A Faith to Die For

I'm praying a "Seven Day Rosary" this week. It's a rosary developed by John F. Kippley and it's beautiful. It uses eight sets of mysteries rather than the traditional four, and it incorporates biblical passages. Yesterday, I prayed "The Parables" rosary, which focused on the parables of the "good seeds," the "good Samaritan," the "two barns of wheat," the "talents" and the well known "prodigal son." I prayed (and had to read) it while driving yesterday all around New Jersey (not the best time to be reading, I know, but I took what time I could get!). In the first day of the rosary, the mysteries were about the preparation of the people for Jesus' public ministry. It included the familiar Nativity and the Visitation stories but ended with something I wasn't expecting--the martyrdom of John the Baptist.

The notes on this mystery said, "St. John the Baptist is the first adult martyr of the New Testament. He is the only person in the Bible to die specifically for his witness to the marriage bond" (http://www.nfpandmore.org/rosary.shtml).  I didn't realize this. I don't think I actually knew why he was imprisoned to begin with. Not the specific reason, anyway. Because he refused to validate Herod's marriage to his brother's wife, he was jailed and then beheaded. In this act, he prepared the way for the sacrifice of his cousin.

This way of praying the rosary has made me feel many things--sadness, joy, amazement, desperation, hope, revelation. And it made me wonder that day--what would I die for? Not who, because that's easy. I know who I would give my life for, and I'm no saint for that list. It's the easy people--the people I love, the person I co-created, the people who love me. I doubt if I could die for someone I don't know, or don't love or don't, heaven forbid, like very much. But, the question surprised me in the car that day (yes, again in the car)--what cause, what belief, what issue is great enough to you, Katie, that you would die upholding its rightness? What is worth it to me? And, most frankly, do I even have the courage to know? How do I know if I would DIE for something? I mean, really? I would let someone cut off my head or burn me alive or shoot me against a wall--that would mean leaving my children and my husband and my family and my life!!!--for a CAUSE? For a belief? I'm afraid I would give in. When I think of my most beloved truths--the True Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist, the God-given freedoms of every individual, the liberties and justness afforded you because you were born human, the dignity of and protection for our most vulnerable and precious--the unborn. . .I still don't know if I could be like John and offer my greatest gift (not right or entitlement. . .gift) for an idea. What, then, does that mean about my strength in these ideas and beliefs and truths? Are they like my family and loved friends, or those people I don't know or would rather not?