Before John the Baptist was born, his father Zechariah, who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied of John, “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways” (Luke 1:76). In other words, John would be the forerunner of Jesus, both life and in death. Like Jesus, John was born to die a martyr, which St. Mark records for us in Mark 6:14-29.What a timely reading, full of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, violence and gore; a veritable catalog of sins against the Ten Commandments. We ...