The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, the Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist, invite us to ponder his account of Jesus' life and ministry for guidance in our journey with Christ.
Signposts for our Journey
The reading from the First Letter of Peter offers advice to the Community with final greetings and Benediction.
* [5:5–11] The community is to be subject to the presbyters and to show humility toward one another and trust in God’s love and care (1 Pt 5:5–7). With sobriety, alertness, and steadfast faith they must resist the evil one; their sufferings are shared with Christians everywhere (1 Pt 5:8–9). They will be strengthened and called to eternal glory (1 Pt 5:10–11).1
Psalm 89 praises God’s Covenant with David.
* [Psalm 89] The community laments the defeat of the Davidic king, to whom God promised kingship as enduring as the heavens (Ps 89:2–5). The Psalm narrates how God became king of the divine beings (Ps 89:6–9) and how the Davidic king became king of earthly kings (Ps 89:20–38). Since the defeat of the king calls into question God’s promise, the community ardently prays God to be faithful to the original promise to David (Ps 89:39–52).2
The Gospel of Mark details the Commissioning of the Eleven and the Ascension of Jesus.
* [16:9–20] This passage, termed the Longer Ending to the Marcan gospel by comparison with a much briefer conclusion found in some less important manuscripts, has traditionally been accepted as a canonical part of the gospel and was defined as such by the Council of Trent. Early citations of it by the Fathers indicate that it was composed by the second century, although vocabulary and style indicate that it was written by someone other than Mark. It is a general resume of the material concerning the appearances of the risen Jesus, reflecting, in particular, traditions found in Lk 24 and Jn 20.3
David Crawford comes from a long line of worriers. There have been some intended encouragements that he finds to be particularly unhelpful. “Don’t worry” is one. “Just let go of your worry” is another one of these.
Fortunately, our first reading provides an answer: With humility, cast your worries – all of them – on God. How liberating to know that I can ask God to take my worries and He will! The second part of that sentence, the “why,” is even more wonderful: because He cares for you. God cares for you.4
Don Schwager quotes “The Gospel proclaimed to all creation,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"The command to the apostles to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8) was not addressed exclusively to those to whom it was immediately spoken. They alone would not be the only ones who would carry such an enormous task to completion. Similarly he seems to be speaking to the apostles very personally when he says: 'Behold I am with you even to the end of the world' (Matthew 28:20), yet who does not know that he made this promise to the universal church which will last from now even to the consummation of the world by successive births and deaths?" (excerpt from LETTER 199,TO HESYCHIUS 49)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Peter 5:5-14 comments that today is the feast of St. Mark, the same Mark whom Peter calls his “son” (1 Peter 5:13) and the same Mark who preached about the humility of Christ in the Gospel that bears his name. We can preach the gospel as well. Practicing humility may be the most beautiful and sacrificial way we have to “go to the cross” with Jesus.
Often, it’s in small and hidden ways that we practice humility, like staying silent when we’re tempted to engage someone in an argument or deferring to another person when we’d rather do it our way. When we do such things, we preach a mini-gospel! We become evangelists like St. Mark—and living testaments to the power of the cross and the saving message of Jesus Christ. “Jesus, help me to preach the gospel by the way I love and serve my neighbor.”6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the teaching in 1 Peter as he discusses the authorship of these letters. The Longer Ending of Mark’s Gospel contains inspired material from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Friar Jude notes that the vocabulary and style of the Longer Ending are not like Mark but they contain eyewitness testimony of what Jesus did.
Peter Edmonds SJ, a tutor in biblical studies at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, comments on Saint Mark as the Pastor.
But it may well have had its origin in Rome in the time of Nero in his later years (AD 68). We know from the Roman historian Tacitus that the Christians there were under grave threat from the Roman authorities who were blaming them for a great fire that had recently devastated the city. Many, unjustly accused, paid with their lives. Others denied that they were Christians and apostasised. It was dangerous to be a Christian in those days. Mark was writing for such people. The Jesus whom they professed to follow was one who had willingly walked to Jerusalem, the city of his enemies where he knew he faced death. His disciples had struggled in many ways unsuccessfully to remain faithful to their calling but Jesus, despite their failings, summoned them to meet him again in Galilee. Thanks to Mark, memories and traditions were repeated of ‘little people’ who had said or done something that in turn instructed and encouraged the ‘little people’ of that small group of Christians in Rome.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, wrote this teaching on the Eucharist on Easter Sunday 2017 with “great joy”. The Eucharist is an encounter of the heart when we recognize Presence through our own offered presence. In the Eucharist, we move beyond mere words or rational thought and go to that place where we don’t talk about the Mystery anymore; we begin to chew on it. Jesus did not say, “Think about this” or “Stare at this” or even “Worship this.” Instead he said, “Eat this!”
We must move our knowing to the bodily, cellular, participative, and thus unitive level. We must keep eating and drinking the Mystery, until one day it dawns on us, in an undefended moment, “My God, I really am what I eat! I also am the Body of Christ.” Then we can henceforth trust and allow what has been true since the first moment of our existence. The Eucharist should operate like a stun gun, not just a pretty ceremony. We have dignity and power flowing through us in our bare and naked existence—and everybody else does too, even though most do not know it. A body awareness of this sort is enough to steer and empower our entire faith life. This is why I must hold to the orthodox belief that there is Real Presence in the bread and wine. For me, if we sacrifice Reality in the basic and universal elements, we end up sacrificing the same Reality in ourselves.8
The inspired work of the Evangelists is a forum where the nudging of the Spirit can open us to the Reality of the Body of Christ.
References
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