"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for
good men to do nothing"
This is
a quote often attributed to the 18th century Irish political
philosopher, Edmund Burke. And its
corollary would be something like “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is
for good men to SAY nothing.”
Obviously,
this is a philosophy that John the Baptist would subscribe to. For if any of the blesseds in heaven have a
reputation for outspokenness, for speaking truth to power, for not keeping
silent, it is John, whose martyrdom we celebrate today, whose words of truth led
to his execution. Who called out the
king and his wife, who spoke the truth about their adulterous marriage. Not out of anger but recognizing that their
very public sin could not stand without causing scandal to the people. Not out of anger but in a spirit of
encouraging repentance and change. In a
spirit of prophecy.
You see,
we call John a prophet, but we don’t mean the sort who can prophesy about the
future. John was a prophet in the sense
of a person able to look around, see the evil and injustice and speak the truth
about it. To not remain silent, to not
do nothing.
Each of
us, by our baptism, is also called to prophecy, to not remain silent in the
midst of evil and injustice, to not remain passive and do nothing. As you and I were anointed with the Sacred
Chrism at our baptism, the priest or deacon spoke these words:
“As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may
you live always as a member of His body. ”
So, my
brothers and sisters, you and i are called to talk the talk. To look about us at our world, which is
steeped in evil and injustice and to not remain silent. To speak in love, to be sure, but to speak
the truth.
But, if
you’ll remember yesterday’s Gospel, we are also called to walk the walk, to
witness to the truth not only with our words but also with our actions and by
the holiness of our lives. John was
certainly one whose simple life of poverty was a witness to his message of
truth, repentance and change. And his cruel
martyrdom, with his innocent blood shed at the hands of the powerful,
foreshadowed the death of Our Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. By his words, his life, and by his death,
John fulfilled his mission which was to point the way to Jesus Christ.
And my
sisters and brothers, for each of us that is our mission too. To point the way to Jesus Christ in a world
so badly in need of Him. Let us pray
then, through the intercession of St. John the Baptist, that you and I will
speak the truth with courage and love, and that our lives will be a beacon of
light, a sign of Christ’s presence in our dark and broken world.
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