SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 FATHER ERNIE DE CICCIO
We have a really short Gospel reading today. And maybe we think it doesn’t say very much, but I think it says quite a lot.
First of all, this reading is not about Herod’s curiosity. We know that he was wondering who this Jesus was, that he was hearing such things about, and he wanted to see him even. I think this reading has more to say about conscience.
Herod did have a conscience. When John the Baptist was preaching that Herod shouldn’t have been married to his brother’s wife, it cut to his heart. Maybe it made him feel guilty. And we’re told elsewhere in the Gospel that he still liked to hear him. Yes, he had a conscience, because he knew he was not behaving in the right way.
And then he has him arrested. No doubt his conscience played on him again. And then he has him killed for a really stupid reason because this young girl danced for him, and he made this crazy promise of being willing to give her anything she wants, even half of his kingdom, and she asks for John’s head.
We’re never told that Herod had a conversion experience, that he ever changed. Maybe he would later on. But still, he thought about things. And when he heard about Jesus, he wanted to hear more. Who was this man? Was he John, raised from the dead, whom he had killed himself? Was he one of the great prophets? Was he Elijah? Who was this Jesus?
Because the words of Jesus, like the words of John the Baptist, cut through the heart, maybe Herod was not ready or willing to change, but what about our conscience? We have all sorts of things that we say and do, and maybe we try to hide them from the world. But we can’t hide them from the Lord because the Lord is speaking to us, maybe challenging us, maybe telling us we can do better. And of course, being human, we resist. We’d rather go on doing things just the way we always have.
But we can never silence the voice of truth. By killing John the Baptist, Herod couldn’t silence the truth. Jesus came! And later on, by killing Jesus, the world could not silence the voice of truth, because he would rise from the dead.
We try to run, we try to hide, from our guilt, from our conscience, from our past. But it always resurfaces, it comes back to us. Let’s not be like Herod and continue doing the same old stuff that we’ve always been doing.
We are given wonderful opportunities throughout our life. Opportunities for conversion. And by the way, it’s a lifetime process. It’s not like we suddenly convert one instant, and then everything is perfect. I always say thank God for confession, because no matter how often we slip and fall, the Lord is always ready to take us back, so often as we’re sorry.
Herod tried to see Jesus. Hopefully, when our conscience speaks to us, we’ll try to see Jesus as well and ask him: “What do you want me to do?” “How do you want me to change?” “I am weak; I can’t do it on my own. It’s not enough to have my personal willpower, or strength, or intelligence.”
But Jesus does give us grace throughout our life to be more than we think we are, to do more than we think we’re capable of. And part of that means being able to actually rise above our human weaknesses. We don’t have to list them all out right now.
But today’s short Gospel is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our own lives, not to be curious about it. Like I said, this reading is not about curiosity, but to examine our conscience.
Yes, we do so maybe before we go to bed, maybe before we go to confession, before we celebrate Mass. But let’s not just examine our conscience. Let’s always turn those intentions into proper action.
Jesus came down from heaven to seek and save the lost, not to condemn, but to give us as many chances as we need to turn to him.
May we always turn to the Lord. May we see Him. May we hear Him speaking to us. And may we have the courage and strength to act on His words.
