TRUTH IS BITTER

The story in the gospel reading of today is a very popular and realistic one. People always tend to do all that is possible to either silence or eliminate what they see as a threat to their ambition. Herodias was married to Philip who had no inheritance from his father King Herod the great. When Herod Antipas the brother of Philip came to visit him, Herodias saw that Antipas was more influential and wealthy than her husband, she therefore divorced or left her husband and followed Herod Antipas. 
It was this scenario that John the Baptist preached against that made Antipas arrest him and by the evil plans of Herodoas, got him beheaded.
Many of us, out of fear of bring persecuted, prefer to be silent when we are supposed to speak the truth. May we like St John the Baptist, be ready to stay on the side of truth. Amen. 

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP.