Out of Our Minds

Today is the Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, who “refused to marry the son of a Roman official, instead declaring herself committed to Christ during an era when Christianity was still an underground religion” (Encyclopedia.com). She was dragged naked through the streets to a brothel. “Her hair grew during her martyrdom, which covered her body. Then, when she was thrown into a fire to die, as a result of her prayers, the flames went out” (romereports.com). She was eventually beheaded. Agnes was 12 years old.

The gospel reading for today is Mark 3:20-21

Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said “He is out of his mind.”

From a human, self-preservation standpoint, I would think that Saint Agnes was ‘out of her mind’ for openly calling herself a Christian in a time when that was a death sentence. I had a similar thought when Cassie Bernall said “yes” during the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. I was en route to Columbus with a co-worker and we were discussing it. I shared that if it was my child I would have wanted her to lie to save her life. He said he would hope his children would make the same choice as Cassie.

But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

Matthew 10:33

I have matured some as a Christian over the years– I understand more and trust more. I no longer think along the lines of hiding your faith to (possibly) save your life because I understand that we are called to more than this life and we risk our eternal reward if we deny Jesus. Everything we do should be for him, in gratitude and in love.

We die to ourselves moment by moment, to do God’s will instead of ours.

Jason is nearly midway through his journey to (God willing) being ordained to the Catholic Church as a permanent deacon. I and the other wives are on this journey too, with our husbands and with each other. We are offered opportunities for our own formation as well although as the wives of deacons (the term is ‘diakonissa’– isn’t that pretty?) we will not have a formal role but can be as involved as we wish to be. But Jason and I do our morning readings together over coffee (and lauds too if I get up early enough) and we have lively discussions as we apply information learned through our separate bible studies to the readings. We are growing in our faith, which is making our marriage stronger. But our families think we are ‘out of our minds.’ They are supportive but do not understand.

They are right though– we are out of our minds. We are slowly taking on the mind of Christ as we strive to become more Christ-centered and to live more Christ-centered lives. Saint Agnes, the other martyrs, and Cassie were all out of their minds too. And it’s a beautiful thing!