"Go into all the world, and proclaim the Gospel to every creature, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist
The four Gospels are the cornerstones of our Faith, for in them is contained most especially the teachings of Jesus Christ, Who is the Cornerstone. It is to symbolize this, that the celebrations of the Evangelists are placed throughout the Liturgical Year, for the Church first sings the praises of St. John on December 27, then the praises of St. Mark today, April 25, followed by St. Matthew on September 23, and St. Luke on October 18. Yet we may here notice an interesting feature, i.e. the Summer Season is lacking an Evangelist. This, however, is not the case, for the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul occurs on June 29, and we may say two of the Gospels are ultimately tied to them on account of St. Mark being tied to St. Peter and St. Luke being tied to St. Paul.
This feature of the Liturgical Year ties in well with our Entrance Antiphon for today, for the four seasons each having the feast of an Evangelist (if we, admittedly, somewhat liberally interpret it as stated above) symbolize the going forth of the Good News to the four corners of the earth. Yet we cannot overlook the second part of the Antiphon, "proclaim the Gospel to every creature." We must admit this sounds odd to our ears, but we should not interpret it in the literal sense. Instead, we must see it as a command of our Lord to not exclude anyone from the Gospel, or in another sense, that His Church is for all peoples and nations.
Indeed, this feature is reflected in the composition of the four Gospels themselves. When we look at the intended readership for each Gospel, we see all peoples therein. St. Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jewish people, in order to show them Jesus was the promised Messiah and the fulfillment of the Law and Prophecies. St. Luke wrote his Gospel primarily for a Greek audience, for it touches upon philosophical matters, which their ears would be most interested to hear, yet we may also say, in a wider sense, it was written for all Gentiles, who long for something beyond this world. St. John's Gospel is written for all peoples, but to bring them in contact with the Divine, for it presents a very sublime treatise on the eternity of the Son of God.
Yet, as today is the Feast of St. Mark, it is his Gospel we are primarily concerned with, and its relation to the Entrance Antiphon. This Gospel was directed to Christians in the city of Rome, who were facing persecution, for by the time of composition the wrath of the emperors was beginning to descend on the Christians. It is important, however, to note an important feature for us in this. As it was written both to the people of Rome and to a suffering people, it is very much a Gospel for us.
Let us look first at it being written to the people of Rome. The fullness of Christianity resides in the Church of Rome and those local churches in union with Her. It is no coincidence that the Gospel to the people of Rome was chosen for one of the four Gospels in the Canon of Holy Scripture. Looking at Luke and Matthew's Gospels we see the union of Gentiles and Jews, we must look at the union between John and Mark to see the union of the world and the Divine. As John brings the mind into contemplation of higher things out of the world, so Mark brings the mind to contemplation of higher things, but within the world. Rome was the center of the world of the Apostles; therefore, a Gospel to Rome was a Gospel to the entire world.
This is even more evident if we look at the second feature of the addressees of the Gospel - persecuted and suffering Christians. We are all, or should all, be familiar with this feature of the life of a Christian, especially in this day and age. From the denial of religious liberties in America and Europe to the genocide of Christians in the Middle East, from the simple daily struggles of living the Faith in an ever increasing secularized world to the risk of being martyred for the display of a crucifix, Mark's Gospel presents a portrait of Jesus and a Church that we can relate to.
For these reasons then, Mark's Gospel, based especially on the teachings of St. Peter, that great Apostle of Faith, is a wonderful fulfillment of the Entrance Antiphon, which were his own words. We know every living creature is subject to suffering. Even if by some miracle it may go its entire life in bliss without illness, it must face the final great suffering of death. Even our Lady was not excepted from suffering! This, then, is the great message of the Gospel of Mark, not to fear suffering, but to embrace it, even to relish it! This is the message which need go out to all the world and be told to every creature!
St. Mark, in his Gospel, follows the words of the Entrance Antiphon with these verses:
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my [Jesus] name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover (Mark 16:16-18)."
We must understand this promise of Christ, not literally, though it did literally occur with many of the Apostles and in the early Church, and even continues in our own day, but we should understand this ultimately as a promise of deliverance from suffering. Though Christians may face trials and persecutions, they will not be harmed by them, for the Christian lives in the world, but is not of the world. Through our Baptism, which we celebrate during this Easter Season which the Feast of St. Mark always occurs in, we have been born into the new life of grace. This has saved our souls from the eternal death which they deserved because of sin and the nature inherited from Adam and Eve.
Through Baptism, the demons who tormented and owned our souls have been dispossessed of their property, we are able to walk amongst the world without being harmed by it with Christ as our shield, and, though men may attack us and even kill us for the Faith, we remain unharmed in the end for our soul thus inherits eternal life! The new life we have inherited has transcended us beyond nations and peoples, for as St. Paul says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)." This new tongue we speak, therefore, is the prayer of the Spirit of God, Who teaches us to pray as Jesus promised (Romans 8:26), for all pray in and through the same Spirit. Thus, all pray in the same tongue.
But we must also look at the final promise of Jesus - that the sick will be healed through the laying on of hands. Here we have a direct command of our Lord for the Anointing of the Sick, for the laying on of hands is an integral part of the rite, but this may also be applied to Reconciliation. During the absolution the Priest's hand is raised up in blessing to absolve us from sin! These two Sacraments, the Sacraments of Healing, deliver the soul back into the life of grace, even if it be completely lost through mortal sin. They bring the soul to the eternal life and salvation!
This is the portrait of Jesus which St. Mark paints for us in his Gospel. This is the Jesus St. Peter would be so in love with, for he knew the merciful salvation of the Savior so much, since he had sinned against him so profusely in his three denials. This image of our Lord is one which all the Church needs to encounter today especially, perhaps even more so than in the early persecutions the Church underwent. In that era, the eyewitnesses to the events of our Lord were still around to assure everyone. Now it is purely through Faith that we must suffer all the trials of this age! Yet we need have no fear, for Jesus reigns over the entire earth! If we are ever plagued with doubt that He is with us in our sufferings, we have only to look at the countless martyrs of the ages, for it is only through grace they could go to their deaths with cries of "Hosanna!" and "Alleluia!" on their lips. We have only to look at the two thousand year preservation of the Church to see the Lord sustains Her, for as St. Mark ends his Gospel:
"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them [the Eleven], was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen (Mark 16:19-20)."
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