In his book “The Hidden Wholeness” Parker Palmer talks about living an ‘undivided life’. He uses the imagery of a person’s “back-stage” and “on-stage” lives. Our back-stage life comprises our inner ideas, intuition, feelings, values and faith and our on-stage life is characterized by our desired image, influence, and impact. The person living a divided life behaves as the situation demands; at home they can live their back-stage lives in relative safety, once they leave the home, they put on their different masks to blend and behave to the expectations of the cultural norms to earn the acceptance of the crowd. Often at church they make their best effort to live a balance of back-stage values and on-stage behaviors.
This is where we meet Herod in the today’s gospel. “Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.” Herod’s fear offers us some insight to his back-stage feelings and intuition. “When he heard [John] speak, he was very much perplexed, yet [Herod] liked to listen to him.” It seems that Herod was feeling the guilt of knowing he did wrong by marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias. Unfortunately, Herod’s on-stage life was stronger. His public image, especially after making a public vow, was more important than defending his relationship with John.
Do we live a divided life? We hear, in the letter to the Hebrews, a reminder of the desired Christian back-stage values. How do we live these values consistently across the many settings of our daily lives (home, work, social, and church)? Do we recognize the feelings, like Herod, when we don’t?
To live an ‘undivided life’ one must live out of their authentic self. The self that has the confidence to “be” who God created us to be, a holy people who knows that “the Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid”. Often, when we live this undivided life, we are not the most popular people with those who have bought into the significant cultural shifts concerning the definition of marriage, respect of life from conception to natural death, and the dignity of every human person.
As we approach this Eucharistic mystery, “remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.” The apostles, saints, and other holy people in your life. "Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith," undivided across every facet of your life.
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