Using All Means Available to Announce the Gospel to Every Creature, Feast of St. Mark, April 25, 2016

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan
Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist
April 25, 2016
1 Pet 5:5-14, Ps 89, Mk 16:15-20

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

• We celebrate today’s feast of St. Mark not primarily because he was the first bishop of Alexandria or even a martyr. We celebrate because he was an evangelist, likely (for lots of textual reasons) the first one to write down the account of Jesus’ life. It’s highly unlikely that when he did, he was thinking he was doing so for more than a specific audience, but he wrote it for some and instead his work, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has gone to the ends of the earth and been translated into hundreds of languages. St. Mark records Jesus’ valedictory in today’s Gospel, instructing the twelve ““Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature,” and promising that signs would accompany their words — exorcisms, healings, new languages, courage in the face of threats. St. Mark, who for a while accompanied his Uncle St. Barnabas and St. Paul and finished as Peter’s companion and assistant, as we see at the end of the first reading, detailed that as “they went forth and preached everywhere, … the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” The Lord has also accompanied the propagation of the Gospel of St. Mark, confirming the word through so many miracles of faith in the lives of saints throughout the centuries, leading many to “believe” be “baptized” and be “saved.”
• Thinking of St. Mark, we can ponder how the Lord wants us to be similarly creative. To write down an orderly account of Jesus was something new. Jesus had never sent the apostles into a room to write letters or record parables. He sent them out verbally to preach because they themselves were part of the message. But as they were getting ready to meet the Lord anew at the end of their lives on earth, St. Mark wrote down what is likely the Gospel that Peter was accustomed to preach, using his own writing skills and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It was clearly an innovation, but one guided by the Holy Spirit.
• Today there are similar innovations, none of which take the place of in person testimony, but all of which can help in the preaching of the Gospel to every creature. I’m amazed at how many people from so many countries read or listen to the homilies on CatholicPreaching.com. I’m sure the statistics on the website for the Visitation Mission and the new app show similar dynamics. Through videos, mp3s, websites, blogs, books and so many other means, the Lord accompanies our meager efforts and confirms the words through signs of faith and other means. One action item I used to always try to inspire among parishioners would be to write their own story of a soul, the history of their life of faith, for their family members, because that writing might be what helps them to imitate their relationship with Jesus, imitate their faith, and, God-willing, follow them on the path to salvation and eternal happiness. Likewise for Sisters of Life. Your letters, your phone calls, your emails, even your thank you notes and creative cards, all can be used by the Lord, like he used St. Mark’s Gospel, to spread the faith.
• Today as we come to worship God at Mass, having heard St. Mark’s Gospel, we ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit who inspired him to inspire us, to use whatever we can, whatever is necessary, to become the pens with which the story of salvation in Jesus will be shared with a new generation and, if God so chooses, many generations to come.

The readings for today’s Mass were: