THE WORD AND THE SAINT
Did Mark ever see Jesus? That's possible. But most probably, only as a young lad. They say, it is probable that Mark is referring to himself in "the young man" who left behind his garment and ran when Jesus was being taken prisoner (Mk 14:51,52). These are only probabilities.
The documented information of him that we have is that he had been one of the prominent among the second generation apostles. He was taught by Peter, he accompanied Paul and Barnabas and he wrote the Gospel - these are facts we have!
Today celebrating the feast of this great apostle Mark, we are given with three lessons to reflect on.
1. Let us be enthusiastic about the proclamation of the Good news by facilitating or helping or supporting or encouraging those who are involved in this task. We see in the Acts of the Apostles that John Mark and his mother Mary, were regularly hosting groups of Christians who gathered to pray... they were promoters of faith.
2. Let us be diligent in our dedication and simple in our disposition when we are required by others, to accompany them. Peter took Mark with him, Paul asks John Mark to be brought along, Barnabas decided to take Mark along on an important journey... Mark was a promising servant of the Lord... a person who was unassumingly ready to accompany.
3. Let us write the Gospel today. We are called to be Gospel writers just as Mark was called to be. The fifth Gospel that we are called to write is our life itself and as it if often remarked: who knows, that could be the only Gospel read by some people! We are called not only to be proclaimers, but also to be the proclamation!