Mark 16:15–20
1. In the preceding verse Jesus had rebuked the apostles for their lack of faith. Despite this he commissioned them to bring the Good News to the whole world. Witnesses to the Good News do not have to be perfect. There is encouragement to us in this. To whom have you brought good news? Who has been a messenger of good news to you?
2. Jesus then tells them that their witness will have quite dramatic effects, helping people to overcome demons, bringing them peace and healing. Things happen when we have belief in ourselves and in God. Strong faith can enable us to meet and overcome difficulties, in ways that waverers cannot do. Perhaps you have had experience of this?
3. The ascension marked the end of the visible presence of Jesus with the disciples, but he was with them in other ways. ‘The Lord worked with them’.
Sometimes we can experience that death is not the end of the presence of someone significant to us. We can experience the unseen presence and influence of a parent, a friend or an inspiring leader after they have died. Has this happened for you? Have you also experienced the hidden presence of the Lord working with you?
John Byrne OSA
Email john@orlagh.ie
Questions people ask
Q. The Last Supper was a very simple meal. Have we lost its meaning with too many vestments, rituals, special ministers etc.? Let’s get back to the simple meal.
A. By all means have your simple meal but the Last Supper was much more than a simple meal. It was deeply linked to the Jewish Passover and anticipated the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lord. Jesus spoke of his body soon to be given up and of the new covenant in his blood. This was the language of sacrifice. The altar, special ministers and proper ritual belong to the celebration of the sacred sacrifice. Anything that helps our reverence before God is to be welcomed.
Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap
Email silvesteroflynn80@gmail.com
The Deep End
No hands but yours
‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours;
yours are the eyes, through which Christ’s compassion looks out on the world,
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.’
These well-known words of Teresa of Avila give us a taste of how we can make Jesus present to others as we go about our daily lives. We are called to treat everyone we meet with the same love and compassion Jesus did – including those whom we find difficult, those who are alienated or marginalised and those most in need of a kind word or deed. That is what Jesus did.
In today’s Gospel we hear the very last words of Jesus before he is taken up into heaven: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.’ With these words he hands over the responsibility for his mission to his disciples.
There is an immediacy to his instruction and we don’t get the impression that the disciples hung around for any length of time; even as Jesus took his place at the right hand of God in heaven, the disciples are already going out, preaching and performing signs.
Jesus could no longer be here and he needed someone to carry on his work of spreading the Good News. The handover was instant and the task urgent. It is just as urgent today.
Tríona Doherty, Athlone, Co Roscommon
Email trionad@gmail.com
