Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 25, 2023
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Good news travels fast!” In our modern world, good news spreads even faster through social media and smartphones. It’s common for family and friends to know within minutes about an engagement, a birth, a new job, and any other life events.
In today’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples to go and spread his Good News. Since they didn’t have the convenience of social media, they had to spread the Good News by word of mouth and by their example alone.
They couldn’t rely on how many likes they received or how clever they could be in a 30-second reel. There were no selfies with the risen Savior. No, they went village to village, proclaiming the Good News by telling the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. They led by personal example, by teaching, forgiving, and healing in the name of Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we are asked to do the same. This is not an easy task; however, this is one of the most important things we can ever do. We live in a time where many feel disaffiliated from the church or uncertain of their faith. Many feel marginalized or experience division in their families. Some feel hopeless, while others feel their dignity has been compromised.
The story of Jesus is life-changing and can only be communicated through personal encounter—not through social media or smart phones. People are longing for the new life that comes through our risen Lord. There is no better news than that!
Today we are asked to allow the Lord to work with us. May each of us spread the Good News of Jesus in whatever corner of the world we find ourselves in. Once we start, there is no telling where and how fast that Good News will spread!
Prayer
Guide us, Lord, in your ways during these Easter days. Like St. Mark, may we share the new life you give us through water and the Spirit and so help others to know the blessings of your presence. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Saint of the Day
St. Mark is the author of the earliest record of Jesus’ life and death that we have in Scripture.
Some believe he is the young man who makes an appearance in that Gospel’s account of the arrest of Jesus (Mark 14:51-52)—the young man who was nearly captured but escaped.
Known also as John Mark, he was a follower of St. Peter and makes other appearances in the Scriptural accounts of the early Church (Acts 12:25). He and his mother were important figures in the early Christian community—his mother’s house was a gathering place for followers, for example.
He traveled with Peter to Rome and he also accompanied Paul and Barnabus, who was Mark’s cousin, to Cyprus as they preached the good news. Tradition tells that he established the Church in Alexandria where he served as bishop, founded the first famous Christian school, and was later martyred. Because of the tradition linking Mark to Egypt, he is one of the chief saints of the Coptic Christian Church.
His Gospel was composed sometime around the year 70, and it seems to have been intended for a non-Jewish audience facing persecution. Some ancient writers describe Mark as Peter’s interpreter—that Mark's Gospel was written from Peter's eyewitness account of Jesus' life.
All four of the Gospel writers are depicted with a symbol that comes from imagery in the Book of Revelation (4:7): a lion, a calf, a human, and an eagle. Mark’s emblem is the lion because his Gospel begins with a scene in the desert, and the lion is considered lord of the desert.
The city of Venice, Italy, is said to hold his body, and relics of St. Mark also rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. Mark is depicted in several places on campus, most notably in this painting from the ceiling of the Basilica.
St. Mark, the first Evangelist to write down the story of Jesus's life—pray for us!