Years ago, American Jesuit John Kavanaugh, S.J. wrote about presiding at Mass in Mother Teresa’s convent in Calcutta. As she came up for communion, he thought, “Wait till they hear about this back home. I gave communion to Mother Teresa.”
But when she gazed at the host to receive it, “I forgot about back home.”  He wrote that her intensity and gaze, her presence, “literally made me feel that I was holding the Body of Christ.”

He had always thought he believed he was holding the Body of Christ, but now, “believing it was another matter.”  He had felt the full force of Mother Teresa’s humble gaze focused on Jesus and the Eucharist.  Her presence reminded him not of her global fame but that he was holding the Body of Christ.

Humility seems to be at the heart of both Mother Teresa’s gaze at the Eucharist and Fr. Kavanaugh’s admission of his own human shortcomings.  It also seems to be a key to today’s readings.

When Paul writes to the community in Corinth, he admits he did not come with sublime words or wisdom but “in weakness and fear and with much trembling” and his message was not a demonstration of his own abilities “but on the power of God.”  His focus was on “Jesus Christ and him crucified” rather than himself.

Mark’s Gospel about the beheading of John the Baptist is another story.  I picture Herod giving a lavish banquet, the room filled with his courtiers, military officers, and the leading men of Galilee – people he wanted to impress with his power and wealth.  When his wife’s daughter, came into the hall and performed a dance that delighted them all, Herod bragged in front of his guests that he would give her anything she asked for “even to half my kingdom.”

Perhaps there had been lots of wine served.  He was in front of an audience he needed to astound, and the men may have reacted loudly and drunkenly to the entertainment. Herod’s announcement was showing off.

But after she consulted with Herodias, her mother, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist.  Did the room suddenly become silent?  Did it hush with the impact of her request?

Surely Herod was taken off guard.  He had put John in prison because John had challenged him on taking Herodias, his brother’s wife, as his own.  He could not stand for that … and yet, “he liked to listen to him.”  Something in John’s words and message must have touched a chord in Herod that little else may have done.

We can keenly feel his very human distress as Herod finds that he has bragged himself into a corner.  He did not want to kill John the Baptist, but because of his arrogant promises in front of his guests, he felt compelled to give her what she requested.   His guide in making that decision was his pride and his desperate need to show his audience his power.  He must have had to work for a moment to push away John’s message that had touched him.  He did as the dancer requested.

I can guess that each one of us has found ourselves in uncomfortable situations like Herod’s.  We have thoughtlessly promised or bragged of something.  We might have exaggerated our own importance in a situation and now find ourselves trapped into a conflict or confrontation we wanted to avoid.

Today we can ask God for the humility to recognize our weakness and human nature.  We can remember that we have each been given many gifts, but that each gift is not ours, but from God.

And with that humility, we can ask for the grace to see the real presence of Jesus in our lives, in the Eucharist, and in each person we meet today.