Did Mark ever see Jesus?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

April 25, 2024: Celebrating St. Mark the Evangelist

1 Peter 5: 5-14; Mark 16: 15-20

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!

May young St. Mark inspire us today to be enthusiastic Evangelisers wherever we are.

People of One Flock - listening to the Word

WORD 2day: Thursday, Fourth week in the Eastertide

April 24, 2024 - Acts 12:24- 13:5; John 12: 44-50

The word itself that I have spoken will be the judge on the last day, declares Jesus in the Gospel today underlining the importance of the Word in the making of the people of his flock. He insists on that even figuratively in the parable he gave us about the flock: my own know my voice and they follow me! Hearing the Word, listening to It and making It the light to the path of one's life - is a way of life proposed for the flock of the One Lord. 

What does listening to the Word mean, concretely? The Word clarifies that to us in the Word today. The first reading reports to us about the call from the Word - to set apart Paul and Barnabas. The Word said the apostles did. That is true listening. Jesus teaches us that in the Gospel: he says, what my Fathers says, I do; so you are called to do what I say. It is thus we become the One flock after the heart of the Shepherd. 

There are two elements to note here: that God's call continuously keeps appealing to us and that we are called to act accordingly or respond to it appropriately. First is an element of faith and the second is an element of mission. They go together - believing and doing, believing and living, believing and following! That is the sign of the flock of the Lord - to listen and to believe; to believe and to follow; to follow and to live. 

People of One Flock - being Christians

WORD 2day - Tuesday, Fourth week in the Eastertide

April 23, 2024 - Acts 11: 19-26; John 10: 22-30

Those who followed Christ were called Christians for the first time in Antioch - we are given to reflect on this occasion in the first reading today. This event and the Christian experience at Antioch offer us some very fundamental lessons to behold. 

Firstly, it is not only that we are one people because we are called by the one Lord, in one faith but more importantly, we cease to be people called by the Lord when we are not one people! The moment we find reasons to divide and to discriminate, we cease to be the people of the one flock. 

Secondly, it is no merit of ours to call ourselves "Christians" and others as not, it has to be the others to call us so, and give us that title - Christians, because we live up to that name. Antioch, we read today, was the first place also where the message was taken to the Greeks - beyond the confines of the Jews. No wonder, the people were found worthy of the name 'Christians'.

Thirdly, 'Christian' is not a name, it is a description, an attribute, a qualification. We need to earn that title, that attribute, that qualification, by our lifestyle, by our perspectives, and by our priorities. People around us need to notice and be struck by our "being" Christians and "becoming" Christians more and more every day. 

We are a people of the one flock, called by the one Lord and schooled by the one Lord - is it not right that we grow up in that one lifestyle presented to us: being Christians! 

People of One Flock - through one Gate

WORD 2day - Monday, Fourth week in the Eastertide

April 22, 2023 - Acts 11: 1-18; John 10: 1-10

Jews and pagans - this week the Word will present to us how this distinction was overcome gradually after the Resurrection experience. It was not neither natural nor an easy process - it had its moments of terrible resistance and inacceptance. However, there was no other way because the Spirit of the Risen Lord was categorical - it has to be one flock of the one shepherd. 

Jesus declared that even while he was with his followers - I am the gate of the sheepfold and all the people of God have to enter through this gate. The single name given to us for our salvation as the Word reminded us yesterday - that is what Jesus meant by the metaphor of the gate of the sheepfold. I am the way to the Father, in other words, is what Jesus taught them. Children of the One Father, flock of the One Shepherd, the people of the One flock!

Today, at times when we still speak like the pre-Resurrection people: we and they, we and the others... it is so indicative of what we need to till learn, and of where we need to still grow in our maturity. Our faith is not something that differentiates or divides us from the other, but it urges us to move towards them, to embrace them, the reach out to them. This is what it means to become the Church that goes forth... and this can happen if and only if we realise we have all come to know the Father, through that one Saviour; and we are made one people, through that one Gate, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.  

PEOPLE OF ONE FLOCK

People of the Light - the choice!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 20, 2024 - Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

People of the light are drawn by God and they are transformed - the Word highlighted this to us, the past two days. If they are drawn and transformed, they should show some sign of it. And the sign is their choice, their absolute, unswerving choice, for God and for a life in God. If it were Paul yesterday, it is Peter today, presented to us by the Liturgy of the Word, soliciting our attention on the aspect of choosing God to truly belong to God.

Peter's statement in the Gospel today: "Lord, who shall we go to?", is an expression of such a choice, a choice of absolute nature. Even if everyone else leaves you, we shall not, because you mean much more than anything or anyone else. This absolute choice is highly demanding. It can destroy everything else that one could think of as a source of meaning or basis of sense in life. Peter, Paul, and every other messenger chosen by God, drawn by God and transformed by the Message, is a living illustration of this choice.

What happens when that choice is concretised? Aeneas and Tabitha stand witnesses to the effect that can be  seen. Just as Jesus said - the one who believes in me shall accomplish all I do, and even more than that. We see a stark resemblance in the narration of these signs accomplished by Peter, to those that we can see in the Gospel where Jesus said to the crippled: pick up your mat and walk (Jn 5:8), and to the little girl: talitha koum (Mk 5:41). 

The key is the choice! The people of the Light are those who have chosen God, God's Son, God's Message above everything else in life. If we are among those, we shall certainly see the signs of it in our life. Let our words today, from our hearts be: Lord to whom shall we go, you have the Words of eternal life, and we believe in you. You have chosen us; and we wish to choose you above all.  

