My Dear People,

The Gospel is Mark’s version of the famous “Great Commission” (Matt 28:16-20), often jokingly referred to as the “Great Omission,” because so often we, as Christians, fail to carry it out. Nonetheless, although great human failures have hindered the spread of the Church, the Body of Christ still is to be found present and active on every continent, in every nation. One-third of human beings identify as Christians, one third as Catholics. Even from a merely natural perspective of cultural history, the church is a remarkable and unique phenomenon. 

Jesus’ authoritative command to go into all the world to proclaim his reign reflects the theology of Psalm 2, the Royal Coronation Hymn of the Son of David (“Ask it of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and, as your possession, the ends of the earth” v. 8.), which is perhaps the most important psalm for the theology of the New Testament. 

The command to “proclaim the good news to every creature” is an interesting way to phrase the “Great Commission.” Are we then to preach to the whales and the pine trees? Probably not, but by saying “every creature” rather than just “every human being,” Mark indicates the cosmic effects of the Gospel: it is a message that has meaning not just for humanity, but even for nature itself. Pope Francis explored this concept in his encyclical Laudato Si.’ 

It is interesting also to observe that at its best, the Church’s mission has also benefited nature. Historians point out, for example, that in antiquity much of Europe was uninhabitable swamp land, unsuitable for farming, but it was largely the spread of Christian monasticism—with monks draining the swamps and preparing fields for agriculture—that ‘tamed” the landscape and made Europe into a “garden.” On the other hand, atheistic regimes, for all their anti-Christian rhetoric and lip-service to “green” goals, have often done serious harm to the environment, as was sadly discovered in the aftermath of the fall of the Iron Curtain. 

But the cosmic implications of the Gospel should not overshadow the fact that the good news is first of all addressed to all human beings, and that faith and the sacraments are necessary for salvation. In our gospel, we read that “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” which is a pleasing synopsis of the relationship between faith and the sacraments. Both are necessary; without the sacraments, faith runs the danger of being merely personal, subjective, and individualistic, and fails to incorporate us into the body of Christ. On the other hand, the sacraments without faith devolve into empty externalism and ritualism and fail to bear the fruit of holiness in the life of the individual. 

Mark mentions the many signs that will accompany the preaching of the Gospel: (a) exorcisms, still being performed regularly to this day; (b) the acquisition of new languages which has been a hallmark of Christian missionary work through the ages—for many centuries, the first written text in their own language was the Bible, translated by Christian missionaries, (c) “pick up serpents with their hands,” which Paul did literally in Acts 28:3-6, but which we may also take as a reference to authority over evil spirits, who are sometimes associated with or symbolized by serpents in the Bible; (d) “if they drink deadly thing, it will not harm them,” just as Paul withstood the poison of the viper in Acts 28:3-6, but which we may also interpret as the ability to withstand false teaching, which is likened to a poison in the Scriptures (Ps. 140:3; Jas 3:8); (cont’d pg. 4) healing the sick, which Paul performs literally also in Acts 28:7-10, which still occurs in evangelism today and which has expanded into the Catholic health care network, the world’s largest. 

But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. 

This could and should be a summary statement of the whole history of Christianity. But is it true in our day? In the biography by Cardinal Robert Sarah, God, or Nothing, about the French missionary priests of the Holy Ghost fathers who arrived in his extremely remote African village just after the end of World War II, he talks about how they preached and baptized hundreds and thousands in that region of Chana, sometimes at the cost of their lives. But their faith was so strong it made an indelible mark on the African children they catechized and firmly planted the church in that region. 

Does this faith still live among us? Do we still have young men and women willing to risk their lives to preach Jesus Christ to every creature? At this Ascension Mass, let’s pray that Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, would bless us with a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to enflame our hearts with the faith of the first Apostles. 

You are all invited this week for an opportunity to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are going to have a “Life in the Spirit Seminar.” I will guarantee that there will be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and you will be renewed in the Holy Spirit. When that happens in your life, the Holy Scripture will come alive for you.  [Passages taken from Reflection on the Mass readings for Year B, by John Bergsma]

Yours in Christ, and may the Holy Spirit renew you,

Fr. Vincent Clemente