St. Mark the Evangelist is a very important member of the early church, and indeed, from
the other parts of scripture, we learn much about him.
He tells us a little bit about himself in his own gospel, for when they came that night
to lay their hands on the Lord, that is, in the Garden of Gethsemane, it is St. Mark who
was the young boy who was there, who in his fear was stripped of his outer tunic and fled
in fear, and so he points out that he had a certain defect of character.
That defect would be something he would struggle with throughout his life.
When St. Barnabas and St. Paul teamed up in the evangelizing mission, it was St. Mark
that was at the head of them separating for when St. Paul wished to go deeper into the
Greek.
In the Greek area, St. Mark wavered and feared of the toil and tribulations of the journey,
and so he would return to Jerusalem.
St. Paul, after that, would not allow St. Mark to further accompany him on any of his
missionary activity, and so St. Barnabas separated from St. Paul and took St. Mark, but he always
was striving to grow in holiness, and ultimately, he would conquer himself.
He would become the secretary of St. Peter, and indeed,
it is St. Mark who was the secretary of St. Peter, and indeed, it is St. Mark who was
the secretary of St. Peter, and indeed, it is St. Mark who was the secretary of St. Peter,
and indeed, it is that which is the origin of his gospel and has put him in the very
forefront in the battle against modernism, for it is St. Mark's gospel that is at the
crux of modernism, for modernism ultimately states that the doctrine of the church developed
according to the recollection of the community, and so it separates itself from the two apostolic
origins of the church, and so they conclude that St. Mark's gospel was the first gospel
written because it was the first gospel written by St. Mark.
It is the shortest, and as the community's recollection of itself developed, the gospels
began to grow, but that is not the tradition, nor is it the truth.
St. Mark's gospel is the smallest, the shortest of the gospels because it was ultimately St.
Peter's reflection on what appeared to be the contradiction between the gospel of St.
Matthew and St. Luke, hence its position in the middle of those two.
St. Peter would give several conferences explaining,
that there was no discrepancy between St. Matthew and St. Luke, but rather a defect in the disciples
and in the faithful's understanding, and so it was based on these conferences that St. Mark was
inspired to write his gospel, and indeed he would do so under the very authority of St. Peter himself,
and so it is good that we have a proper understanding of the sacred scripture and
the origins of sacred scripture, so that we may,
may be able to battle those errors which erode both the church and society,
because anything that is not rooted in truth is ultimately something that is destructive to the human family,
and so St. Mark would, because he was rooted in truth, would strive and overcome his defects,
and so we learn many things from this evangelist, how to overcome ourselves.
He would ultimately be installed as the Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt,
and there he would found
one of the great schools of Christianity, the Alexandrian School of Theology,
that would give to the church so much great works and so much profound explanations on our faith,
and so he truly points out that as it is said in his gospel,
that Christ sent the disciples out in order to preach the gospel,
and that he, under the vicar-ship of St. Peter,
truly was always faithful to the gospel message,
and always went forth preaching that gospel,
and indeed, he would have many of the signs spoken of in today's gospel accompany his own ministry,
but ultimately, as was the case in most of the early members of the church,
especially the apostles and the first bishops of the church,
they would pay the ultimate price for their witness to Christ,
that is, they would give their lives for the sake of the church in a modest witness to the truth of Jesus Christ,
and that is, they would give their lives for the sake of the church in a modest witness to the truth of Jesus Christ,
and that is, they would give their lives for the sake of the church in a modest witness to the truth of Jesus Christ,
and the perennial doctrine of the church,
that doctrine which they received from the Lord,
and which alone they went forth.
And so, let us not be deceived by those who would claim
that the doctrine develops in a modernistic way,
but rather, we must be able to trace the origins of all doctrines within the church
to the very twelve whom the Lord entrusted those doctrines with,
and unless that can be done,
then the doctrine is at best dubious,
then the doctrine is at best dubious,
if not a flat-out lie perpetrated upon the world by the devil himself,
if not a flat-out lie perpetrated upon the world by the devil himself,
in order to lead souls astray.
And so, on this feast of Saint Mark,
let us renew our commitment
to be devoted to the apostles and the apostolic church,
and especially, let us invoke his name this day,
in order that he may intercede for all those
who are tainted with the heresy of modernism,
that they may come to their senses,
convert and return to the bosom of Holy Mother Church,
and especially to that sound doctrine,
that sound doctrine that was entrusted to the apostles,
and they, in turn, entrusted it to their successors
of which Saint Mark would be one,
that is, the bishops of the church.
And let us especially pray
that all bishops in ordinaries within the church
may be truly united to the vicar of Christ,
so that again, one faith may go forth to the whole world,
one truth may be preached,
preached through by many seas and in many places that is the bishops may all be united to the holy
father as they combat the the heresy of modernism and all its forms and ultimately reunite the church
in that one sound doctrine that was entrusted to the apostles and that they became the vanguards of
and the defenders of and their disciples like saint mark also would become the defenders of
and so let us unite ourselves to the defense of of the doctrine by invoking saint mark this day
so that we too may come to know what he ultimately came to know to witness and to live for christ
ultimately leads to that which alone brings joy to the human heart eternal union with him in heaven
saint mark would give his life in a modest death for his love of the church and so we too are called
to die that modest death if not a blood martyrdom
you
than that white martyrdom by which we are constantly striving to overcome the errors of our minds in our hearts
by the by the truth of holy mother church and so we are constantly striving to study the true teaching of the church
so that we may imbued be imbued by that teaching may be driven by that teaching and we too may go forth as a witness
as the church has defined this that incident described by saint mark about the driving out of the demons
the
of serpents was a one-time phenomenon in the church that was particularly given to the first
apostles for it was deadly drink that was the common way to eliminate an error and so the
apostles oftentimes would be handed a drink that would be laced with some type of poison
designed to kill them but god would witness to the truth of his church in an extraordinary way
in its beginning that witness continues within the church although god does often on occasion
work the mirror of the church to the truth of his church and in an extraordinary way in its beginning
we can see some miracles described by saint mark they are not as common as they were in the apostolic times
because once the church is established then that witness takes on a different a different way and a different meaning
we can go out and speak different languages by learning the languages and bringing that truth to the church
we can drive out demons by the by the truth and so we too can pick up serpents with our hands that is the serpents
who perpetrate error within the mystical body of christ in medical work and so we should be excited to hear about the
Christ and drive them out with our hands lifted up in prayer and our hands possessing the truth.
And so let us strive always and everywhere to do these things for the Lord who did such wonderful
things for us and gave us such great witnesses and especially in inspiring the gospel writers
like St. Mark to give us an account of the origins of Christianity in an infallible manner by which
we can trust with complete confidence that they are without error in all matters of faith and
morals and in all that they say so that the scripture is truly a true guide as long as we
understand it as the church understands it. And so let us constantly turn to her as St. Mark
turned to her to be fed by her in this life so that we may become children of God for all eternity
in the life to come.
Amen.
Amen.