People of the Light - transformed

WORD 2day - Friday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 19, 2024 - Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

The Light infact blinds us, only to make us see everything more clear and more resplendent. That is what we see in the experience of Paul, or any other apostle or disciple. When they encountered the Risen Lord, they were blinded, they could not really get what they were seeing, but very soon, they began to see everything in a new light... because they were transformed; people of the Light are transformed, they begin to see everything new, clear and renewed. 

Transformation here could mean three important internal experiences of a person: conversion, renewal and proaction.

We see Saul who turns away from his past, with an absolute detachment to the old ways of life. Jesus' call to his followers was a break from the past too - they had to unlearn what the old bread meant and behold the new bread that was being offered. That required accepting the challenge of transformation. Conversion, as a definitive break from a tendency that keeps us away from our way to perfection is an essential first step towards transformation.

Paul becomes a new man, all new that he was able to proclaim, "I live, but not I, it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Is it not what Jesus promised too: he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him? Transformation is not about touching up some corners of our life, but being born anew, becoming a new person, a total Renewal into Christ every time we encounter the Risen Lord in intimacy.

We see a sense of urgency in the transformed Paul. He is emphatically dedicated towards preaching Christ without lamenting or crying over the forgettable past. Whoever eats me will draw life from me, says Jesus - a new life, a new way of life, a new meaning to life. Transformation is all about this Proaction - it is not explaining to all what has happened to me, but letting my actions speak, letting my life manifest the new lease of life in me. 

People of the Light are transformed people, with an enviable experience of conversion, renewal and proaction. Are we?

People of the Light - drawn

WORD 2day - Thursday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 18, 2024 - Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51

No one can come to me unless he oe she is drawn by the Father who sent me - this teaching of Christ explains to us who could become people of the Light:  those who are drawn by the Lord. This experience of "being drawn" is what we exactly mean by the conviction, faith is a gift; not everyone gets to have it. 

First of all the persons should feel drawn: those who have a disposition from within, feel drawn by the Lord. Just as the Ethiopian minister who we meet in the first reading today, who was eager to know something, who was reading to get to know. The Lord uses that disposition, to draw the person to Godself. This is the stage of realisation. The Minister felt drawn. The people were fed with the bread from heaven, and here they see, in the Gospel, the Bread from heaven feeding them!

Secondly, persons should wish to draw closer: this is the part of the personal response to what the Lord wishes to do to us. The Minister asking Philip to get in and sit by his side, and imploring him to explain the Word, is a response, a clear and definitive respose of a yes to draw near to the Lord who is drawing the person to himself. Difficulty in understanding things beyond our minds, not really getting to see the spiritual sense of the things happening in our life, could be reasons enough to turn us away from God, but not so with those who are drawn by God!

Thirdly, persons stay close to God and draw others to God: this is the part of resolve, to taste the Lord and share that with the world around. Anyone who eats of this bread will live forever and there is a net difference seen in the life of these persons drawn by God and those who let themselves be drawn. They become ambassadors of this eternal life that resides in God. They are already taught by God to hear the teaching, feel drawn, actively draw closer and stay close to God drawing others to God and to God's Reign. 

People of the Light - finding the Way

WORD 2day - Wednesday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 17, 2024 - Acts 8:1-8; John 6: 35-40

It is the Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, declares Jesus today and that is what the people of the Light are. They are in the Light and they see the Light; seeing the Light, they find the Way. The people of the Light shall find the way, even where there seems to be none, because they have the Way with them - the Way, the Light and the Truth, the Risen Lord. 

The acts of the apostles reports that people where dispersed, but wherever they where scattered they announced the Word; they were not a group of desolate persons lost in diaspora but were like seeds that were scattered...giving rise to life wherever they found themselves. This is finding the way...they found it without problem, because they were people of the light. 

Jesus' call to eat of him and receive eternal life is a call to find this Light, that is himself. To find our existence in him, to find our life in him, that our life and our existence will discover the gift of eternity that we have in God and from God. Faith, therefore, is not merely knowing and understanding what it means to be  people of God, instead it is finding the Light that sustains our lives every moment - that even in moments of "being scattered" we could be persons who could offer light to the world around us.

People of the Light - heavenward

WORD 2day - Tuesday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 16, 2024 - Acts 7:51-8:1; John 6:30-35

The characteristic trait of people of the Light, presented for our reflection by the Word today, is being heavenward! 

Being heavenward is not a negation of the present, nor is it belittling of the gift of life that we possess here and now. It is a recognizance of the fact that we are meant for an experience and a destination that is beyond, beyond everything that we can think of or imagine. That is why we are reminded by the Word elsewhere that we have our true home in heaven! 

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as it matters nothing to them who and what can destroy their life here below. Stephen today with his courage and valour, testifies to the convicting Spirit with no fear of anything. After all his Master had taught them, do not be afraid of those who can destroy only your body but submit to Him who can give you eternal life. 

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as they are able to see through the various events of life the miraculous hand of heaven. They are not curtailed by the apparent, they see beyond and observe the ultimate truth that can be revealed only by the Light - just as Jesus teaches the people in the Gospel, that they need to look beyond Moses, to see the real Love that was burning for them.

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as they are able to trace their way to heaven through every ordinary step in their daily life. That is the type of faith that the Lord invites us to. To walk consciously every day, and to take every step with mindfulness that God is with us and God is directing us in ways known only to God. Not to fret in anxiety and at the same time not to drag on in lethargy, but to remain open and attentive to the Word and the voice of the Lord, that is being heavenward.