Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

Today's Mass Readings

So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5:7

R. (2) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. Ps. 89. 2

These signs will accompany those who believe Mk.16:16.

In philosophy, a massive debate has raged for ages about the existence of free will. Are we free, as human beings, to make our own arbitrary choices? This debate still continues and will likely never stop. The only reason I say this is because it is an essentially important question to our faith. How could there be responsibility and real meaning in life without freedom? The answer is there wouldn’t be. It is a cop-out to say you don’t have a choice. We do. Every day, we do. We can choose the path of least resistance and mere survival. We can choose competition and fighting. Or as Mark the Evangelist did, we can choose Christ, the better part, the one who makes all things make sense. St. Mark humbled himself under God’s mighty hand. He sang of the goodness of the Lord in his Gospel and his life. And he had amazing signs accompany his faith. He is depicted, with justice, as the lion of the evangelists. His Gospel is the shortest, and simultaneously the most potent. He tells the story of Jesus’ passionate ministry and powerful life. Mark knew what it meant to follow Jesus unreservedly. How fortunate we are to have his Gospel, and to carry its message out in our own lives. Let us choose to take up the Gospel unreservedly, and carry the lived grace of the Sacraments out in everything we do. Amen.

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB