April 25
ST. MARK, EVANGELIST
Short bio vid + Mass readings and Divine office 2nd reading
St. Mark was the son of Mary in whose house Peter sought refuge after being freed from jail. He aided St. Paul and St. Barnabas in the evangelization of Cyprus. Later, Mark became the companion and secretary of St. Peter in Rome. He wrote the second Gospel which emphasizes the miraculous powers of the Savior. According to tradition, in AD 49, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark founded the Church of Alexandria. He became the first bishop of Alexandria and he is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. He was martyred in AD 68 at Alexandria by pagans who placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets.
TODAY’S MASS READINGS.
READING I
1 Pt 5:5b–14
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 may exalt you in due time. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.
Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. To him be dominion forever. Amen.
I write you this briefly through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Remain firm in it. The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Or: Alleluia.
Misericórdias tuas, Dómine, in ætérnum cantábo.
The favors of the Lord I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Or: Alleluia.
Misericórdias tuas, Dómine, in ætérnum cantábo.
The heavens proclaim your wonders, O Lord,
and your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can rank with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of God?
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Or: Alleluia.
Misericórdias tuas, Dómine, in ætérnum cantábo.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O Lord, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Or: Alleluia.
Misericórdias tuas, Dómine, in ætérnum cantábo.
ALLELUIA
Nos predicámus Christum crucifíxum, Dei virtútem et Dei sapiéntiam.
We preach a Christ who was crucified; he is the power and the wisdom of God.
GOSPEL
Mk 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 confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Second Reading
From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop
Preaching truth
The Church, which has spread everywhere, even to the ends of the earth, received the faith from the apostles and their disciples. By faith, we believe in one God, the almighty Father who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man for our salvation. And we believe in the Holy Spirit who through the prophets foretold God’s plan: the coming of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, his birth from the Virgin, his passion, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his final coming from heaven in the glory of his Father, to recapitulate all things and to raise all men from the dead, so that, by the decree of his invisible Father, he may make a just judgement in all things and so that every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth to Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, our Saviour and our King, and every tongue confess him.
The Church, spread throughout the whole world, received this preaching and this faith and now preserves it carefully, dwelling as it were in one house. Having one soul and one heart, the Church holds this faith, preaches and teaches it consistently as though by a single voice. For though there are different languages, there is but one tradition.
The faith and the tradition of the churches founded in Germany are no different from those founded among the Spanish and the Celts, in the East, in Egypt, in Libya and elsewhere in the Mediterranean world. Just as God’s creature, the sun, is one and the same the world over, so also does the Church’s preaching shine everywhere to enlighten all men who want to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Now of those who speak with authority in the churches, no preacher however forceful will utter anything different – for no one is above the Master – nor will a less forceful preacher diminish what has been handed down. Since our faith is everywhere the same, no one who can say more augments it, nor can anyone who says less diminish it.
Responsory
℟. Christ sent me to preach the Good News, but not in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.* To those who court their own ruin, the message of the cross is but folly; to us who are on the way to salvation, it is the evidence of God’s power, alleluia.
℣. The world, with all its wisdom, could not find its way to God; and now God would use a foolish thing, our preaching, to save those who will believe in it.* To those who court their own ruin, the message of the cross is but folly; to us who are on the way to salvation, it is the evidence of God’s power, alleluia.
COLLECT
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.
ORIGINAL PHOTO SOURCES: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Folio_19v_-_The_Martyrdom_of_Saint_Mark.jpg https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/69c81-saint_marc1.jpg
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