Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. Mark the evangelist. Mark wrote what scholars believe to be the oldest of the four Gospels. His Gospel was probably written sometime around 60 AD primarily for Gentile converts to the faith in Rome.
In the reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we hear the commission that Jesus gives to his apostles. Jesus' last words to the apostles point us to his saving mission and to the call he gives them to be witnesses to his saving death and resurrection, to proclaim the Good News of salvation to all.
While some of us are ordained to specific ministries in the Church, while some of us are sent as missionaries to bring the Good News to the world, all of us as followers of Christ are given a share in the task of being heralds of his Good News. We are all to proclaim him as savior of the world. However, we are not alone in our call to discipleship. We are all members of the Body of Christ, the Church. The risen Lord works in us and through us by the power of the Spirit. Through our words and actions, through our faith, the risen Christ is a very real presence in the world today.
Celebrating the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist reminds us of how central the apostolic faith of the Early Church is to our traditions and to our faith. Not only did the Second Vatican Council attempt to modernize and renew our traditions in the context of our modern culture, to call us to dialogue with the reality of our world, but it also called us back to the roots of our faith as expressed by the Evangelists, the Early Church Fathers and Mothers, and the Apostles. In the spirit of St. Mark and the commission that Jesus gives to all his followers, may we be filled with the joy of the risen Christ in a special way this Easter season. May all of us proclaim the glory of God to the world.
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