ST.  MARK’S GOSPEL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my thoughts on this feast of St. Mark - April 25^th - is “St. Mark’s Gospel”.

FAVORITE GOSPEL

A question I like to ask people is, “What is your favorite Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John?”

People, if it's something they thought about, usually say Luke or John. Less people mention Matthew or Mark. At least that's my experience.

So what is your favorite gospel?

Years ago, those who saw Alec McCowen on Broadway do The Gospel According to Mark by memory might choose Mark. Alec McCowen was a nominee for a Tony Award for his performance in 1979. He didn’t win, but those who saw that monologue remember it for life.  A priest friend of mine saw it in 1980 and again in the 1990’s and what intrigued him was the difference in Alec McCowen. Obviously, Alec McCowen had changed. Don’t we all? And as we change, as we grow, as evolve, hopefully the scriptures evolve for us - along with us.

When I was in the seminary, our New Testament professor liked Mark #1 - and didn’t like Matthew. I was surprised at that - but it opened my eyes. So I found that rather interesting at the age of 24 and 25.

I prefer John, but when we are going through Luke and Mark and Matthew, I get very interested in them as well. Aren’t we lucky if we can get to daily Mass - we have a chance to go through all 4 gospels every year?  And on Sundays we go through Mathew, Mark and Luke every 3 years - with John being inserted here and there - and especially in the Easter season. We’re in Year B now - and this is the year of Mark.

FEAST OF ST. MARK

Today is the Feast of St. Mark - the patron Saint of Venice, Italy. As an aside, I went to Venice by accident in 1984. I was in the wrong car on the train to Vienna - which split at Mestre - or somewhere. As I was looking out the window,  I started to see water on both sides of the tracks. I knew this wasn’t Vienna. It must be Venice. I got off the train and walked across the platform and took the next train which was right there back to Mestre and then to Vienna.

Last September I got to Venice with a group from the parish and I was too late to get into St. Mark’s Cathedral, but I did see the famous St. Mark’s Square and the pigeons. They missed.

FASCINATING QUOTE

In my blog for today, I put the following quote:

“Canon Leon Vaganay, from Lyons, was a great specialist in textual criticism; he relished it with all the love of a keen amateur just as he practiced it with the skill of a master.  When the war years came [1939-1945]and there was no way to obtain Nestle's New  Testament, he heard his colleagues groaning about it and said to them smiling, 'Oh, that does not bother me; at the beginning of the first class, I dictate to the students a half verse from Mark, and with that we have material for the whole year.'"

It’s from Henri de Lubac’s book, At the Service of the Church: Henri de Lubac Reflects on the Circumstances That Occasioned His Writings.

I love that quote because it gives the Catholic position and attitude on how to read and mine the Scriptures: to dig into them and make them mine.

The documents of Vatican II stressed opening up the treasures of the Scriptures to all the faithful - and that has certainly happened in the last 50 years. [1]

Has it happened to you?

Do you have a Bible that is falling apart from use - duct tape and all?

Better: how has that happened to you? Do you open up a Bible on a regular basis - like 5 minutes a day - keeping a Bible next to a favorite prayer chair or spot?  Have you ever gone through a gospel, say Mark, and selected a favorite text in that gospel? Try it.  Pick 5 texts and then narrow those down to 3 and then pick 1. And then ask why does that text grab you?  What does that tell you about you to yourself? Have you ever read scriptures out loud with another? People walk together, talk together, how about reading a Bible section together? I know a couple in Pennsylvania who told me they read a chapter every night in bed before going to sleep. In fact, they said, that they finished it and started it again going backwards. Interesting.

In my blog quote for today - mentioned above - the teacher said he could spend a year on just a half verse from the Gospel of Mark. Which one was it? At first it sounded like an exaggeration, that is till I remember attending the first lecture of a semester course by Walter Burghardt who on just one verse from Genesis: “God made man in his image, in the divine image he created him; may and female he created them” [Genesis 1: 27].

CONCLUSION

 
Enough. Happy Feast of St. Mark.

NOTES

[1] Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, (Dei Verbum), Vatican II Chapter 4; Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), Chapter II

Painting on top: "St. Mark Enthroned" by Titian - around 1510-1511. It can be seen in Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice Italy. It was commissioned because of the plague that hit Venice. Along with Saint Mark, four saints are pictured as protectors of  the city: St. Roch and St. Sebasian (arrows) on the right and St. Cosmas and St. Damian (doctors) on the left.