Today, we celebrate the feast day of
St. Mark the evangelist. Mark wrote what
scholars believe is the oldest of the four Gospels included in the New
Testament. Mark's Gospel was probably written
sometime around 60 AD; it was written primarily for Gentile converts to the
faith in Rome.
In the Gospel reading today, we hear
the commission that Jesus gives to his apostles. Jesus' last words to these apostles point us
to his saving mission and to the call he gives to them to be witnesses to his
saving death and his resurrection, to proclaim the Good News of salvation to
all the people of the world.
And 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 different parts of the world, all of us as followers of
Jesus are given a share in the task of being heralds of the Good News of Jesus,
the savior of our world. We are not left
alone to that task – we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church. The risen Lord works in us and through us by
the power of his Holy Spirit. Through
our words and our 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 tradition and to our faith.
Not only did the Second Vatican Council attempt to modernize and renew
our traditions in the context of our culture, but it also attempted to get back
to the very roots of our faith as expressed by the evangelists, the Early
Church Fathers and Mothers, and the apostles as well. 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. May we long to live a life
of praise and thanksgiving for the glory of God.
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