Today
is the feast of St. Mark, evangelist.
St.
Mark, the author of the second Gospel, was the son of Mary whose house at
Jerusalem referred to as "the upper room" was the meeting place of
Christians.
Peter
encountered Mark and took him as travel companion and interpreter. There
at the request of the faithful he wrote his Gospel about the year 50 A.D. His
Gospel is a record of St. Peter's preaching about Our Lord.
The
Gospel of St. Mark, the shortest of the four, is, above all, a Roman Gospel.
The Gospel was written for Roman Gentile converts. It rarely quotes the Old
Testament, and is careful to explain Jewish customs, rites and words. It excels
in portraying the emotions and affections of both Christ and His hearers.
When
Mark returned to Alexandria, the idolators of the city resented his efforts to
turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. In AD 68
they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he
was dead. His relics were kept in Egypt until they were transferred to Venice
where they are venerated till this day.
The
Evangelist Mark is represented as a lion with wings because he begins his
Gospel in the wilderness, `The voice of one crying in the desert: Make ready
the way of the Lord,' or because he presents the Lord as the unconquered King.
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