MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER (Year C)Mystery of the day: Joyful
Celebration: Feast of St. Mark (Evangelist)
We read a passage in the Gospel of Mark (14:51, 52) 'And a certain young man was following him (Jesus), clothed in a linen sheet over his naked body. And they tried to seize him, but he left the linen sheet and escaped naked'. This incident occurred at the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether this young man was Mark? Many researchers say that the young man escaped naked was Mark only, which clearly shows that Mark was closely associated with Jesus and his last hours in the world. How Mark was able to follow Jesus and his apostles to the Garden of Gethsemane? The chance must be that the Last Supper celebrated by Jesus, was in the house of Mark and he might have followed the apostles and Jesus to the garden. He lived in the first century A.D. and is considered as the author of the Gospel of Mark. He wrote the Gospel in Greek before the year 60 A.D. Historians say that Mark wrote what St. Peter preached or told. He was the son of the Jewish father Aristopolos and mother Mary. His house was used by the early Christians for prayer. It appears that after the death of the father of Mark, St. Peter took care of Mark and for this reason only St. Peter once referred to Mark as his son in faith. Mark also functioned as the interpreter to St. Peter in the preaching of St. Peter. St. Peter, when escaped from the jail by a miracle, went only to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark. There is a belief that Mark was one of the servants at the marriage of Cana and poured water that Jesus turned into wine. He was one of the seventy apostles sent out by Jesus Christ (Luke 10:1).He was the founder of the church of Alexandria and also its bishop. He also founded the first theological school in Alexandria. Three churches claim to be the direct heir of the original church of Alexandria. They are Coptic Orthodox church of Alexandria, Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church) and Coptic Catholic Church (Western Orthodox Church of Alezandria). He is also honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. He was associated with St. Paul and St. Barnabas on their missionary work. He was killed by the pagans of Alexandria by placing a rope around his neck and dragged him through the street with a horse, till death, on April 25, 68.His head is now in a church at Alexandria, which is named after him
He is the patron of Barristers and Notaries.
Reflection
Theme: Be humble...
"Beloved: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you." (I Peter 5:5-14).
One of the difficult virtues to be practised my man is humility; especially when he sees himself in a spec better than the other. At this point he suddenly forgets that, all that he has acquired, where he is, and who he think he is, are all the products of God. For without God we are nothing but a mere shadow.
From today's Table of the Word, St. Peter avers:
"Beloved: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you." (I Peter 5:5-14).
This is a call to re-examine ourselves with reference to this costly virtue called "humility".
However, in one of his thoughtful thinking Fr. Basil Okonkwo, SMMM once said: " [In this life] something must humble a man."
We must not wait to be humbled by anything, rather we walk towards being humble in any way we can. As St. Peter says, our humility will bring us exaltation before God, but when we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. Since God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Dearest friend(s), in the Lord let us in our daily endeavours strife to be humble more than being proud. Let that ancient and humble prayer of St. Francis of Assisi sticks to our lips
"... O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen."A deep reflection on this, gives the summary of a humble man who never seek his comfort or being proud of what he knows it was not his rather God's.
Finally, let our thoughts, words and actions be expressed with humility.
Peace, be with you!
Let us pray
O God, who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist, and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel, grant, we pray, that we may so profit from his teaching, as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
© The ARCHIVE 25042022
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ReplyDeleteHumility is, truth be told, a virtue quite difficult to sincerely attain. What we practice is fake humility because inside us we actually want to show ourselves.
ReplyDeleteBut with prayer and God's grace we can achieve it. May God help us.
May God give us the grace to do he's will.
ReplyDelete