25 April 2022
Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
“Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”
Today is the feast day of St. Mark, one of the four evangelists. Mark, tradition has it, was a companion of St. Peter, and we hear his name mentioned in the letter of Peter in today’s first reading: “Mark, my son” is with me.
Today’s Gospel is the only selection from Mark. Mark’s Gospel is famously short on Resurrection accounts, but today’s Gospel is his presentation of the great commission and the Ascension. Two things can move our prayer today from the Gospel: the power of Jesus’ name, and Jesus’ co-laboring with us in mission.
The deeds promised to the apostles are promised through the name of Jesus. Apostolic affectivity, in miracles, in preaching, or in the right word to say in a moment, is due to the power of the name of Jesus, not to the one who brings the Gospel to others. This is important for the humility of 1 Peter to sink into the hearts of those who preach the Gospel: to God be the glory for successes and let all we do be done in the power of Christ’s name. How do you feel called to trust your work and ministry more deeply to the name of Jesus?
Secondly, Mark presents the Resurrected Christ as both ‘seated at the right hand of God’ and working with his disciples in their ministry of spreading the Gospel. The Resurrection of Christ, the Easter season, is not a time when Jesus rests from his mission of salvation. Rather, as the enthroned King in heaven, he labors with and through his Church to carry on his work of evangelization. Let us pray today to be strengthened with the knowledge that our Resurrected king labors with us in our ministry that we carry out in the power of his name.