Catholic saints are holy
people and human people who lived extraordinary
lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to
God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
God calls each one of us to be a saint.
Saint Mark
the Evangelist - April 25
Most of what we know about
Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He
is usually identified with the Mark of Acts
12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went
to the home of Mark's mother.)
Paul and Barnabas took him
along on the first missionary journey, but for
some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It
is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark
accompany him on the second journey despite
Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased
Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in
prison so we may assume the trouble did not last
long.
The oldest and the shortest
of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark
emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while
being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written
for Gentile converts in Rome—after the death of
Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and
70—Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of
a "scandal": a crucified Messiah.
Evidently a friend of Mark
(Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one
of the Gospel sources, others being the Church
in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at
Antioch (largely Gentile).
Like one other Gospel writer,
Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We
cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus
personally. Some scholars feel that the
evangelist is speaking of himself when
describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane:
"Now a young man followed him wearing nothing
but a linen cloth about his body. They seized
him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off
naked" (Mark 14:51-52).
Others hold Mark to be the
first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice,
famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as
its patron saint; the large basilica there is
believed to contain his remains.
A winged lion is Mark's
symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description
of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying
out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists
compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from
the application of Ezekiel's vision of four
winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the
evangelists.
Patronage:
Against impernitence
Attorneys, Barristers, Captives, Egypt,
Glaziers, Plelature of Infanta, Philippines,
Insect bites, Lonian Islands, Lions, Notaries,
Prisoners, Scrofulous diseases, Stained glass
workers, Struma, Diocese of Venice (Florida),
Venice (Italy)
Comment:
Mark fulfilled in his life
what every Christian is called to do: proclaim
to all people the Good News that is the source
of salvation. In particular, Mark's way was by
writing. Others may proclaim the Good News by
music, drama, poetry or by teaching children
around a family table.
Quote:
There is very little in Mark
that is not in the other Gospels—only four
passages. One is: “...This is how it is with the
kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to
scatter seed on the land and would sleep and
rise night and day and the seed would sprout and
grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the
land yields fruit, first the blade, then the
ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when
the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).
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