The Passion of John the Baptist

 

"The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,
“I want you to give me at once
on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders
to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb." (Mark 6)

 

St. John the Baptist is a model for evangelizing.  He prepared the way for Christ, for an encounter with Jesus in the hearts and souls of those he met.  He pointed the way, not proclaiming himself, but Jesus.   St. John the Baptist prayed, “He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).  This first evangelization was sealed with the blood of martyrdom.  Are we ready to seal the New Evangelization with the blood of martyrdom, if God should ask it of us?  St. John the Baptist was asked to keep quiet and to not preach.  He wasn't asked to outrightly renounce the faith.  This also is many times the case today, in a world steeped in relativism and individualism.  But we cannot keep silent.  We cannot help but proclaim Christ and the wonders He has done for us! 

 

"O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death, grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever."

(Collect from the Mass for August 29, 2014).

 

 

 

Written by Kristen