MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST – FEAST DAY: Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, one of Jesus Christ’s original 12 disciples and the author of the second Gospel, the Book of Mark in the Bible. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Mark on this feast day, we humbly pray for the Church, the Clergy, Evangelists and all those who spread the Gospel.
SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR: St. Mark the Evangelist (1st c.) was one of Jesus Christ’s original 12 disciples and the author of the second Gospel, the Book of Mark in the Bible. He was born to Jewish parents living in Libya in North Africa, later settling in Cana of Galilee not far from Jerusalem. He was a member of the tribe of Levi. St. Mark is sometimes called John Mark in the New Testament. St. Mark was the son of that Mary who was proprietress of the Cenacle or “upper room”. His mother’s house or the upper room served as the meeting place for the first Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). He was still a youth at the time of the Savior’s death. Both he and his mother, Mary, were highly esteemed in the early Church. During the years that followed, the rapidly maturing youth witnessed the growth of the infant Church in his mother’s Upper Room and became acquainted with its traditions. This knowledge he put to excellent use when compiling his Gospel.
According to tradition, St. Peter the Apostle was married to a relative of St. Mark’s father, and after St. Mark’s father died, St. Peter looked after him like his own son. He was baptized and instructed by St. Peter. An intimate friendship existed between Sts. Mark and Peter; he played the role of St. Peter’s companion, disciple, and interpreter. In about the year 42 A.D. he came to Rome with the Prince of the Apostles. There at the request of the faithful he wrote his Gospel about the year 50 A.D. Being a close disciple of St. Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, St. Mark wrote the Gospel in Greek addressed to Gentile converts to the Christian faith living in Rome. The Romans asked St. Mark to record St. Peter’s teachings and preaching about Our Lord Jesus Christ and pays special attention to the head of the Apostles. In this way the second Gospel is a record of the life of Jesus as seen through the eyes of the Prince of the Apostles. He chronicled what the first Pope witnessed.
St. Mark was associated with St. Paul and St. Barnabas (who was Mark’s cousin) and accompanied them on their missionary journey to Antioch and on their first missionary journey. But St. Mark was too immature for the hardships of this type of work and therefore left them at Perge in Pamphylia to return home. As the two apostles were preparing for their second missionary journey, St. Barnabas wanted to take his cousin with him. St. Paul, however, objected. Thereupon the two cousins undertook a missionary journey to Cyprus. Time healed the strained relations between Sts. Paul and Mark, and during the former’s first Roman captivity (61-63), St. Mark rendered St. Paul valuable service (Col. 4:10; Philem. 24), and the Apostle learned to appreciate him. When in chains the second time St. Paul requested St. Mark’s presence (2 Tim. 4:11). Little is known of St. Mark’s later life. Tradition ascribes to him the founding of the Church in Alexandria. It is certain that he died a martyr’s death as bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. He was martyred by the heathens in c. 68 A.D. by being dragged through the streets of Alexandria until his body was torn to pieces. His relics were transferred from Alexandria to Venice, where a worthy tomb was erected in St. Mark’s Cathedral.
The Gospel of St. Mark, the shortest of the four, is, above all, a Roman Gospel. It originated in Rome and is addressed to Roman, or shall we say, to Western Christianity. Another high merit is its chronological presentation of the life of Christ. For we should be deeply interested in the historical sequence of the events in our blessed Savior’s life. Furthermore, St. Mark was a skilled painter of word pictures. With one stroke he frequently enhances a familiar scene, shedding upon it new light. His Gospel is the “Gospel of Peter,” for he wrote it under the direction and with the aid of the prince of the apostles. “The Evangelist Mark is represented as a lion because he begins his Gospel in the wilderness, `The voice of one crying in the desert: Make ready the way of the Lord,’ or because he presents the Lord as the unconquered King.” St. Mark is the Patron Saint against impenitence; attorneys; barristers; captives; Egypt; glaziers; imprisoned people; insect bites; lions; notaries; prisoners; scrofulous diseases; stained glass workers; struma; Diocese of Venice, Florida; Venice, Italy.
PRAYER: Saint Mark, you were a friend of the Apostles and shared their commitment to spreading the faith. From your home in Heaven, may you strengthen all those who lack the courage to live the Gospel message in their own lives so they can witness it to others…. Amen
God, You helped St. Mark the Evangelist with Your grace so that he could preach the Gospel. Grant that we may learn from his teaching to walk faithfully in the footsteps of Christ…Amen