The Liturgical Calendar: The Church Remembers

Today the church remembers Saint Mark the Evangelist.

Tradition holds that Mark (sometimes called John Mark) was the young man who lost his clothes when Jesus was taken in the garden of Gethsemane (see Mark 14:51). It is also thought by many that the “upper room” where the Last Supper was held was in Mark’s parents’ home. Mark’s mother, whose name was Mary, was a follower of Jesus and a friend of the disciples.

The apostle Peter seems to have taken young Mark under his wing. Mark is listed by Paul as one of Peter’s followers in the early controversies in the Jerusalem Church. Mark was also a missionary companion to Paul and a lifelong friend of Barnabas. He was in Rome with Peter and Paul, but escaped the Neronian persecution. According to the historian Eusebius, he traveled to Egypt and founded the great Alexandrian Church there. Also, it is believed that he was martyred there by a mob of angry pagans.

Mark is generally regarded as the author of the second gospel, which bears his name. It is sometimes called the Gentile Gospel because it seems to be directed more toward a Gentile than a Jewish audience.

Almighty God, we thank you for the gospel of your Son Jesus Christ, committed to his church by the hand of your evangelist Saint Mark; and we pray that, being firmly grounded in its truth, we may be faithful to its teaching both in word and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read the Wikipedia article here.

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