St. Mark the Evangelist
Saturday, April 25th Readings Reflection: Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Today is the Feast of St. Mark, one of the four Gospel writers. From the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 13), we know that St. Mark accompanied St. Paul and St. Barnabas to Antioch in 44 AD. After Mark returned to Jerusalem, St. Paul worried that he was not “reliable” and did not permit him to accompany the pair on their next journey (Catholic Online). However, St. Mark proved his reliability by visiting St. Paul during the Apostle’s first imprisonment.
According to early Christian accounts, St. Mark was close friends with St. Peter and served as his interpreter. In writing his Gospel, St. Mark was not himself an eyewitness of the events he described, and he thus likely based his Gospel on the accounts shared by St. Peter. St. Mark’s Gospel is the most concise of the four Gospels, rapidly recounting one event immediately after another without extraneous detail, which is believed to be due to the likely fact that he was recording St. Peter’s memories. Of course, this does not detract from the fact that St. Mark is the rightful human author of his Gospel and that he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Rather, it adds a deeper level of credibility to his Gospel, since he was not himself an eyewitness, and gives us a glimpse into the memories of St. Peter, the head of the Apostles.
Today’s Gospel, which is from the Gospel of St. Mark, recounts how Jesus sent the eleven faithful Apostles out into the world to spread the Gospel after His Resurrection. In St. Mark’s account, Christ ascended into Heaven immediately after sending the Apostles out into the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to all men. This points to the reality that Christ’s Ascension fulfilled what He had accomplished through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. In His Ascension, Our Lord prepared the way by going before us to Heaven, where He intercedes for us to the Father and pours forth spiritual gifts upon us. It is our role to accept these graces and remain faithful to Him so that we might join Him in the place He has prepared for us.
For this reason, as Our Lord tells the Apostles and us in today’s Gospel, we must proclaim the Gospel to every creature, for “whoever does not believe will be condemned “ (Mk 16:15). St. Mark gave his life as a witness of this faith, receiving martyrdom in Alexandria by being dragged through the streets (Catholic Online). May he intercede for the Church and for each one of her members, that we may courageously proclaim the Gospel through both our words and actions, with the goal of not only attaining our own salvation but also helping those around us reach salvation in fulfillment of Christ’s command.
