Losing Your Head<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St Denis was martyred in Paris around 272. The legend says after his head was cut off he got up and walked two miles carrying it until he got tired and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2006\/10\/losing-your-head.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Losing Your Head\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"St Denis was martyred in Paris around 272. 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{"id":3454,"date":"2006-10-09T23:46:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-09T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2006\/10\/losing-your-head\/"},"modified":"2006-10-09T23:46:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-09T23:46:00","slug":"losing-your-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2006\/10\/losing-your-head.html","title":{"rendered":"Losing Your Head"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>
St Denis was martyred in Paris around 272. The legend says after his head was cut off he got up and walked two miles carrying it until he got tired and laid down to die. This led to an old rhyme:<\/p>\n

St Denis had his head cut off, and after that<\/em>
He walked two miles without his hat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which makes me think that it\u2019s not a bad thing to lose your head from time to time. We\u2019re so staid and cautious in all things. We\u2019re so careful and wary of emotion, or doing anything radical. Well, why not go crazy for Christ sometime? Why not lose your head and walk barefoot to Mass or give away a thousand dollars when you can\u2019t afford it, or fast on Friday instead of eating your tasty tuna sandwich and feeling self righteous, or read the Bible through from cover to cover\u2013even the detailed rubrics of Levitical sacrifices\u2026(pull the fat from the left kidney and throw it in the fire, then toss the entrails over your right shoulder\u2026) or give money to that tramp who asks rather than saying snootily, \u201cHe\u2019ll probably just spend it on drink.\u201d So what! if you were in his condition wouldn\u2019t you want to spend it on drink?<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t \u2018losing your head\u2019 the essence of martyrdom? The martyr does something radical and (by the world\u2019s standards) irrational. Go for it. Lose your head for St Denis\u2019 Day and see if you don\u2019t feel better for it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"