Gospel (Mt 14,1-12) - At that time news of the fame of Jesus reached the tetrarch Herod. He said to his courtiers: «This is John the Baptist. He rose from the dead and for this reason he has the power to work wonders! In fact, Herod had arrested John and had him chained and thrown into prison because of Herodias, wife of his brother Philip. In fact, John said to him: "It is not lawful for you to keep her with you!". Herod, although he wanted him to die, was afraid of the crowd because they considered him a prophet. When it was Herod's birthday, Herodias' daughter danced in public and Herod liked her so much that he promised her with an oath to give her whatever she asked for. She, instigated by her mother, said: "Give me here, on a platter, the head of John the Baptist." The king was saddened, but because of the oath and the guests he ordered that it be given to her and sent John to beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter, given to the girl, and she carried it to her mother. His disciples showed up to take the body, buried it and went to inform Jesus.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

The tetrarch Herod is part of the same dynasty as the royal family of the Infancy Gospels; he is afraid that Jesus is the revived Baptist. Once again, the Herod of the moment is afraid of losing his power. His predecessor was afraid of the news reported to him by the magi and confirmed by the Scriptures. In fact, the Word of God never leaves things as they are, it disturbs our idea of possession and strength, it asks everyone for a change in their lives, in their attitudes, in the thoughts of their hearts. The Herod of Jesus' childhood, in order to maintain his power, ordered that cruel massacre of innocent children. Defending oneself easily leads to eliminating the one who considers oneself to be the adversary. This is why Jesus asks us to eradicate every bad thought from the root: if left to grow it tends to eliminate the other. This Herod also allowed himself to be dragged into the vortex of violence. He was undoubtedly struck by the clarity of John's words reproaching him for his bad conduct. He truly is a prophet, he does not bend to the logic of the world and asks everyone to convert. Herod therefore had him imprisoned, thinking that he would never hear that voice again. But he didn't want to kill him. But his daughter's insistence and his pride led him to make a gesture that he didn't want either. It is the ultimately painful story of our strength, which then finds itself doing what it doesn't want to do, which prefers its own consideration to the truth, which to satisfy its own image ends up a victim of the fickleness and arrogance of a woman. The Baptist's death sounded bitter to Jesus. It was a warning to him too if he continued on the path of prophecy. But Jesus did not stop, even if continuing the preaching of love would have led him to the cross. It is the path of testimony to the end. The millions of martyrs of the twentieth century are an example of the evangelical testimony of men who did not bow to the power of the world, who did not stop speaking and who we must guard with care and admiration because they help us to understand what the true strength of man of God.