Mass was offered this afternoon for the repose of the soul of Francis Spencer (+), may he be forever blessed in the Risen Lord. After all the excitement last night, with firemen and police-officers climbing up and down our hill, today was reasonably quiet. I have been playing with the gates, preparing to close them at 18.30 this evening.
Saint Mark to me is a strong, courageous figure in the early Church. You may remember him mentioned even in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles as John Mark and his mother is described in Acts as owning a home in Jerusalem that the early Church made a base of operations, and to which Saint Peter fled after the angel had famously freed him from prison. I remember, on my only visit to Jerusalem, standing in the so-called 'Cenaculum' or upper room where the Last Supper took place and being informed by a knowledgeable local Christian that the very building had belonged to the family of John Mark. That means that his mother provided the venue for the Last Supper, and it was Mark himself, the man with the water jar, whom Christ sent two apostles to find at the well and make preparations for that last, great Passover celebration.
Tradition tells us that Mark became closely associated with Saint Peter, even at Rome, and composed his Gospel based on the testimony of Peter himself, right down to the humiliating parts, such as Peter's three-fold denial of Christ on Holy Thursday evening. It is a colossal act of humility on the part of Peter to let that be known across the Church, and Mark must have cringed to write about the failings of the great Apostle. Mark later carried his Gospel to Alexandria, where he became the first bishop and patriarch. He was most horribly killed by being dragged through the streets of the city. You may read more about him at this Coptic website. The Latin Church remembers him today as well as his successor, Saint Anianus, second bishop of Alexandria.
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