Word to the Wise
Thursday, August 29, 2024 - Aug. 29 - The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
[Jer 1:17-19 and Mark 6:17-29]The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you." He even swore many things to her, "I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist." [Mark]
An important figure in the story of Jesus Christ comes to an ignominious death in the gory story in today's gospel passage from the Gospel According to Mark. According to the story, John the Baptist had criticized Herod for marrying his brother Philip's former wife - in essence, he married his sister-in-law. Naturally, that lady was not happy with John and when her daughter (tradition calls her Salome) managed to please her drunken stepfather with a dance, the lady saw her chance and John lost his head! The liturgical calendar makes the birth of John a top observance - "solemnity" - but his death is just a "memorial." I wonder why? In a way, his death pre-figures that of Jesus insofar as both deaths come about because of human envy and hatred. Herodias (Salome's mom) and the Pharisees had something in common! One would think that the word "passion" in the title of the feast day merits something more than a passing mention!
Human life is precious, whether it be that of Jesus, John the Baptist or any martyr or unborn child or condemned prisoner. To end another person's life by our own hand or the government's violates the fifth commandment: YOU SHALL NOT KILL. All of the world's great religions are known to commit violence in pursuit of their faith!!! We Christians are no exception. The violence is one of the ways in which modern atheism criticizes religious faith. Why give atheism that "weapon?" Why give secularism the opportunity to shrug off human life as another commodity to be discarded? Pope St. John Paul II's denunciation of the "culture of death" is worth our steady contemplation and resolute action. AMEN