To please God not the world!
Remembering the Beheading of John - 29th August, 2017
1 Thes 2:1-8; Mk 6: 17-29
Pleasing others - is it a virtue? To be pleasing to others is one thing, but to please others is a dangerous choice. To please the other would mean being ready blindly to do whatever is to their liking, to their desire, to their pleasure. This can give rise to a malady which can range from a mere timidity to a dire slavery. Can I do something, merely to please someone? Can pleasing someone become an absolute for me? The only person whose will or desire can never, ever go wrong is God. And therefore, if at all I decide to please someone it can be God and no other. That is what Paul declares in the first reading today: we are here to please God not human beings.
This is the challenge that the prophets and the martyrs down the history have lived for and died for - to please the Lord. When I begin to please others, please rules for rules sake, please the society for human respect, please people for favours and recognition, I cast my personal dignity at stake. John the Baptist died because he refused to please Herod. Jesus died because he refused to please the High Priests and the Chief Priest, the King or the Governor; the only person he was ready to please was his Father Almighty.
Let us dwell on this question today: who am I longing to please? How far will I go to please the Lord?