life is too complicated

Who is to be blamed for the murder of St. John the Baptist? I would answer: “it depends on who is answering the investigation.” If I am to ask this in an Individual Colloquium (IC) my report which I would dutifully write on a piece of paper folded crosswise, would appear like this:


“John the Baptist was murdered and beheaded by the executioner acting upon the orders of Herod, which was instigated by Salome, upon the request of Herodias and probably compelled by Herod’s friends who was present at the party; complicated further by the difficult and confusing lineage and marriages made by their father, Herod the Great, and complicated further by the equally complicated marriages and divorces of his children.”
All in all I have seven headings considered as data as to the who and why of the murder of John the Baptist, and these headings, by the way, could be further explained and expounded.
Nevertheless my message for this homily is quite simple: it is not simple - the murder of St. John the Baptist was not that simple. It was too complicated. It would include upbringing which would in itself uncover so many intriguing data in the marriages of Herod the Great who, by the way, has 5 known wives and 7 children, 3 of whom he murdered. It would also include peer pressure probably. It must have been sex brought about by a sexy dancer dancing sexily. It would also include the divorce of Herodias who was seduced by Herod Antipas that she married him, after leaving his original husband Herod Philip who was Herod Antipas’ brother, despite the fact that they had already a daughter by the name of Salome, who was later married to Philip, who was her fathers’ brother and therefore her uncle. By the way, I almost forgot, Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulos, another son of Herod the Great and therefore brother to the three guys I mentioned, making the marriage of Herodias a marriage made to an uncle, and thereby making the marriage of Salome to Philip a marriage to an uncle and a great uncle at one and the same time. Now do you understand who murdered and why was John the Baptist murdered? No! You don’t understand! Murders like this can get so complicated - because life can get too complicated.
What is my message then? Find a diad, value your diad, go to your SD, and go to your IC and be faithful to it, because life is too complicated for you to understand it by yourself . . . alone.

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