. Clicking on the image of the book revealed this blurb: “This guide will help you share prayer time with your children, parents, grandparents, and all those whom the Lord has placed in your life.” On the cover of this book was a painting of a peasant family, clearly meaning to represent Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.

Could there be any two starker images? One family as corrupt, conniving, and malicious as can hardly be imagined and another as faithful, pure, and holy as can be hoped for. Families, like all of us, are not perfect, they are a bit messy. We do the best we can to support and love one another. Hopefully, most of our families fall somewhere in between, and hopefully closer to, the Holy Family than the Herodians.

The best we can do as family is to: accept each family member for the unique gift and person they are, make it known we are praying or thinking about one another, commit to support and encourage one another, forgive one another, continue to communicate with one another and even when we disagree respect one another, and no matter what bumpy roads or stormy seas of trial our families are going through or may go through, and you catch yourself shouting out: “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph”, just remember to add, “Pray for us” after your invocation. Bottom line: no matter how much we mess up, may we always agree that when the smoke clears, we will love and be there for one another.

For all our families, and especially those in Texas, on this his memorial day, we ask St John the Baptist to pray for us. From our family to yours, God bless you!

Link for today’s Mass reading:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082917.cfm

Donahue SJ, John R. and John R.Harrington SJ, Daniel J. 2007. “The Gospel of Matthew”. In vol. 1, Sacra Pagina Series, edited by Daniel J. Harrington. Minnesota, Liturgical Press, 2002.