St. Mark

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Today is the Feast of St. Mark.

He is also known as John-Mark. Papias – a disciple of St. John the Apostle – relates that Mark became the interpreter and secretary for Peter, presumably because Peter did not speak Greek well enough to be easily understood. Mark stood beside Peter and repeated his preaching about the life and teaching of Jesus. Mark, then wrote down accurately the teaching of Peter, very careful not to omit anything or to add anything that was not related by Peter. In the 2nd Century, St. Justin Martyr calls the Gospel of Mark “the Memoirs, the Recollections of Peter.” The Gospel of Mark is really the Gospel of Peter. When you read the Gospel of Mark, realize it’s the testimony of Peter’s personal friendship with Jesus.

St. Epiphanius testifies that St. Peter sent Mark to establish the Catholic Church in Alexandria, Egypt sometime between 53 and 60 AD where he became the first Bishop of Alexandria. When Mark entered the city, his shoe was torn because of the great distance he walked as a missionary. He went to a cobbler in the city, called Anianus, to repair it. While Anianus was repairing the shoe, the awl pierced his finger. Anianus shouted in Greek saying "Eis Theos!" which means "O, one God!" When St. Mark heard these words his heart rejoiced exceedingly because this man might be open to hearing about Jesus the one God.

So Mark took some clay, spat on it, and applied it to Anianus' finger, saying "in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God," and the wound healed immediately, as if nothing had happened to it.

Anianus was exceedingly amazed by this miracle that happened in the name of Jesus Christ, and his heart opened to the word of God. The apostle asked him about who was the only God that he cried for when he was injured. Anianus replied "I heard about him, but I do not know him." St. Mark started explaining to him from the beginning, from the creation of heaven and earth all the way to the prophecies that foretold the coming of Christ. Anianus then invited him to go to his house and brought to him his children. The saint preached and baptized them.

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Martyrdom of St. Mark

Easter in the year 68 A.D. coincided with the celebration of the Egyptian god Syrabis. While Mark was celebrating Mass, a horde of pagans assembled, attacked the church, seized St. Mark, and drug him behind horses through the city streets until he died. In this way he received the crown of martyrdom. The Christians took his body and buried him in a secret place in this church.

In 828 Venetian merchants in Alexandria learned that the Arab Governor of Alexandria had decided to take the marble and columns from the Church and use them for a palace he was building, thus destroying the Church and desecrating the remains of St. Mark who was buried in the Church.

To save the relics of St. Mark the merchants needed to sneak his body out of the Church and out of Alexandria to Venice. But it wasn’t going to be easy to take Mark from under the noses of the Muslims. However, the Muslim faith forbade them from touching pork. The Christians used this to their advantage. They smuggled the body of Mark out of Church and Egypt in a container covered with cabbage leaves and pork. So the shipment was never searched. At the customs post they simply said, “Pig, Pig!”

There is a detailed mosaic that tells this story as you enter the Basilica of St. Marks in Venice

That is why we thank God for bacon!

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In Acts 13, St. Paul and Barnabas take St. Mark with them on Paul’s First Missionary Journey to Turkey. For an unknown reason, as soon as they reached Turkey, Mark headed back to Jerusalem.

At the outset of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey to Turkey in Acts chapter fifteen, a sharp conflict broke out between Paul and Barnabas because Barnabas suggested taking John Mark, but Paul was not in favor of taking along the very man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had refused to share in their work. After a violent quarrel they parted company, and Barnabas sailed off with Mark to Cyprus.

Sometime later Paul and Mark were later reconciled as evidenced by what Paul writes in in Colossians 4:10 and Philemon 24 in which Paul sends greetings from Mark whom Paul calls his “fellow worker.” Furthermore – All three, Paul, Barnabas and Mark became Saints.

Still, there is a great lesson here for us. Good people can experience conflict.

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What are some guiding principles when we face conflict?

First - determine what goods are at stake and what goods you are responsible for preserving and promoting.

There is love of God and obedience to him – that is the highest good and must trump any relationship. Then there is the good of unity with others, there is truth and justice, as well as the good of the other person or the common good of the family, the good of the organization or community.

When conflict arises the first step is to determine what good we are responsible for preserving and promoting; what is the highest good; what is at stake?

Then strive to preserve those higher goods and the relationship at the same time, unless the relationship endangers the higher goods, in which case you must cut off the relationship.

If someone is causing you to sin, then you must break the relationship.

If an employee or vendor or customer is causing harm to the organization then the organizational good is more important and we must sacrifice the relationship because we are responsible for the common good.

In the conflict between Paul and Mark, Paul felt that the good of proclaiming the Gospel was being hindered by his relationship with Mark and they had to separate.

Conflict resolution begins with a clear hierarchy of goods we must preserve and promote. We seek to preserve unity unless a higher good is at stake.

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Marriage is unlike any other relationship

In marriage the love of God and obedience to his moral law is the highest good. But after that comes the unity of the marriage because marriage is unlike any relationship. In marriage we swear an oath to God to remain united together until death.

Preserving the unity of marriage is a higher good than personal pleasure. If we can preserve the unity in the marriage without breaking the moral law, then we must, despite the personal cost. If we sacrifice our personal wants, even if they are good desires, for the sake of unity in our marriage then God will repay us 100x in this life and in eternal life.

In marriage the highest good is unity because I swore that I would love you to the end of time!
So now I'm praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don't think that I can really survive
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I can do right now
I'm praying for the end of time
It's all that I can do
Praying for the end of time,
So I can end my time with you!