Today, our liturgy proposes that we contemplate an injustice: the beheading of St. John the Baptist; and, at the same time, to discover in God's Word the need for clear and concrete testimony of our faith in order to fill the world with hope.

I invite you to consider the person of Herod. Although this is a counter-testimony for us, it will help us to highlight some important details for our testimony of faith amid the world. Accordingly, today’s reading asserts that “Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus” (Mt 14:1). This assertion underlines an apparently correct, but not too sincere, attitude. This is the same kind of reality we find today in many people and, perhaps, even in ourselves. There are many who have heard of Jesus, but, who is He actually? What personal implication unites us to Him?

For our part, we must therefore give the correct answer. Notice that Herod's reply is but vague information: “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead” (Mt 14:2). What we are missing here is Peter's reply to Jesus' question: “He said to them, ‘but who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’” (Mt 16:15-16). And Peter’s assertion does not leave any room for fear or indifference; rather gives way to a testimony based in the Gospel of hope. This is how Saint John Paul II defined it in his apostolic Exhortation The Church in Europe: “Therefore, in union with the whole Church, I invite my brothers and my sisters in faith constantly to be open in trust to Christ and to allow themselves to be renewed by him, proclaiming to all people of good will in the power of peace and love that whoever encounters the Lord comes to know the Truth, discovers the Life, and finds the Way leading to it.”

Today, Saturday, let the Mother of God, the Mother of Hope, help us to really discover Jesus and to bear witness to him to our brothers and sisters.