Today, April 25, the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical feast of St Mark the Evangelist.
Newsroom (25/04/2022 10:34, Gaudium Press) A Jew by origin, born from a Christian family, St. Mark went with Paul and Barnabas, his cousin, to Antioch. In Perga, he separated from them and returned home. He later became a disciple of St Peter, accompanying the first Pope as far as Rome.
The Gospel of St. Mark was written in Greek around the 60s AD. He was martyred in 68 and his relics are preserved in the Cathedral of Venice. He is represented by a winged lion, one of the four living creatures of the Apocalypse, for he begins his Gospel by narrating St John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness like a roaring lion.
Seven Quotes from the Gospel of Saint Mark
01 – “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” (Mk 11, 25)
02 – “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mk 16, 15-16)
03 – “Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12, 29-31)
04 – “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mk 11, 24)
05 – “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” (Mk 10, 27)
06 – “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. (Mk 10, 29-30)
07 – “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (Mk 8, 36)
Prayer to St. Mark
O glorious Saint Mark, by the grace of God the Father, you became a great evangelist preaching the Good News of Christ. Help us know Him well so that we may live our lives faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ. Amen. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
