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, primarily for Gentile converts to the faith in Rome.
In the Gospel 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.
While some of us are ordained to specific ministries in the Church, while some 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, as 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 called us 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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