25-04-24 Santo Markus: Dari Pelarian Menjadi Penulis Injil yang Setia

St Mark, Evangelist "Mk 16:15-20" And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation"...And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it." How many people have left everything to devote their lives to preaching the Gospel! One of them was St Mark, whose feast we celebrate today. Tradition suggests that the Upper Room where the Last Supper was celebrated belonged to his parents. That room served as a meeting place for the early Christians. It's also possible that as a little boy, he met Our Lord and was probably one of those children Jesus kissed and laid His Hands on many times. We know that he went with his cousin St Barnabas and St Paul on their first apostolic journey, but on arriving in Cyprus he left them and went back home. Maybe he couldn't take so much suffering or he was just tired. We don't know why he left Paul and Barnabas but we do know that Paul was so upset that, later on, when Barnabas was planning their second journey with him, Paul would not hear of Barnabas bringing his cousin Mark with them again. They argued and eventually went their separate ways. About ten years later we find Mark in Rome, this time helping St Peter as interpreter and writing his Gospel. In Rome he met St Paul again and started serving him also. The man who Paul didn't want to travel with on his second missionary journey later became, as St Paul himself explained, a "faithful companion" and a "comfort" (Col 4:10-11) to him in Rome. Shortly before his death (around the year 66) the Apostle writes to Timothy, "Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me." (2 Tim 4:11) All had been forgotten in the end. Mark had fled in the past; he was weak, but he came back. We can have flaws and mistakes as well, but it's never too late! St Mark is a great example of beginning again when we have made a mistake. God always counts on us, no matter what we've done. He always gives us the grace we need to start again. Holy Mary, help me to begin again every time I make a mistake.