April 20, 2012. Wednesday prayer service, April 25, 2012

Feast of St. Mark [It is also the Gospel reading for Ascension Thursday]

Mark 16: 15-20.

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and proclaimed the word through accompanying signs.

The Gospel of the Lord.

This is the end of the Gospels. Jesus has lived His life, gone through the Passion, Death and Resurrection, and now spent these days of His Resurrection giving His last instructions, and preparing His apostles for the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

The first reading is from Saint Peter [Peter ends his letter with "greeting [from] Mark, my sonTradition has it that Mark was the son of Peter, so that the Scriptures in quoting Peter's advice are giving Mark the advice of Mark's biological father.]: Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for - God opposes the proud! But bestows favor on the humble.

So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you in good time. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.

The Gospel for today, the Gospel according to Mark, is the addendum to Mark, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." When I was ordained, the bishop who ordained me, Cardinal Egan, told all the ordinandi: "Read the Gospel, believe what you read, preach what you believe, practice what you preach." And that is the point of this Gospel and my instruction to you: "Read the Gospel, believe what you read, preach what you believe, practice what you preach." In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.