August 29—The Passion of St. John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist is commemorated in two feasts, his
birth and his death. We know from
Scripture that he died due to the whims of Herodias, the invalid wife of Herod
Antipas, and the acquiescence of her daughter, who is traditionally known as Salome. Salome danced before Herod, who was so
delighted that he promised to give her anything she wanted, up to half of his
kingdom. Herodias told her to ask for
the head of John the Baptist, who had condemned her marriage to Herod because
she was wife to Herod’s brother, Philip.
John the Baptist was not killed for his love for Christ as such; as the
last of the prophets, he was killed because he witnessed to God’s truth of the
sanctity of marriage.
Marriage is a sacred covenant, symbolic of Jesus’ love for
the Church. Marriage freely vows the
husband and wife to a life of love as demonstrated in their acceptance of
fidelity, permanence, and openness to each other in fertility, that is, willingness
to accept children as gifts from God.
Jesus raised the institution of marriage to a sacrament and stated, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and
female. For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two
but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no
human being must separate” (Mark 10:6-9).
Marriage is not about the fulfillment of a sexual desire, or
a statement of civil rights, but rather it is a witness to the love of Christ
for the Church. Therefore, every
sacramentally married couple participates in a special way in the very love of
Christ for us, his Church. And so it is
up to every sacramentally married couple to witness to that love by their
faithfulness to each other, by the permanence of their marriage until death do
them part, and in their willing acceptance of children as conceived in accord
with the great gifts of unity and potential procreation in each act of marital
love. These are the truths for which St.
John the Baptist died. He can be called
the patron and defender of marriage in our day and age.
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