Feast of St. Mark
(Mark 16)
The Feast of St. Mark is the first required celebration of a saint during the Easter Season. This fact explains why we hear in the gospel reading today Mark’s account of Jesus’ resurrection appearance to his disciples. Interestingly, we see St. Mark symbolized by a lion because only in his gospel is Jesus pictured among wild beasts in the desert.
The Gospel According to Mark emphasizes the humanness of Jesus more than the other gospels. Only in Mark is Jesus called a carpenter. Also, only in this gospel does Jesus use both fingers and spittle at the same time to cure the deaf mute. Mark also quotes Jesus healing in Aramaic, Jesus’ original tongue when he tells the dead girl to arise, “Talita koum.”
The Gospel of Mark treats the disciples as dull and cowardly. After Jesus feeds the five thousand and walks on water, Mark says that the disciples still do not understand him. They further abandon Jesus like thieves in the night when he is arrested in the garden. The disciples await the grace of the resurrection in order to understand who Jesus is and to carry out his mission. In other words, they need the Holy Spirit. And that’s where we are today – waiting for the Spirit. We also need the Holy Spirit to announce to all God’s love and his desire that we truly love one another.
Homilette for Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, III Easter
(Acts of the Apostles 7)
Cecil Post was a Benedictine priest and pastor in a small North Texan town near the Oklahoma border. He was a kind, gentle man and progressive in his own way. At about the age of retirement, a cancerous tumor invaded his brain to claim his life. As he was dying, he was asked if he was afraid. No, he said, he had counseled so many people to trust in God that he had to follow his own advice.
Fr. Cecil showed half of what it means to die a Christian death. By exhibiting trust on his deathbed he, like Stephen in the reading from Acts, was asking God to receive his spirit. Of course, Stephen is only imitating Jesus whose last words on the cross are, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” The other half of a Christian death is to die forgiving one’s offenders. As Jesus asks his Father to forgive his crucifiers, Stephen asks Jesus to pardon those who heaping stones on him.
Many people talk about the quality of life of those who are in their final years. They often measure quality of life by the abilities to communicate with loved ones, to live without excruciating pain, and to enjoy simple pleasures like chocolate ice cream. We might pray to maintain these standards as death closes in on us. But let our prayer include as well that God accept our spirits and that He forgive all who have offended us. These inclusions will raise our quality of life to its highest level.
(Acts of the Apostles 7)
Cecil Post was a Benedictine priest and pastor in a small North Texan town near the Oklahoma border. He was a kind, gentle man and progressive in his own way. At about the age of retirement, a cancerous tumor invaded his brain to claim his life. As he was dying, he was asked if he was afraid. No, he said, he had counseled so many people to trust in God that he had to follow his own advice.
Fr. Cecil showed half of what it means to die a Christian death. By exhibiting trust on his deathbed he, like Stephen in the reading from Acts, was asking God to receive his spirit. Of course, Stephen is only imitating Jesus whose last words on the cross are, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” The other half of a Christian death is to die forgiving one’s offenders. As Jesus asks his Father to forgive his crucifiers, Stephen asks Jesus to pardon those who heaping stones on him.
Many people talk about the quality of life of those who are in their final years. They often measure quality of life by the abilities to communicate with loved ones, to live without excruciating pain, and to enjoy simple pleasures like chocolate ice cream. We might pray to maintain these standards as death closes in on us. But let our prayer include as well that God accept our spirits and that He forgive all who have offended us. These inclusions will raise our quality of life to its highest level.
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