Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist
The scriptures tell us why John the Baptist had incurred the king’s displeasure and why his head ended up on a platter, but John the Baptist himself is not one of the central figures in the story. The gospels of Matthew and Mark both keep the focus on Herod, on his unlawful wife, and on his stepdaughter. The gospels make no mention of John the Baptist’s final interactions with his disciples, or of his last words, or of the details of his beheading. Mark’s gospel tells us only that Herod “dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison” (Mark 6:27). Matthew’s gospel tells us even less: “he had John beheaded in the prison” (Matthew 14:10).
One of the techniques of Ignatian spirituality is to fill in the missing details of the scene. What kind of prison was John the Baptist kept in? Was there much light? How did the place smell? What was the taste of the food and drink if there were any? What did the chains sound like? Were the prisoners alone in their cells or did were several packed in to each cell? Which visitors came? What did they talk about? What was the executioner like?
Using Ignatian spirituality, many such details of this sort are compiled in the imagination and brought to life there, as if it were a painting or a sculpture or a movie all in the mind. It is the retreatant’s work to stay focused and be patient in assembling all of this and offering the product to God in solitude while asking to receive some sort of grace or gift from God, and trusting that God, in time, will bestow the gifts that are most appropriate.