It is 06th February 2015. It is the First Friday dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is the memorial of Saints Paul Miki and companions, the Martyrs. The readings are from Heb. 13:1-8 and the Gospel from Mk 6:14-29. The First reading speaks about the virtues a Christian needs to strive for in his or her life time. They are brotherly or sisterly love, love for strangers, prisoners, the abused, purity in married life, contentment with what we have, remembering our leaders and fear nothing. The Responsorial Psalm intones, “The Lord is my light and my help.” (Ps. 26:1). The Gospel brings out the vengeance of an evil person. Herodias left her husband Philip to marry Herod Antipas. Both were committing adultery. John the Baptist corrected them. Instead of getting rid of sin, she indulged in getting rid of John the Baptist. Herod honoured his words with the hidden agenda. Words are powerful which can lead us either to do good or to do bad. We need to be extremely careful with the words we give as a promise. In our lives, the best virtue we can always practice is to use words sparingly and practice them. When words are having a hidden meaning and ulterior motive, they can surely lead us to sin and that is what happened to the king in the Gospel. Same thing can happen to anyone. May we ask the Holy Spirit to help us in uttering words that benefit ourselves as well as others. May you have blessed day.