Word to the Wise
Saturday, April 26, 2025 - Octave of Easter - Sat
[Acts 4:13-21 and Mark 16:9-15]But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every nation." [Mark]
In today's gospel scripture, we are once more considering an "appendix" that was added to the original of the Gospel According to Mark at some point. Be that as it may, it is part of the canon of the Bible and considered by the church as inspired scripture. The writer who added it may have felt that the abrupt ending of the original needed to be supplemented by traditions that the later gospels included, such as Matthew 28:19-20.
What comes through very clearly, however, is that belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and preaching it is at the center of Christian faith. Jesus rebukes the eleven apostles (Judas was gone, and Matthias was not yet chosen) for their disbelief in the reports of the women and the two disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus. He then commands them (and us): "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature."
Catholic religious tradition is rich and complex, as a simple glance at the Catechism or Code of Canon Law will demonstrate. There are dogmas and doctrines and devotions and rituals of all kinds. But it all ultimately comes down to faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As St. Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:17: "...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all." AMEN
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